 University of Kentucky Associate Professor Ryan Hargrove By Jenny Leigh Hodgins
CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO PART 1 of my 2-part podcast, featuring my interview with University of Kentucky educator Ryan Hargrove, on tapping the creative process. See below for details. I had an insightful conversation about the creative process with Associate Professor Ryan Hargrove, of the University of Kentucky’s Department of Landscape Architecture. Hargrove teaches metacognition and creative thinking through a variety of projects, trips, interviews with creative professionals, and a class called “Living on the Right Side of the Brain.” Hargrove’s future goals are to provide more active learning opportunities through creative reflection and association deep dives for all University of Kentucky students, including electives, co-curricular activities, trips, and long-term masters projects. Viewing People & Creative Ideas Holistically Hargrove’s teaching methods and views on creative thinking both educated and inspired me. His strength as a teacher of creative thinking is his prime focus on understanding the individual person. He looks at how each person learns best, digging into discovering how they think. This undertaking guides his teaching and mentoring strategies. His inclination toward empathetic listening is refreshingly disarming. When teaching students, he takes into consideration that each person has arrived from a different path, with a unique learning speed, baggage, and skills. Hargrove instructs with less of the theoretical, knowledge-pouring traditional manner, and more of a holistic process aimed at bringing all aspects of each individual’s strengths and weaknesses to navigate problems. This resonates with the creative process itself, as it functions in connection with all aspects of the whole being, too. His responses to my questions delving into best practices for tapping creativity were encouraging to me as an entrepreneur, writer, poet, composer, pianist, vocalist, and hobbyist photographer. His viewpoint is valuable to any creative professional or anyone interested in tapping or improving creative flow. Here are some of the points from my dialogue with Hargrove that stood out as most useful to those interested in nurturing creativity. Is Your Creativity Divinely Struck Or Consistently Disciplined? Although inspiration can and does strike sometimes from seemingly divine intervention, the reality is that most brilliantly creative people consistently work hard at their craft. By continuously doing this disciplined work, the creative person is more able to capture ideas readily and link diverse pieces of information together in a new way. Commit To A Way Of Seeing Life Hargrove made the point that creativity is not an “on or off switch,” but rather a commitment to a way of seeing the world. Creative professionals typically are always open to receiving ideas for inspiration. They constantly seek out new ways of looking at life, new or different perspectives, techniques, styles and experiences. Learn To Think Creatively Versus Knowledge Is Power Gaining knowledge is important but is not the end all. Especially as we have access to knowledge at our fingertips with electronic gadgets, learning to think creatively is a more valuable asset. This skill leads to transformative ways to solve problems and open new creative ideas. Adjust Yourself To The Moving Target Successful creatives don’t have the creative process figured out. They know creativity is fluid, always changing, and that their creative flow is also morphing over time. They accept this and adjust themselves to the moving target of inspiration. Mindset Is Your Best Skill Successful creative people know themselves well. They know that listening to yourself, and being in alignment with your creative process is instrumental toward creative production. Divergence Is Enlightening Immerse yourself in new perspectives to grow. From exploring podcasts, blogs, books, doing new things like painting, dancing, cooking, new music, trying a new sport, traveling to new places, to meeting new people. Engaging in conversations, working on problems with others, or trying new experiences or things are valuable in two ways:
Be Open To Inspiration Be open to the idea that a eureka! moment can come from anywhere. Creatives know that being open to inspiration means it can come from unlikely or unexpected places. A four-year old child. An elderly man at the park. While shampooing in the shower or during a bike ride. While taking the trash out. Or from a completely unrelated conversation with a friend. Anywhere and anyone is acceptable and welcome as inspiration! Reflection Is Where Creative Force Ignites Taking time to reflect on the problem or time away from a creative project or daily responsibilities is a crucial form of nourishment for the creative mind. There are two kinds of downtime that are helpful to sparking inspiration:
These are moments when you are not actively pursuing creative tasks or solutions to a problem.
Reflection is evaluating what’s going well and what you could change to improve. Skill of Association The skill of association is a critical aspect of creative flow. This is the ability to absorb disparate pieces of information in an organized manner within your mind. And later, combine that information to create something new or to address a problem with a fresh approach using the incorporated new information. Having a way to organize new ideas or perspectives is key to the skill of association. This happens when you take time to sort through your experiences and become aware of interconnections with the new information before storing it in your brain. Asking how to organize the new idea in your head, why it’s interesting, or how it could connect to other things leads to an organizing system within your mind. This assimilation supports your ability to feel inspired by these new and interconnected things. Craft, Skill, Experience Creativity requires you develop your craft or technical skills, and develop a repertoire of both life and creative experiences. The more proficient you become at your craft, the more readily you can incorporate new ideas. The more you live your life, the more ideas and experiences you’ll have to draw forth creatively. Self-Care Habits There is power in practicing healthy choices. But the creative life can also lead to imbalance or unhealthy habits because it can be all-consuming. When an idea strikes, other aspects of your life may easily be neglected (eating, exercise, relationships, sleep). However, when you place top priority on consistent self-care, other aspects of your life will generally flow better. If you feel good physically, you can usually do better work. Surround Yourself With People Who Are Better Than You Connect with people whose skills and character you admire and who bring out your best by challenging you to grow and improve yourself. Ask people who will be brutally honest to assess your creative work. Get Comfortable Being Uncomfortable Seek out new challenges. Push yourself beyond your comfort zone and learn to live with ambiguity versus certainty. The discomfort of ambiguity leads to generating solutions and creative inspiration because it forces you to change your thinking. Putting yourself in a situation where you must endure a problem state forces you to grow beyond your norm which leads you to new levels of inspiration. Embrace Failure Mistakes and failures are part of the creative life and are good if used to reflect on and adjust how you’re thinking about the problem or creative project. Use failure as a learning tool to improve your creative process. Failures provide incredible growth opportunity when used to assess your approach and try new angles of thought. The creative journey joins all aspects of your whole being, from the physical, emotional, mental to the spiritual. All your experiences are interconnected and have the potential to influence inspiration. Join the conversation on nurturing creativity in the comments below! SIGN-UP HERE to get your FREE download of YCC's Top 10 Things To Help You Reach Your Goals! Plus get more more strategies for creativity, piano, caregiver and spiritual wellness! LISTEN TO MY Podcast Featuring Educator Ryan Hargrove! The podcast posts in two parts: CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO PART 1!
Part 2 delves into our dialogue on successful ways to fuel creative flow, and the benefits of committing to the creative way of life. Checkout My Recommended Self-Care, Buddhist, Creativity, Music and Outdoor Resources! Connect with YourCreativeChord on: Tumblr
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 Let's learn to ride the waves! Photo by Jenny Leigh Hodgins Is your creative flow clogged?
Or do you just want to tap into your creativity? Do you fight with insomnia, negative self-talk, overthinking, or depression? Do you struggle with how to progress as a pianist? Are you having difficulties keeping up with your caregiver responsibilities? Are you searching for a joyfulness in your daily life? I've struggled with all of these! As an entrepreneur, caregiver, composer, writer and hobbyist nature photographer I share my personal tips that work for tapping creativity, and spiritual wellness! I also interview other professional creators, from artists to writers, to composers and creative experts. And it’s not ALL about struggle! There are moments and even full chapters and books about riding that wave of joyous creative output, refreshed balance and spiritual momentum! I offer TONS of valuable FREE content on empowering strategies for nurturing your creative and spiritual wellness that I have used and still practice. All of these topics, from music to creative flow to handling stress and strengthening spirituality, are branches from the same roots. Everything is interconnected. It all flows from the same core of spiritual, physical and creative energy. When we take care of one area, it reflects in other ways, too. We're complex, deep, light, funny, serious, talented, methodical, rebellious, sensitive, bold beings, and everything in between! The different things I blog, talk about or teach, reflect the holistic interconnectedness of a creative, healthy, spiritually well and whole person. Like YOU! Check the ABOUT page to learn more about why I'm the perfect person to offer empowering strategies for creative and spiritual wellness for you! I'll keep the great value rolling out for you in my blogs, podcasts, products and courses! Creativity and spiritual wellness are worlds that EVERY HUMAN has the potential to explore and THRIVE. Join TEAM YCC and let me show you the way to prioritizing your life so the creative juices pour forth from a solid life-state of strength and compassionate wisdom. As a creativepreneur, caregiver, Buddhist, single 50+ woman, I have MY particular journey. The reason I’m launching YourCreativeChord is to SHARE what gives me creative and spiritual energy so that YOU can be empowered, too. We have the ability to use every difficulty we experience to encourage others. This is what the Buddhist concept of 'karma into mission' means to me. We have our unique set of challenges so that we can learn how to manifest our full potential. In the process, we become leaders by example, helping those around us stand up, too! My goal is to use my personal journey, skillsets, talent, experience, and awareness to create as much value for you as possible. SIGN-UP HERE FOR MY MAILING LIST to be the first to hear of new content, products and courses! I’m SO excited to see where we go, to learn from you as well, and to share how we grow in our creative, spiritual wellness together. Feel free to SHARE this with others who may benefit from this info! Thank you! SIGN-UP HERE to get your FREE download of YCC's Top 10 Things To Help You Reach Your Goals! Plus get more more strategies for creativity, piano, caregiver and spiritual wellness! Recommended articles: Your Troubles Are Your Progress Barometer & Catalyst For Your Full Potential How To Use Self-Care To Feel Happy 5 Ways To Use Music & Nature For Self-Care Defeat Fear & Doubt with Your Courage & Capability How To Deflect Negativity To Become Happier Believing In The Positive To Climb Again My Kilimanjaro Check out my Self Care Resources page. Looking for garden or outdoor ideas? Find them here! You can also find me on Pinterest, Instagram, Twitter, Linkedin and Facebook!  by Jenny Leigh Hodgins
The more I thought I knew about teaching music to elementary students, the less I felt I knew. After every summer, I'd have a panic attack. I felt I had completely lost all ability to teach anything. I felt like a total novice. I drew a complete mental blank about where to start preparing for students. I pushed myself to start things rolling with the most basic ideas to welcome students. I started with the intention to spark a love of music in them. I decided on the clear, simple goal to create a climate where they felt comfortable to be themselves. I crammed to find the time for lesson plans based on the required music standards. I morphed my resources of activities into actual structured lessons for the classroom. My job required me to focus on implementing national teaching standards. This aimed my lesson planning on engaging students to function and progress through each learning goal. My lessons were also geared to help students develop skills to use and comprehend specific music vocabulary. I discovered that the true teaching moments arose from something unexpected and unplanned. I had a few of those moments in various classes. When it happened, it was such a delight. What was that? It was the transformation of the music classroom. The atmosphere changed with inclusive connections between student to student, teacher to student and the lesson content. When the students laughed, their eyes lit up, and their brains became ultra-alert and attentive, I felt like a superhero character. I shed my identity as a panic-stricken wanna-be to emerge as a wise educator. I awakened. My students taught me what is essential in the classroom. Those magical moments when students felt my energetic passion for both the subject matter (music), and my sincere care for their educational progress. When it happened it was a period of sheer enjoyment, trust and camaraderie. Both teacher and students arrived together at the pinnacle of the most treasured part of our daily lives in the classroom; learning. And I unwittingly discovered my own forte (heh heh) as a music teacher in that process. My sense of humor and dedication to the almighty subject of music, when combined with my sincere prayer for my students to enjoy themselves, became a collective, awe-inspiring energy. It was a force that propelled my students with me toward the greatest aspiration of education; Happiness. I am transfixed by the simplicity of this lesson; that learning should be fun. That’s what being a kid is all about. In a reality that is deeper than what is visible to the eye, the true lesson is that my students taught me. Like, comment and share this blog with others! Thank you! SIGN-UP HERE to get more strategies for creativity, piano, caregiver and spiritual wellness at YourCreativeChord.com Recommended articles: Your Troubles Are Your Progress Barometer & Catalyst For Your Full Potential How To Use Self-Care To Feel Happy 5 Ways To Use Music & Nature For Self-Care Defeat Fear & Doubt with Your Courage & Capability How To Deflect Negativity To Become Happier Believing In The Positive To Climb Again My Kilimanjaro Check out my Self Care Resources page. |
CREATIVITYIn my CREATIVITY blogs, you’ll find tips for exploring creative flow, and inspiring content related to the inherent challenges and tremendous joy within the creative process. Archives
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