Meaning of Creativity

Ability: A simple definition is that creativity is the ability to imagine or invent something new. As we will see below, creativity is not the ability to create out of nothing, but the ability to generate new ideas by combining, changing, or reapplying existing ideas. Some creative ideas are astonishing and brilliant, while others are just simple, good, practical ideas that no one seems to have thought of yet. An Attitude: Creativity is also an attitude: the ability to accept change and newness, a willingness to play with ideas and possibilities, a flexibility of outlook, the habit of enjoying the good, while looking for ways to improve it. We are socialized into accepting only a small number of permitted or normal things, like chocolate-covered strawberries, for example. The creative person realizes that there are other possibilities, like peanut butter and banana sandwiches, or chocolate-covered prunes. A Process: Creative people work hard and continually to improve ideas and solutions, by making gradual alterations and refinements to their works. Contrary to the mythology surrounding creativity, very very few works of creative excellence are produced with a single stroke of brilliance or in a frenzy of rapid activity. Much closer to the real truth are the stories of companies who had to take the invention away from the inventor in order to market it because the inventor would have kept on tweaking it and fiddling with it, always trying to make it a little better.

Components of creativity
Intention Clarity Personality-behavior Attentional strategy Timeline. INTENTION When a person attempts to bring about change in his or her life, there already exists a reason in mind for doing so. This is called the intention, but an individual may not know exactly or only vaguely know what he or she has in mind. In addition, the individual may not have an understanding of the implications of the intent and how it will naturally direct his or her actions. The idea that an individual may naturally behave in accordance with his or her true intent (or even misdirected intent) without an awareness of true intent is a frequent issue that comes up for individuals in therapy, or in simple every day behavior. When an individual is not aware of true intent, it can result in profound difficulties for the individual. This often occurs with individuals who are not in need of therapy as well. A poster board statement that highlights this all too common delima is the question that individuals ask when confronted with very stressful situations is: "how did I get here?" CLARITY Once an individual has conceptualized what he or she truly wants, then another level of awareness needs to occur in developing ones personal Art of Focus: "clarity. " At this point, there are a myriad of questions that should be considered. For example, is the individual clear on the desire for this change or

the manifestation that will occur as a result in his or life? What does the individual expect the change to do? What will the change replace or enhance? LINK BETWEEN PERSONALITY AND BEHAVIOR The next level of awareness in developing the Art of Focus is to understand more about personality and its influences that tend to prompt an individual toward certain behaviors. Specifically, what are the individual's tendencies that work for or against the individual? How does the individual plan to balance the two? ATTENTIONAL STRATEGY The next level of development in the Art of Focus is the Attentional strategy. Just exactly how does an individual pay attention to the world? What efforts does the individual take to become more absorbed in accomplishing the desired goal? TIMELINE Lastly, the next level of creative development of the Art of Focus involves an individuals timeline. Does the individual include in the desired change a concept of the divine or a sense of something greater? Does the criterion for selecting the desired change include predominance upon the survival sense or the spiritual sense? Either choice may be appropriate for the individual, but the timeline will directly effect how an individuals places priority on implementing change and selecting the right choices for the individual from the many choices that may appear to be available.

How to pass exams: 7 useful tips

1. No limiting belief please Remove the limiting belief that you cant pass. If you believe you can pass or you believe you cannot pass, you are right. I have seen students under the impression that examiner is their enemy. Please dont think so. Pass percentage might be low, but students do pass their exams. So, dont think that you will be in a failure category ever. Understand the structure of paper First of all, understand the structure of paper is there any marks allocation for a particular topic? Secondly, if there is marks allocation, is examiner following it? The best thing to do is to review the past five papers. What is the key topic i.e. examiners favorite? Is there any article by examiner in the Students Accountant or any other relevant student magazine? Study that topic and prepare for it, even if you dont like it! Taking notes Prepare for exams by way of notes which you can recall quickly at the time of taking exam. This will help in two manner. First, when you write, you are in better picture of giving your mind instruction through written letters. Secondly, you can revise from your

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notes instead of opening the book when exam day is near. Here is my strategy for taking notes: Take a paper and turn it in landscape format. Put three columns in landscape form. Once done, take synopsis of a chapter in smaller fonts and the language which you can easily understand. Write bullet points, important concepts and key ideas which you need to remember. These notes should be used at the time when paper is on head and you need to revise whole subject in two to three hours.

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Remembering / memorizing key ideas and formulae One of the key ideas to memorize ideas e.g. formulae, is to write them in small charts and hang it in front of your bed. See those formulae daily before going to bed and rising up Use different colours and markers. Believe me, in my statistics paper, I was recalling the formulae in the exact colours which I wrote on charts. Exam practice Practice mock exam be your own examiner. Take any past paper and solve it as a mock exam. Solve past paper in the time allocated in exam. Think you are in exam hall and solve the paper accordingly. Check your paper and give yourself marks. See how are you performing in mock exam and be sincere to yourself. Time your paper Here is technique to time your paper: Take total marks and total time. Subtract 10 minutes from the total minutes. Divide the remainder with the marks and you get time per marks. For example: If there are 100 marks for a paper and you have 180 minutes. Subtract 10 minutes. This means you have 170 minutes altogether or 1.7 minutes per mark. make sure that you dont spend more that 1.7 minutes per mark e.g. if a question is of 10 marks, maximum time you should spend should be 17 minutes. It happens that students try to focus on one particular question and if they are unable to solve it, they get confused. Dont panic. Start next question. If student has time, he / she can take up that particular question later on. Try to allocate 10 minutes at the end of exam to review the paper thoroughly.

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Dont annoy examiner See for spelling errors and writing style. Writing needs to be legible and understandable. As a teacher to many students, I have noticed that spelling errors and the way students write, at times, is not understandable. Examiner has very less time to check paper. If your paper is examiner friendly, you are going to attract good marks.

The Power of Positive Thinking

Positive thinking is a mental attitude that admits into the mind thoughts, words and images that are conductive to growth, expansion and success. It is a mental attitude that expects good and favorable results. A positive mind anticipates happiness, joy, health and a successful result. Whatever the mind expects, it finds. Not everyone accepts or believes in positive thinking. Some consider the subject as just nonsense, and others scoff at people who believe and accept it. Among the people who accept it, not many know how to use it effectively to get results. Yet, it seems that many are becoming attracted to this subject, as evidenced by the many books, lectures and courses about it. This is a subject that is gaining popularity. It is quite common to hear people say: "Think positive!", to someone who feels down and worried. Most people do not take these words seriously, as they do not know what they really mean, or do not consider them as useful and effective. How many people do you know, who stop to think what the power of positive thinking means? The following story illustrates how this power works: Allan applied for a new job, but as his self-esteem was low, and he considered himself as a failure and unworthy of success, he was sure that he was not going to get the job. He had a negative attitude towards himself, and believed that the other applicants were better and more qualified than him. Allan manifested this attitude, due to his negative past experiences with job interviews. His mind was filled with negative thoughts and fears concerning the job for the whole week before the job interview. He was sure he would be rejected. On the day of the interview he got up late, and to his horror he discovered that the shirt he had planned to wear was dirty, and the other one needed ironing. As it was already too late, he went out wearing a shirt full of wrinkles. During the interview he was tense, displayed a negative attitude, worried about his shirt, and felt hungry because he did not have enough time to eat breakfast. All this distracted his mind and made it difficult for him to focus on the interview. His overall behavior made a bad impression, and consequently he materialized his fear and did not get the job.

Goals & Techniques for Positive Thinking

SuccessConsciousness.com describes positive thinking as an attitude where the mind entertains thoughts that foster personal growth and success, expecting positive results in life. The Mayo Clinic says that positive thinking may increase longevity and result in better overall physical health. Mastering techniques to focus on positive thoughts can help you reach goals and have a happier life.

1. Self-Talk
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The American Heart Association discusses the importance of self-talk. All of us talk to ourselves, either aloud or simply in our mind. Making an effort to concentrate on the positive reduces stress. "I know I can reach this goal" is an example of positive self-talk. "Things never work out for me" is a good example of negative phrases to avoid. If you entertain negative thoughts regularly, practicing positive self-talk could change your life. Repeated negative thoughts should be erased from your mind. Using positive affirmations helps you learn to erase a negative thought and replace it with a positive one. For instance, if you are in the habit of thinking, "I am stupid," replace the thought by repeating "I am smart." Over time, the new positive overrides the negative.

2. Avoid Negative People

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Keeping company with negative people produces negative thoughts. Attitude can often be contagious. If you are trying to embrace positive thinking, try to avoid spending time with pessimistic people. However, we can't always avoid negative people. For instance, relatives and business associates play important roles in our lives. If any tend toward the negative, you can maintain a positive mindset. Just accept that they may never change and don't let their pessimism rub off on you.

Create Checks
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Evaluating your progress throughout every day helps maintain a steady stream of positive thoughts. Whenever you catch yourself having an unwanted thought, stop what you are doing and replace it by repeating a positive affirmation. Alert those people close to you about what you are doing. Ask them to bring it to your attention if they hear you saying something negative. Journaling is another way to check your progress. Every night record in a notebook or diary how well you did that day. Also use this time is an opportunity to celebrate things for which you are grateful. Do not put the journal away until you have found something positive to write down.

Developing a positive attitude

Fixating on thoughts and emotions, day in day out, affects all aspects of our lives. Learning to be mindful of our internal dialogue helps us recognize thought patterns and how they may be affecting the way we handle the situations of daily living. Many people have found that, when they tune in to their interna l dialogue, much of it is negative. Thoughts like, I could never do that and What if I fail? can seriously impact the way we behave. Stress, apparently associated with attachment to this negative internal dialogue, in turn, affects every aspect of our lives. When we are stressed, specific hormones circulate in the body. Released infrequently, these hormones are harmless, produced continuously, they are associated with serious damage. Cardiovascular disease is related in part to continuous bombardment of stress hormones and arterial damage caused by free radicals created in the process.

Letting go of attachment to these negative thoughts and emotions is liberating. This is a process in itself that is well worth the effort. Very effective methods to help to place the mind at ease have been developed over thousands of years. Perhaps Meditation would benefit.

Realizing a Life of Ease and Well Being

1. 2. 3. 4. Be still. Look within. See the mental restlessness, dissatisfaction and uncertainty? There are apparent causes of this view of unease. Know that within there is the potential to be at ease. Finally, attaining mental openness is associated with full knowing and ease.

The following tips will help you along the way to freedom from the habitual tendencies of mind that hold you back from experiencing true happiness and ease. Inevitably it is your own personal journey.

Sleep more soundly!

Sleep appears essential to improve and maintain energy levels, immune system effectiveness, mental and emotional clarity and overall well-being. When you feel good, you function better. The following tips are very useful if you need to sleep better!

Try Meditation Minimize attaching to mental activity in the evening. Make appropriate preparations for the next day. Take a hot bath before bedtime to promote ease. Soothing fragrances, lights, and music may help as well. Limit activities in bed to sleep and intimate encounters only - avoid TV. If you have trouble sleeping, try sleeping in another area of the house. Try listening to repetitive soothing natural sounds (waves, wind, waterfall, stream, etc.) from a selected high quality sound device. Natural homeopathic, nutritional and herbal support may prove useful (e.g. calcium, melatonin, passionflower or valerian before bed). Turn off all the lights.

Develop your positive attitude!

Here are some ways to help you cultivate a positive attitude and ease in your life:

Listen to internal dialogue. Divide one or more sheets of paper into two columns and, for a few days, jot down in the left column all the negative thoughts that come into your head. Rewrite each thought in a positive way in the second column. Practice doing this in your mind until it becomes a habit. (For example, Ill never get this finished by the end of the day! could become, I will probably get most of this finished by the end of the day.)

Learn to communicate. Not saying the things we feel can lead to a sense of frustration, hurt, anger or anxiety. If you find communicating difficult, or are afraid of arguments or bruised feelings, take a course in communicating effectively always having the intent of non-harm.

Get back to basics. Reconnect with old friends, take the dog for a walk, visit an art gallery or listen to your favourite music. Enjoy a long, relaxing bath, read a great book, tell your child a story, or ask an older relative to tell you one! The simplest things in life give us the most pleasure.

Help someone out. The simple act of helping others (humans, animals or Nature in general) helps us to feel joy. Pick up groceries for an aging neighbour, volunteer at your local hospital or read a book to someone with failing eyesight. If you are unsure of how to help out in your community, call your nearest volunteer centre.

Find your spirituality. Research has shown that those who have developed their spirituality through associating with other spiritual individuals or having cooperative mindful beliefs, live longer, more satisfying lives. The secret is practising those beliefs, either through organized worship, or simple meditation (openness) in a quiet place.

Try Meditation. As the Beatles and many sages of the spiritual and philisophical conditions have expounded, "Let It Be, Let it Be" Allow love in your life. The ability to love and be loved is a most basic human trait. We, as a society, seem to have become disconnected, fear-based emotions (depression, loneliness, guilt, attachment and anger) are symptoms. Finding ways to reconnect with others is extremely helpful in developing a positive attitude. The following link is very enlightening. The Web of Love - Reconnecting with Source www.WebofLove.org

Laugh at yourself and find humour in the simplest of things. Laughter is a powerful mood elevator. If you are feeling down, read some jokes, watch a funny movie or just act "silly" once in awhile. At times, let yourself see through a child's genuine eyes. Simplify.

Participate in new physical and mental activities to improve confidence levels and coping mechanisms. Building confidence could be as easy as learning the meanings of new words,learning about new topics or if you are righthanded using instead your left hand more frequently (left hand connects with more spiritual, intuitive and creative right side of the brain).

Follow the principles of holistic health - enlightened body, speech and mind in harmony (better nutrition and exercise appear to be associated with positive mood and attitude) Remember that the mainstream media focuses on information that leads to attachment to fear, negative thoughts and emotion. Perhaps instead focus on positive things to do with your precious moments. Learn to communicate your needs more effectively. For example, instead of using common language of subordination expressed by such words as "no", "don't", "should", "stop", "good", "bad" and "have", you could instead try expressing your needs by stating "I need you to...". This peaceful language expresses needs and does not judge. For more on this refer to the book Non Violent Communication.

Perhaps our words on How to Thrive may prove beneficial on your journey to wellness.

Tips for positive thinking:

Always use only positive words while thinking and while talking. Use words such as, 'I can', 'I am able', 'it is possible', 'it can be done', etc.

Allow into your awareness only feelings of happiness, strength and success. Try to disregard and ignore negative thoughts. Refuse to think such thoughts, and substitute them with constructive happy thoughts.

In your conversation use words that evoke feelings and mental images of strength, happiness and success.

Before starting with any plan or action, visualize clearly in your mind its successful outcome. If you visualize with concentration and faith, you will be amazed at the results.

Read at least one page of inspiring book every day. Watch movies that make you feel happy. Minimize the time you listen to the news and read the papers. Associate yourself with people who think positively. Always sit and walk with your back straight. This will strengthen your confidence and inner strength.

Walk, swim or engage in some other physical activity. This helps to develop a more positive attitude.

Think positive and expect only favorable results and situations, even if your current circumstances are not as you wish them to be. In time, your mental attitude will affect your life and circumstances and change them accordingly.

What is concentration?
Concentration can be defined as focusing attention on one thing, and to one thing only. Quite often it is our way of life that takes away our former ability to concentrate fully. Small children are very skilled in concentration. Children can get very absolved in their play. You can do exercises to strengthen your ability to concentrate. For example, examine an ordinary object such as a paperclip, as if you have never seen it before in your life.

How can you learn to concentrate better?

Visualise It forces attention to one thing only. If you try to see specific pictures as you read, it will help you concentrate. Do not allow yourself to look back You force yourself to concentrate in order to get the meaning the first time. Be sure of your purpose When you read for a particular purpose, you will concentrate on what you read because, as you read, you ask yourself, "Does this satisfy my purpose?" In addition, the following helps remembering. Associate When you associate, you make the things you want to remember relate to each other in some way. Once you know what you are looking for, you can try to remember the information by fitting it into some general category.

Repeat Repeat the procedures for associating, visualisation and concentration frequently. Repetition helps to burn information into your memory.

Major cause of poor concentration

Being distracted. Two types of Distraction: Environment e.g. Noise e.g. loud music Poor ventilation Light - too bright or too dim Furniture Uncomfortable or too comfortable chair Insufficient working space - too much clutters 'Interesting' things in view e.g. TV, activities outside window Telephone Fridge People e.g. friends, roommates Personal e.g. o Daydreaming o Lack of rest / tiredness o Anxiety o Worries o Feeling overwhelmed by tasks o Lack organisation / Jumping from task to task o Physical discomfort: illness, pain, headache, hunger, ate too much. o Negative thinking: "This is too difficult." "I can't do it." o Lack motivation/interest - "What's the point?" o ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) - excessive slow (theta) brainwaves, and not enough fast (beta) brainwaves o o o o o o o o

How to minimise distraction

1. Examine your place of study a. Adequate lighting b. Adequate ventilation c. Not too warm or too cold d. Supportive furniture e. No audio distractions f. No visual distractions g. Try cafeteria, library, empty classroom Eat, sleep, exercise . Decent nutrition a. Adequate sleep b. Exercise regularly to increase a sense of wellbeing Motivate yourself . Bring a sense of purpose to the task - have a clearly defined purpose. a. Bring interest in the material - create relevancy by relating the material to what interests you. b. Break down a task into manageable chunks.

c. Have regular breaks d. Reward yourself when the task is completed - positive reinforcement. Have a worry book . Write down your worries. a. Set aside time to resolve worries. b. If you must worry, enjoy it!

Preparation for study

1. Why What for? What is the purpose? 2. What Set goals - be realistic, work with manageable chunks. 3. When Set time; allow time for breaks. 4. Where Prepare your study environment. 5. With whom Have a study-buddy; alone. 6. How Be creative with learning; maintain interest.

Mental preparation
Positive thinking Know your objectives. Bust negative thinking Write down thoughts which hamper your concentration. Next to each statement, write down a neutralising statement.

Psychological preparation
Positive visualisation Exercise will power and determination Stay in the here and now Practise relaxation exercises