Joel’s newsletter, July 8, 2009
An ezine about Creative
thinking, Coaching, and Making a difference
- by Joel Remde,
joel@joelremde.com
In the next week or two,
Joel’s newsletter will be taking on a new format. It will also have a new name.
Look out for it!
What’s the happiest country
on earth?
According to a British
research study recently reported in the news, it’s Costa Rica.
See http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/americas/07/05/costa.rica.happy.nation/index.html?iref=newssearch
People there report the
highest life satisfaction of all the nations in the world. They also have a high life expectancy
(second only to Canada) and their environment is lush and pristine. So if you want to be happy, move to Costa
Rica!
That is, if you believe
happiness is determined by where you live.
That may be partly true. People
do tend to be happier in certain countries than in others. It may be due to several factors, including
a beautiful land, few troubles, a good standard of living.
But what determines happiness
really? Does your environment make you
happy? Or does happiness come from
within?
The environment can
contribute to feelings of happiness, but I believe that ultimately, happiness
depends on the individual. When you
accept life as it is, experience its richness, and are not too focused on the
difficulties, then you’re much more likely to feel happy. I believe that happiness also comes from
being fully engaged. When you’re using
your mind and your body together, and feel the spiritual connection, then all
parts of you are working as one, and that brings a sense of happiness. It’s like being in the flow state.
Speaking of environments that
contribute to happiness, there’s an interesting parallel with creative
thinking.
We tend to be happier in a
clean environment than a polluted one.
Likewise, we can think more
creatively when our mind is free of negative thoughts.
A rich, lush environment
contributes to happiness.
Richness and variety of
stimuli contribute to creativity.
We’re happier in an
environment that’s free of impediments.
The mind can think more
creatively when it’s free of mental blocks.
We’re more likely to be
content in a wide, spacious environment.
Likewise we can be more
creative when given plenty of time and space to think.
If you’re interested more in
how Creative thinking and Coaching can contribute to happiness, please contact
me, Joel Remde, at joel@joelremde.com.
When you’re looking for new
ideas or trying to solve a challenging problem, don’t settle for the first
answers that come to you. Do write them
down, but then dig deeper. Take time to
play with ideas. Whatever thoughts come
to you first, use them as a starting point.
They don’t have to contain the solution in themselves; you can build on
them to come up with more original, and perhaps more creative ideas.
As an example, I was trying
to think of a gift for my wife, whose birthday happens to be today. I wrote down the first ideas that came to me
– a book, dinner, flowers, something for the home. Then I took one of those ideas – book, and used that as a
starting point for more ideas:
biography, library, book of the month, journal, picture book, photograph
album, book shelf, someplace to keep books, bookends, bookmark, gardening
book. I could go on and on, but
eventually I found something for her.
If you want to know what, email me!
In future issues of this
newsletter we’ll look at ways to dig deeper for ideas.
“We are continually faced
with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as insoluble
problems.” - John W. Gardner
I’ve sure you’ve heard the
idea that problems can be opportunities.
It depends on how you look at them.
Is the glass half empty or half full?
If you focus on the fact that something is a problem, then it’s like
seeing the glass half empty. But if you
look for an opportunity, then you’ll probably find one. How can there be an opportunity in an
insoluble problem, one that seems to have no solution? I believe that there is always an
opportunity. A so-called insoluble
problem simply means that ordinary methods don’t work, so we have to be more
creative. We have to look at the
situation differently than we’re used to.
We may have to go deeper or look at it from a new perspective. We might eventually find a solution, or we
might find something completely different that’s even more valuable.
- - - - - -
This newsletter is written by Joel Remde, joel@joelremde.com . I welcome your comments and feedback; that will help me learn more about what you’re interested in and help me to improve the newsletter.
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