Not Creative???

I keep hearing people saying that they are not creative, as if the notion of creativity is something unspeakably evil and best to avoid; or that creativity only associates with geniuses such as Van Gogh and Picasso and that this special quality is somehow devoid of in 'ordinary' people?

 

Like it or not, we are ALL creative beings. Most of the time we are referring creativity to the incubation stage when you allow yourself a breathing space simply to be. I usually get insights and a-ha moments in the shower, while taking a walk, when I practise meditation. Being a writer and an artist, I am constantly in need of  inspiration and I invite my muses to play when I do the above.

 

When life gets particularly stressful and there are things that are beyond my control, I crave time to create to cope with the stress and heal. How about working on your mini sketchbook while commuting to work on public transport, on tea breaks instead of watercooler gossips, first thing in the morning to set your intentions for the day and penning in your gratitude journal before bed? There are tons of things you can do to train your creativity muscles instead of mindless TV watching and facebooking. You can doodle, sketch, draw, paint, art journal, make a collage, to name but a few. Make it a daily living ritual and you will see the changes in your creativity within weeks.

Let's swap our talents!!!

I am looking for someone who can help me part-time to develop my online business in exchange for free private English lessons.

• photoshop / illustrator/ InDesign knowledge
• internet research and social media skills
• help to grow visibility / readership/ audience through social media including Facebook, Twitter, Linked In and Pinterest
• some graphic design work
• knowledge about Etsy online shop and e-commerce

This position is suitable for students and computer wizards who are technology savvy but  need help to improve their English.
Email me at lamaisonsimple@gmail.com  if you are interested.

What the heck am I doing???

It's been 6 months now since I drew the curtain to my 12 years of private teaching and not having a paid job is just darn hard especially living in one of the most expensive cities in the world. I completed my TESOL certificate in the hope of finding employment in schools but it looks like I am out of luck and I can only keep trying until another interview be granted. Meanwhile, my days are filled to the brim with self-initiated projects and e-courses, reading and blogging, and a lot of learning about how to kick start my online business...

My work is my life. As an existentialist of sorts, I find that work that I enjoy doing gives meaning to my life in an otherwise absurd universe. I want to be great at what I do (hence the lifelong learning and ungrading), being appreciated and get paid well for my products and services, while making an impact on anyone I come across in this lifetime. I need to do something that is in alignment with my non-conformist ways of thinking and sustainable living, the reward being one of fulfilment and abundance.

Authenticity is one of the qualities I treasure most and running my own online business could be the way to go as I can be who I am and get to meet others who share a similar vision. I write and blog to share my values and visions about world and personal change, one person at a time, hoping to inspire people to change their life circumstances and co-create a new world order for the next generations to come. I wish to show myself and others that it is time to wake up and take full responsibilities for ourselves, to live a different and simple way and rise to a new level of existence. Change is the only constant in reality and it is not something to be feared. 

I believe we can all make a difference to the world. I choose to make an impact with my ideas, my words, my online / offline presence and I can't do it without you. You are my sounding board, my megaphone, my speaker, you take what I create, add to it your personal voice and value, spread the fire wide and far, and something big is bound to happen.

Although I am not generating an income as yet but your support is already sufficient to boost my confidence in what I am doing and I can at least promise you a much better content in the coming months. Let's get on with it and keep the fire burning!

FINITY

When you come to think about it, nothing is infinite and nothing is permanent.

TIME is finite in the sense that there are 24 hours a day for everybody and there is an end of time one day in the future (maybe not?)
ENERGY is finite just by checking with your body and you will know how exhausted you are after a day's work or when you are sick in bed.
MONEY is finite in which I mean there is only so much you can spend on even if you are a billionaire.
NATURAL RESOURCES is finite just by looking at the environmental mess we have created.
WE are finite creatures on this earth and will cease to exist one day.
ATTENTION is finite as we all get bored one way or the other when our attention span is stretched thin due to worldly distractions.
PHYSICAL SPACE is limited; so easily overlooked if you are not inhabiting in major cities like Hong Kong.
RELATIONSHIPS are finite in the sense that you can only connect with a certain number of people in a lifetime.
MENTAL CAPACITY is finite and that's exactly why we must declutter our mind of trivialities and focus on only things that matter.
OUR BODY is finite as it decomposes and become ashes at death.
TALENTS are finite in the sense that we can't be good at everything.

As I age, I become more aware of and accept this harsh fact of life while paying more attention to how I live my life. I get to intentionally choose how I'd like to spend my time and energy only on things that really matter to me. Instead of squandering my limited resources,

• I make the best use of my time and try to do good a day at a time (Carpe Diem)
• I only spend my energy (which is depleting forevermore as you age) on activities that bring me joy
• I become more watchful in what I spend my hard-earned cash on (less is more!)
• I try to do my part to be kind to our environment
• I will only focus on things which align to my beliefs and my values
• I am decluttering to make space for space
• I am working on networking and be more sociable and be less of a loner
• I avoid taking in things which are meaningless and get them out of my system in order to reserve my brain power for more meaningful stuff
• I will strive to develop my gifts and let go of things I have no talent for.

In other words, I am simplifying all aspects of my life to focus on just the most important. This is a life-changing decision if you allow yourself to be in friendly terms with finity.

GIVEAWAYS

I have 10 copies of my book 'Metamorphosis' to give away. To participate, please send me an email in response to the following questions:

1. What is it that you like and dislike about my website?
2. What do you wish to get out of from my website?

...and...Forward my newsletter to your friends and family who might be interested in signing up for a weekly dose of simple living.


I shall announce the winners in my newsletter on 11/28/2012. Please include your contact details in your email. THANKS.

A brand new start

I have created several blogs in the past and they are all over the place, making my search for a particular one excruciatingly painful. So here comes a new one using Blogger which I hope would end the suffering and be a permanent anchor for the upcoming post which I so eager to share with you.

 

I am going through some rough patches at the moment. I am beginning to question myself if I am on the right track when it cones to work. After my not so pleasant stay in France, I have been actively looking for work in the teaching arena and although I went to a few interviews, no contract or offer is made in the end; a huge disappointment on my part as I had a degree in Linguistics, a certificate in TESOL, freelanced at various schools and learning centres, and over a decade of experience teaching English privately and an impressive resume. I could be running my own school if I can afford the rent. Alas, I have major difficulties finding work due to the competition and lack of contacts which I believe is crucial in a place like Hong Kong.

 

It is my mission to be creative and to teach. At least this is what I feel up to this very minute but what if I were wrong. Could I possibly leave teaching, something I have worked so hard to get to where I am? Churning my brains out over sleepless nights, I keep asking myself what I genuinely believe and have credibility in and words pop up in random:

 

literacy

teaching

heart

social cause

legacy

sharing

making an impact

empowerment

 

Being a misfit in a place I hate when I am in the middle of such predicament doesn't make sense. If my life was going to change, I had to change it. But how? I don't have a lump sum of cash which is required for relocation. I suck in marketing so maybe I need to learn using Facebook and other social media to sell myself to the world. Further study in the field of education might be a good idea. Albeit depressing, I take action to discover what I want to do with my life on a daily basis by reading helpful blogs, devouring business books, improving my website by trial and error, googling for possibilities, working on self-initiated projects to stretch my potential, not to mention sending unsolicited job applications to schools and learning centres.

 

I am sure there are other things I can do to make my search more productive if I know what they are. Am I trying hard enough? Have I explored all the options and left no stone unturned? It's less than 2 months before the year ends and for a workaholic like me, it is not funny to spend mid-life at home and not generating an income to support a simple lifestyle.

www.simplemansion.com