Maslow needed to come to terms with the fact that creativity was not limited to real-world products and works of art. Unconsciously he had also assumed that creativity was to be found only in certain professions. The people Maslow studied and treated were to break up these misconceptions and assist him in forming a new idea of creativity.
Move Closer To The Centre
On the edge, just inside the edge, there is the mainstream media–a glut of data–fabricated, manipulated, molded, spun. It’s where most people get their information. It’s the nature of surface level reality, but rather than thinking of this information distribution as a two-dimensional circle, consider it a sphere. Particles, waves, wavicles in constant motion, combining, separating, mutating. It’s not ours, we inherit it, then adopt and contribute to it.
Try Many Things
We can get into a rut when things don’t work out. You know, we try something we think we might do for a living and it turns out, for whatever reason, that people just aren’t biting. There’s no traction, you doubt yourself; you feel you’re wasting your time.
Is It Any of My Business?
Frederick Herzberg in his 1959 book The Motivation to Work, gave an account of an address made by management guru Peter Drucker to The American Psychological Association in the 1950s. Drucker apparently suggested that an investigation of workers’ job attitudes was immoral and unjustified. He believed that it was nobody’s business but the worker themselves, how they felt about their job.
Build A New Skill
Six years ago, at 40, I realised I needed a change. I didn’t know what that would look like, but I couldn’t deny my circumstances. I tried several new things many of which didn’t stick, but I picked up valuable skills in the process. Nothing was wasted.
A Return to Craft Based Work
We don’t know how to use our hands and our bodies any more. We can’t make things, practical things. We don’t know how to grow food, to fix a roof, or build a wall. Some of us do, but many of us don’t. A return to making things by hand could be a route to that change, greater meaning and purpose, and a happier life.
All of A Sudden You’re There
We’re all going to leave this place. There’s nobody getting out alive, therefore, we have no option if we are to be happy in our work or any place else. So get into it, put the head down and the blinkers on…
7 Life Lessons From The Diary of a Stoic Philosopher
Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius is said to have penned Meditations during his time amongst the Quadi people on the banks of the River Danube. Their lands bordered the Roman Empire and Bohemia. Scholars consider his philosophical reflections historically and culturally significant even today, over 1800 years after they were written. Aurelius was born in Rome […]
Chomsky on Controlling Your Own Work
I listen and read Noam Chomsky regularly. I find his commentary on the structure of social order, economics, and politics right on point. The political establishment in the 60s and 70s didn’t like him very much, but these days they largely ignore him. The mainstream media no longer report his work. I listened to an audio clip of him talking about work. In it, he addresses the idea that people have the right to control their own work.
How Quiet It Has Become
Their song It seemed louder and deeper than before. Like as if every branch of every tree held a blackbird. Someone told me that because there is so little traffic on the roads and less human activity generally, it means the birds can complete their entire song, not just a small part.