A copied list I found on another blog, and i just had to share. These are the worst analogies ever:
The hailstones leaped from the pavement, just like maggots when you fry them in hot grease.
~ He spoke with the wisdom that can only come from experience, like a guy who went blind because he looked at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it and now goes around the country speaking at high schools about the dangers of looking at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it.
~ The little boat gently drifted across the pond exactly the way a bowling ball wouldn’t.
~ From the attic came an unearthly howl. The whole scene had an eerie, surreal quality, like when you’re on vacation in another city and “Jeopardy” comes on at 7 p.m. instead of 7:30.
~ Her hair glistened in the rain like nose hair after a sneeze.
~ Her eyes were like two brown circles with big black dots in the center.
~ Long separated by cruel fate, the star-crossed lovers raced across the grassy field toward each other like two freight trains, one having left Cleveland at 6:36 p.m. traveling at 55 mph, the other from Topeka at 4:19 p.m. at a speed of 35 mph.
~ John and Mary had never met. They were like two hummingbirds who had also never met.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Creativity or Just a Copycat?
My three-year-old boy copies everything his six-year-old sister does. If she jumps, he jumps. If she sneezes, he musters up a sneeze. It’s almost freakish. Of course, I do understand it is purely a developmental stage and the odds of my three-year-old boy growing up to be a thirty-year-old, pink-purse-carrying, Barbie-playing copycat is slim.
Copying someone is a learning trait. Even when we get a new job and are trained in a specific area we are basically copying what our trainer does. Push this, pull that, move over here, move over there. We copy the choreography until we have it memorized, and that is when we have been trained.
Although copying is a valid form of learning, it’s not a valid form of living. We have somehow moved from using copying as a tool, to letting copying become a way of life. We mimic others to find out how to dress, spend our money, and entertain ourselves and that is just not what we were created to be.
Isn’t it interesting that the Bible tells us that we were created in God’s image, and the last time I checked God was the most creative one around. He created everything under the sun, and the sun itself. With that understood, I think we underestimate the creative force of God that resides in us.
In the sixth chapter of Galatians it says, “Make a careful exploration of who you are and the work you have been given, and then sink yourself into it. Don’t be impressed with yourself. Don’t compare yourself to others. It is each of our responsibility to live the creative best that we can.”
This passage resonates in me every time I read it or think about it. It is an ongoing challenge to explore carefully who I am, who I have become, and who I have the hope of becoming. It becomes so easy in life to stop exploring and just copy. Copy the talents of the one working by our side, or even mimic the quirky traits of our spouse. The truth of the matter is though that God created each of us to be creative, expressive beings that are examples of potential found.
How often do you tap into your creative reservoir to solve problems, resolve disputes, and share love? Do you just do what you’ve always done, or do you copy the actions of someone else? How could your day change if you took the time to be creative? Creative not just in ideas, but creative in solutions. Unfortunately most people say that when they are faced with a problem they don’t have the time to search for a creative solution, they have to act quickly. This is probably true, and that’s why creativity comes way before the problem ever happens.
Stress is the nemesis of creativity. The more stressed you are, the less creative you are. For those of you who say, “That’s not true! I work very well under stress and deadlines.” Maybe, but you’re not creative. Your mind rapid-fires ideas and thoughts from the wealth of knowledge that you have already attained. You solve problems and find solutions from the vast array of knowledge that is already a part of the fabric of your being.
Taking time to be creative is vital to our well-being, and to those around us. We need to explore who we are and tap into the creative well in us. There are a myriad of ways to do it, but the first thing that has to happen is we have to stop simply copying others because its the easiest way. When we tap into the our creative soul, we will come face to face with the uber-creative one, and realize that His creative example is the best way we could ever respond to any and all situations and problems.
Copying someone is a learning trait. Even when we get a new job and are trained in a specific area we are basically copying what our trainer does. Push this, pull that, move over here, move over there. We copy the choreography until we have it memorized, and that is when we have been trained.
Although copying is a valid form of learning, it’s not a valid form of living. We have somehow moved from using copying as a tool, to letting copying become a way of life. We mimic others to find out how to dress, spend our money, and entertain ourselves and that is just not what we were created to be.
Isn’t it interesting that the Bible tells us that we were created in God’s image, and the last time I checked God was the most creative one around. He created everything under the sun, and the sun itself. With that understood, I think we underestimate the creative force of God that resides in us.
In the sixth chapter of Galatians it says, “Make a careful exploration of who you are and the work you have been given, and then sink yourself into it. Don’t be impressed with yourself. Don’t compare yourself to others. It is each of our responsibility to live the creative best that we can.”
This passage resonates in me every time I read it or think about it. It is an ongoing challenge to explore carefully who I am, who I have become, and who I have the hope of becoming. It becomes so easy in life to stop exploring and just copy. Copy the talents of the one working by our side, or even mimic the quirky traits of our spouse. The truth of the matter is though that God created each of us to be creative, expressive beings that are examples of potential found.
How often do you tap into your creative reservoir to solve problems, resolve disputes, and share love? Do you just do what you’ve always done, or do you copy the actions of someone else? How could your day change if you took the time to be creative? Creative not just in ideas, but creative in solutions. Unfortunately most people say that when they are faced with a problem they don’t have the time to search for a creative solution, they have to act quickly. This is probably true, and that’s why creativity comes way before the problem ever happens.
Stress is the nemesis of creativity. The more stressed you are, the less creative you are. For those of you who say, “That’s not true! I work very well under stress and deadlines.” Maybe, but you’re not creative. Your mind rapid-fires ideas and thoughts from the wealth of knowledge that you have already attained. You solve problems and find solutions from the vast array of knowledge that is already a part of the fabric of your being.
Taking time to be creative is vital to our well-being, and to those around us. We need to explore who we are and tap into the creative well in us. There are a myriad of ways to do it, but the first thing that has to happen is we have to stop simply copying others because its the easiest way. When we tap into the our creative soul, we will come face to face with the uber-creative one, and realize that His creative example is the best way we could ever respond to any and all situations and problems.
Monday, February 04, 2008
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