PLAYFULNESS + CURIOSITY Page 7 of 22

Add more play to your day today!

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The Do What You Love team is off to cookery school! We can’t wait to learn new skills and enjoy the process of creating (and of course, eating!) our delicious three-course meals.

How are you going to play today? This week? And at the weekend?

Whatever you do, have fun and enjoy!

Do What You Love Interview – Amelia Critchlow

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Amelia Critchlow is a Visual Artist living and working in London. After completing an MA in Fine Art in 2012 Amelia went on to open and co-direct ArtLacuna Space in South London. Her work encompasses collage, mixed media, photography and moving image. In this interview she shares an insight into how doing what you love is a requirement of the soul, but how the journey there is not always easy…

Amelia Portrait 2013

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Creating magic

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Last week we went up to London for a very special show in the West End – Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, by Roald Dahl. It is one of my favourite books from childhood, and Sam Mendes’ version was a feast for the eyes, full of mystery and surprises, all bound together by a delightful story. There were exploding potions, flying elevators, rivers of chocolate and even some breakdancing. The stage came alive with colour, motion and magic.

Roald Dahl was an absolute genius at capturing the things that fascinate and delight children and adults alike.  From rude noises and naughty characters, to worlds of sweets, and retribution for nasty adults, he captured it all. I met him once, when I was about 8. I queued up for hours at a book fair to get his autograph on my copy of The BFG. When I got to the front of the queue I couldn’t help but stare at this old man, who had a twinkle in his eye and a pocket full of crazy ideas. If he was still alive and I had the chance to meet him again, I’d ask him where he got his inspiration from.

Apparently Roald Dahl wrote most of his books in a shed at the end of his garden, which shows you don’t need to travel far, spend much or do complicated things to get inspired. If he could create dreamcatching giants, square-footed witches, everlasting gobstoppers and a giant peach from inside a hut furnished with a brown chair, tartan rug, small wooden desk and a waste paper basket, surely each of us can conjour up magic wherever we are too.

Here’s another example of simple creativity – just loved seeing how this inventive couple have made November completely magical for their children (when they make the toy dinosaurs come alive…)

I’m all for making your space imaginative, for trying new things, and going off on adventures to get inspired. But sometimes arranging that space, getting round to doing things, or planning a trip can give way to procrastination and excuses. So this week why not take a leaf out of one of Roald Dahl’s swizfiggling books and find a way to inspire yourself right where you are, with what you have now. And be sure to tell us about it on Facebook or Twitter!

Happy Monday!

Kari Chapin creative bundle giveaway winner announced

Thank you to everyone who entered this giveaway to win signed copies of two of Kari Chapin’s bestselling books, and six months’ membership of her creative community. The winner is:

Joanne Heying

Congratulations Joanne! We can tell from your entry just how valuable this prize will be to you and we wish you luck with your new handmade business. We will be in touch shortly by email with details of your prize.

An in case you missed our revealing interview with Kari, you can read it here!

Life according to Mr. K – Finding inspiration

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I had a chuckle with myself recently. This month’s theme is ‘Love to Create’ and ever since I have been devoid of all and any ideas. The irony!!!! What a time for writer’s block. The most creative thing I have managed this week is rustling up an ad-hoc meal with whatever ingredients there were left in the cupboard.

This actually did get me thinking about this topic from a very different perspective. It raises an interesting point about inspiration and what gets our creative juices flowing. I also think it is really important to consider what affects our creativity when as children we were often overwhelmed by our imagination and possibilities… in many cases making the impossible very possible!

We live in a world of technological advancements that would have been considered science fiction not too many moons ago. We are surrounded by huge achievements of engineering, art, literature, technology, science and architecture to name but a few.

Yet I would argue that our world – and more particularly our society – restricts and dampens our imagination. We are conditioned into processes and procedures, and bound by rules. We have our bubbles burst by doubters. We are hampered by the very people who we need inspiring the most. But it only takes one person to show the way.

Do we lack the courage and conviction to follow through with our ideas?

To create is not a whimsical philosophy. It takes courage, as Beth shared in this post, and as I will talk more about next week. It also requires inspiration.

Mother Nature is a constant reminder of what can be created and achieved, ‘life’ being the greatest example. Birds taking flight long before Bernoulli translated it into a mathematical formula. Nests, warrens and dams providing evidence of sustainable construction. It is all around us. We just need to look.

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Thought for the week (28): When I was young…

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When I was young I wrote stories about princesses and castles and faraway lands.

When I was young I used to make up plays and spend hours on my rickety old typewriter, typing up copies of play scripts for my friends. We had carbon paper and tippex on little sheets of paper back then, and I typed with two chubby fingers. I used to direct my friends in the plays, and suspect I may have been a little bossy.

When I was young I loved damming streams, and building dens in the woods, inventing pretend lives for the people whose castoffs we found dumped amongst the trees.

When I was young I remember making a pinhole camera and being fascinated by the blurry images that transpired.

When I was young I spent hours in the darkroom my dad built in our garage, watching in awe as photographic images magically emerged as I sloshed around the trays in front of me.

When I was young I had a calligraphy obsession, and would write swirly words over and over with pointy nibs and Indian ink from a tiny little pot. I even did a demonstration on The Children’s Channel when I was about 10 years old.

When I was young I used to love baking cakes and licking the bowl (and spoon).

When I was young I used to keep a scrapbook every holiday, sharing weird details like what I had eaten for lunch, or what joke my older brother had told me. I stuck everything in – train tickets, postcards, sweet wrappers – and always cut out a pretty header from coloured paper, or drew all over the page.

When I was young I made everyone’s birthday card by hand, with a fistful of glitter and big fat pens. And you should see the state of some of the Christmas tree decorations I persuaded my parents to hang on the tree.

When I was young I was creative without thinking about it. I was free to cut and stick and glue and write and make stuff up and have fun with it all, without being worried about the end result.

When I was young creativity was part of my every day life. Then I grew up, and academia and work took over. It took me many years to find my way back to the creative child inside.

How about you? What were you like as a child? In what ways were you creative? Have you managed to hold onto that? Do you feel differently when you go to create something now? Judged? Pressured? Worried about what it will look or sound like? Concerned about what other people will think?

This month is ‘Love to create’ month on Do What You Love, and we want to inspire you in many ways to JUST CREATE. Whether your medium is drawing, painting, writing, poetry, photography, storytelling, or even creative thinking, we want to encourage you to dive in, get messy and create more for the world to enjoy.

We’d love to hear your creative childhood stories – share them with us on Facebook or Twitter.

Happy creating!

Beth and the team x

Life According To Mr. K – Love Life (3)

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Life is an opportunity, benefit from it.

Life is a dream, realize it.

Life is a challenge, meet it.

Life is a duty, complete it.

Life is a game, play it.

Life is a promise, fulfill it.

–       Mother Theresa

Our lives are all unique. Our own personal stories are made all the more colourful as they blend and interweave with one another’s when our paths meet. They are filled with experiences that create memories, thus providing us with an opportunity to gain knowledge and wisdom for the next chapter.

Every step of our adventure is dictated by the decisions we make. The places we go dictates the people we meet. Science fiction may let us believe different but unfortunately we cannot journey down two separate paths simultaneously, to check where it may lead us. We have to trust our gut instinct and experiences to guide us.

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Life According to Mr. K – Love Life (1)

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I have the great pleasure to introduce you to our next month’s theme – Love Life.

Working for Do What You Love does mean that more and more hyperbole appears in sentences that you either write or speak, love being a perfect example. This is not a coincidence!

I certainly do not want to get all bohemian on you but when you find that right direction and combine it with the right balance, life becomes one great adventure. And living that adventure becomes the reason you jump out of bed every morning. It is only natural that you want to share this with your family and friends, and in our case through Do What You Love to the whole world.

As you may be aware if you read this blog often, my life has changed massively over the past couple of years. I have reflected and written retrospectively about my experiences in my old career and during my time in Japan, but now, given the new theme, it is time to dedicate this month’s posts to the present moment.

Depending on your religious beliefs you may well have different views on what life means and the value of it. I believe that we get one shot at it so I am going to make damn sure that I use my time to live it to its very maximum.

What does living life mean to you? Is it grasping every opportunity that comes your way? Is it dedicating it to a good cause? Is it experiencing as many things as possible? Is it about being happy? Or could it be described as leaving a legacy for the next generation? I think it is most probably a combination of them all with lots of others thrown in depending upon the individual. For me it is Doing What You Love.

Doing what you love does not mean drinking cold beer all the time, constantly sunbathing, not working or necessarily getting rich. Doing what you love is finding the right balance in your life to ensure you remain enthused, interested, motivated and healthy. For example, a cold beer tastes so much sweeter when it is earned and sun bathing may be a much needed re-charge of the batteries after being cold or cooped up inside.

Although I have changed career some of my favourite memories of the summer have been spent ensuring huge concrete pours go off (literally) without a hitch. Then having a cold beer and sharing that achievement with my work colleagues. The trouble was the good days were hugely outweighed by the not so good. This balance of my life had to be readdressed. It would be considered stupid to continue down a path so out of proportion.

“Life’s hard. It’s even harder when you’re stupid.” –  John Wayne

My life now finds me down in Brighton. For those of you not from the UK it is directly below London on the coast. It is vibrant, diverse but has a sense of perspective about it. And like most coastal towns/cities it has a relaxed and laid- back undertone to it. Most mornings I wake early and go either running or cycling along the front. This way I manage not only to get my exercise in for the day but also to enjoy the view with a few select others before the crowds flock. It is also my time when the world and my thoughts are mine alone. Priceless.

I return home and shower before most have even woken up. This early bird routine has been with me since my paper rounds at the age of 11. Personally I think it really is hard to beat an early morning, when the air is fresh and the optimism that a great day is in-store is still a reality.

Another advantage of living by the sea is eating on the roof terrace. Nothing special, but it is a quiet private space where my wife and I eat, plan, laugh and look over the rooftops out to sea. Every now and again we do hold our breath as another seagull flies over our heads waiting to see if we are going to be their next victim(!) but that is a small price to pay… I guess gazing out to sea encourages you to dream. Well this is how I feel life is now. Limitless!!

I then work. Yes work! We are forging our own path and we both truly believe that the world will be a better place if more people were doing what they loved. This is a hugely motivating ideal, which I am sure we can help others achieve. So every email that is sent or blog post written or course content devised may just be that little part of someone else’s day that makes all the difference.

I allow time in the day to go to the gym and to get outside. One thing I miss in particular about my previous career is the outside element of the work. For me now to sit behind a computer all day would be hypocritical, boring and unhealthy. It just isn’t me. So to design my day to suit me provides the balance and variety I crave. We can all do this. The level of freedom we have may fluctuate be we are all in charge. So take charge.

After work we cook and chat about various things, whatever is important, humorous or even annoying! At the moment it is predominantly about the prospect of being parents. Then we eat. I have, do and always will love my food. Then most importantly we have some private time. We may walk, watch a good film or just read. The quiet moments are some of my favourites, then off to bed. What the next day has in store I never know but I can’t wait to find out. This hasn’t always been the case.

This is just a snippet of a common day in my life now. I have made changes to allow me to live it and enjoy it. Do not wait for someone else to live your life for you.

Get up, get involved!

I would be interested to hear your thoughts and how you could readdress the balance in your life so it suits you better!

until next time…

Mr K