Tag: creativity

Life, Professional

The Online Idea Factory

by Jasmine D. LoweLeave a Comment on The Online Idea Factory

Why Working From Home Should Be The New Normal

Silhouette photo of man throwing a paper plane in front of a sunset.
Photo by Rakicevic Nenad from Pexels

Yesterday, I woke up to the warm rays of sunshine pouring through my windows. It was the early portion of the nautical sunrise—that cool moment of gentle dark blue skies when the small birds in nearby trees begin to sing. I love waking up that way, without an alarm clock in front of a clear view of my favorite mountain range of all of California framed by a large window. My jaw drops every time as I let the cat out of the apartment onto the balcony, and then back in, and then back out again a few seconds later.

I swear that cat is watching the sunrise along with me as I water the miniature Amazon Rainforest on my balcony. I manage to grab my hiking buff cloth and squeeze in a two-mile run before yoga and then my daily morning meeting for work.

I sometimes look in the background of my own camera feed on my video conference call to see that I have forgotten to roll up my yoga mat. As I do, I realize that I’m usually always in an overly fantastic mood when I see the mat lying there. Everything suddenly stopped feeling like “work-work.”

Continue reading “The Online Idea Factory” →
Nature & the Outdoors

The Extroverted Introvert In The Springtime

by Jasmine D. LoweLeave a Comment on The Extroverted Introvert In The Springtime

I didn’t realize how social I really was until the order was passed down by California’s state Governor to stay home. Stay home? I didn’t remember two consecutive days in my entire life, except for the times I was really sick when I stayed inside of a building. I was always outside, either running, driving, or hiking. When I got bored, I went outdoors until the day that I couldn’t.

Continue reading “The Extroverted Introvert In The Springtime” →
Life, Stories

Writing: the Gateway Drug

by Jasmine D. LoweLeave a Comment on Writing: the Gateway Drug

My hands hit the keyboard again and I felt as though they haven’t touched these rows of hard plastic in over twenty years. I write everyday whether the sun is shining or the cold and heavy showers of rain hurl down on top of me, but I feel as though this isn’t enough.

Continue reading “Writing: the Gateway Drug” →

Life, Stories

Turn on the Light

by Jasmine D. LoweLeave a Comment on Turn on the Light

Creativity is the phenomenon in which a person creates something new that has some kind of value. Imagination is the ability of forming mental images, sensations and concepts, in a moment when they are not perceived through sight, hearing or other senses. It is the work of the mind that helps create and helps us provide meaning to experience and understanding to knowledge. Imagination is a fundamental facility through which people make sense of the world, and it plays a key role in the learning process.

Why am I talking about creativity and imagination? Well, it’s because kids today really are less creative. According to an article I read the other day, in a study of about 300,000 creativity tests going back to the 1970’s, Kyung Hee Kim, a creativity researcher at the College of William and Mary, found creativity has decreased among American children in the recent years. Since 1990, children have become less able to produce unique and unusual ideas. They are less humorous, less imaginative and less able to elaborate on ideas.

It’s as if a light switch has been menacingly shut off and now all the little children who were afraid of the dark are left wandering around trying to turn it on again, and they can’t. They sit by themselves in a world where they can never see what’s ahead of them. They are blinded by what is no longer visible to them, and they can no longer picture elaborate images in their minds because they have nothing to go off from.

It’s a sad world for the children left alone in the blackest of night. The earth just sits and turns to dust as stories are stopped being told and the many worlds, once shaped from the imagination of our ancestors, die alone in some far of sector of the cold and dark universe. If imagination ever ceases to exist, so do us oddly shapes of flesh. There would be no progression into the future; no technological advances; no beautiful smiles and contagious laughs; no lucid daydreams and adventurous sleeps; no goals in life; and no hopes for tomorrow. We would all simple fall into a dark and gloom rut in which we spun our wheels in complete darkness. It’s just another reason to turn on the light.