Teresa R. Funke's Blog: Bursts of Brilliance for a Creative Life, page 28

How Introverts and Extroverts Should Really Be Treated

Well, this is interesting, I’ve noticed an influx lately in books and podcasts and TED Talks geared toward enabling introverts to feel their self-worth and helping them maneuver in an “extrovert world.” Out of curiosity, I clicked over to Amazon and did a search in books for the word “introvert,” and dozens of titles came up. I then searched for “extrovert,” and the only titles that appeared were...

Source

Is It Crazy to Mourn Someone Who Never Existed?

They killed off one my favorite characters on one of my TV shows last night, and I’m doing a bit of public mourning here. It’s not that I didn’t know it was coming. I’m way behind on episodes and I’d read that it happened. Though I was dreading it, I’d steeled myself well for the moment. But when this character’s wife got the news of his death and collapsed in heart wrenching sobs, I felt it in my...

Source

All Kinds of Creative

I had a visit with a health care provider today, and she demonstrated a method she’d come up with for one of her procedures that was vastly different from how most of her colleagues perform the same service. Vastly different from how I’d ever seen it performed. I found that very intriguing. Later, she asked about my upcoming book. When I told her the title, Bursts of Brilliance for a Creative Life...

Source

Sure, I Can Do That

The other night, I was attending a summer festival put organized by friends of mine. I was watching math magician, Petter Kolm, perform card and mind tricks. He asked for a volunteer from the audience who was savvy with his/her cell phone, so, of course, I did not raise my hand. Like any good Gen Xer, I can’t live without my phone, but I’m also often unsure how it works. Not to mention I have a...

Source

Lost in Love

I hear the weather has been really nice the past couple of days. I wouldn’t know. I’ve been holed up in my basement office working feverishly on two writing projects with deadlines. These are projects that mean a lot to me, and though I worked to the point of making my arms ache and my eyes blur, I sort of loved every minute I spent hyper-focused on my writing. And then I finished and...

Source

Speedy Gonzales Was My Hero

I have a flash drive that is shaped like Speedy Gonzales. The other day, I was conducting a school visit and one of the students said, “What is that?” “This?” I said. “It’s Speedy Gonzales. Don’t you recognize him?” He did not. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that a 21st century kid wouldn’t recognize “the fastest mouse in all Mexico,” but it made me sad. When I was a child, Speedy was not just a...

Source

The Only Formula You Need to Succeed

Okay, are you ready? I’m going to give it to you. The formula for creative thinking, the steps to success, the blueprint or plan to launch your creativity. I’m going to provide you with a system or a practice or a method you can follow to be your best creative self. You want answers, I know. You want to fill in the blanks. Except I’m not actually going to do that, because steps and systems and...

Source

The More You Change, The Less You Stay the Same

Our youngest child recently graduated from college. As you read this, my husband and I will have just dropped off her furniture and belongings at a storage unit in the town to which she is moving. Once again, our little family is in transition. Once again, we’ve reached the end of a chapter in our family story. The undergraduate years are behind us. So are the exorbitant expenses my husband and I...

Source

Sometimes It Hurts Just a Little

I recently attended a class taught by someone who has been an excellent adviser for my business in the past. Someone I respect. In the middle of the class, he criticized me harshly in front of the entire group. His comment was not wholly untrue, but it was not wholly fair either. I did not defend myself for two reasons 1) I was stunned into silence and 2) I didn’t want to make the other...

Source

Is Hope a Strategy? – Revisited

This weekend, I’m walking into a situation with outrageous hopes, and it reminds me of this conversation I had with my husband. So I’m re-publishing this post from July 2017: The other day, I was explaining a hope I had for my business as I was opening a stack of mail. My well-meaning-but-wet-blanket husband repeated his favorite quote, “Hope is not a strategy.” At that moment...

Source