Chapter 2/Growth for Life:

1. Chapter 2/Growth for Life: Growing & Creating

2. “The unexamined life is not worth living.” Socrates • “I’m so bored.” An American Teenager Our Need to Grow

3. To reach our full potential we must seek experiences that challenge us to go beyond the familiar Concept A: Our Need to Grow

4. We should do this constantly and purposely Our Need to Grow

5. This means using our God-given capacities to learn and create Our Need to Grow

6. We should be like children who are curious about the whys and hows of everything Our Need to Grow

7. Somewhere around early adolescence we become self-conscious and unsure about ourselves Our Need to Grow

8. We lose that tendency to explore and imagine and end up BORED! Our Need to Grow

9. Are you in a rut??? Read p. 30 Our Need to Grow

10. Each of us possesses an almost limitless capacity to develop ourselves • We need to travel our own unique path to learning and creativity Our Need to Grow

11. Jack Gardner- educator, psychologist (read p. 31 An Abandoned Gold Mine?) Our Need to Grow

12. A lifelong quest – a great bulk of learning is done outside of formal education in the School of Life Examples p.33 & 34 Growth by Learning

13. Formal education is structured, done in a secure, safe environment, it is usually less flexible, more rigid, standardized, “objective” • The school of life is characterizes by freedom, risk taking, spontaneous attitude, independence, the lack of certainty, an individual approach, rather “subjective” Growth by learning

14. Taking the Risk – the deepest learners are those who can draw meaning and growth in spite of tragic events or being afraid Growth by Learning

15. To be a lifelong learner – choose freedom over the prison of security and sameness • Read author Molly Dee Rundle p. 35 Growth by Learning

16. Jesus doesn’t play it safe • Those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life? (Matthew 16:25-26) Growth by Learning

17. Learning offers choices -makes us smart to understand the difference between options Growth by learning The benefits of learning

18. Learning overcomes fear – ignorance leads to fear and prejudice, • fear of the other, • fear of the unknown Growth by learning

19. Learning gives competence – it makes one knowledgeable in different areas, helping one to achieve his/her goals Growth by learning

20. Learning helps us cope with change – • respond to new environment • gain new job skills • enter into new relationships Growth by learning

21. Seven guidelines for taking responsibility for your own learning • Form habits of learning (develop self-discipline, foster curiosity) • Set goals (define the purpose for your life) • Take the initiative (take the opportunity for learning – formal education, evening classes, workshops…) • Be open (receptive to the people and events around you) • Be flexible (ready to change the course) • Do not settle for what is expected (learn the things you want to learn and not simply what everybody else expects) • Have courage (be ready to question the standards and norms and ask the uncomfortable questions) Growth by learning

22. Read Luke 15:11–32, the story of the lost son. What did that son learn in the school of life? How did he grow in knowledge, insight, and skills? How did his learning offer him choices, dispel his fear, increase his competence, and help him cope with change? Growth through Learning

23. The Creation story • Human beings are created “in the image of God” (Genesis 1:27). • However, since God is the Creator, and human beings are made in the Creator’s image, we become creators too. Growth through creating

24. Creativity – the drive to bring something new into being • Our sexuality urges us to bring about new life • History gives evidence of the human tendency to invent new product • The creative impulse accounts for great paintings, sculpture and inventions, bringing about new visions and possibilities for humanity. Growth through creating

25. What do we “need” to be creative? • The common assumption is that an innovator, artist or a great leader must be highly educated and widely experienced. Growth through creating

26. Yet, “the open soul can do wonders with nothing.” Ursula Le Guin • Nelson Mandela spent most of his adult life (23 years) in prison • Ernest Hemingway never finished college • Ann Frank was thirteen when she wrote her diary Growth through creating

27. Creativity begins with openness to the person's • internalworld: feelings, ideas, intuitions • externalreality: life experiences Growth through creating

28. Creative people also develop appropriate skillsnecessary to their field (weld, cast bronze, use chisel) Growth through creating

29. Here is a Fun Creative Problem-Solving Quiz:Are you a professional? This short quiz will help you understand your thinking style better. The questions aren't difficult and you can scroll down for the answers. • 1. How do you put a giraffe into a refrigerator? • The correct answer is: Open the refrigerator, put in the giraffe and close the door. This question tests whether you tend to do simple things in an overly complicated way. How creative you are?

30. 2. How do you put an elephant into a refrigerator ? • Wrong Answer: Open the refrigerator, put in the elephant and close the refrigerator. • Correct Answer: Open the refrigerator, take out the giraffe, put in the elephant and close the door. This tests your ability to think through the repercussions of your actions. How creative you are?

31. 3. The Lion King is hosting an animal conference, all the animals attend except one. Which animal does not attend? • Correct Answer: The Elephant. The Elephant is in the refrigerator. This tests your memory. OK, even if you did not answer the first three questions, correctly you can surely answer this one. How creative you are?

32. 4. There is a river you must cross. But it is inhabited by crocodiles. How do you manage it? • Correct Answer: You swim across. All the crocodiles are attending the Animal Meeting! This tests whether you learn quickly from your mistakes. • Around 90% of the professionals got all questions wrong. But many preschoolers got several correct answers. This conclusively disproves the theory that most professionals have the brains of a four-year old. How creative are you?

33. Please read the two stories on p. 41 and discuss activity 10. Growth through creating

34. In the process of becoming creative one simply does not “wait” for an idea to occur. • Being creative begins with hard, solid work. Growth through creating

35. There are certain steps one has to follow in the process of unleashing one’s creativity : • Preparation to create – the process of gaining the factual knowledge and skills • Concentrated work on the problem or idea (Genius is 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration. Thomas Edison) • Rest and retreat from the problem or idea - a time to clear the mind enables one to find new strategies • An “aha” experience – a sudden new insight is gained • Trying out the approach that is the result of the previous steps to see haw it works Growth through creating

36. Ways to Foster Creativity: • Give your intuition and imagination room to function – creativity grows in a quiet, unhurried moments • Have a creative space – most people have their definite time and space in which they are most productive (mornings, specific chair, and so on) • Interact with innovative people - stimulating relationships can give a charge to your work or idea • Ask questions – specially open-ended questions, “What do you think of…” • Break out of ruts – eating the same food, listen to the same music Growth through creating

37. Set and keep deadlines for yourself – creative people make things happen; without deadlines, our energies tend to drain away • Focus your attention and dig deeper – learn, research, be informed • Set problem and conflicts as opportunities for creativity – many creative people freed their creativity by questions and adversity. • The Attitude of Caring! Growth through creating

38. Our creativity depends on many different factors and circumstances. Among them, an essential one is having leisure – time free from work and other duties. • Look at the word recreation • re-creation - creating again Time of Renewal

39. The Creation story • We began with the story of creation from the book of Genesis. • At the end of the story there is the idea of Sabbath day, the day of rest. Time of Renewal

40. In the Eastern culture the idea of Sabbath/rest is expressed by the concept of emptiness. • People need empty times to open their head and heart to listen, to think, and to be in touch with themselves. Time of Renewal