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jensinewall

~ writer, designer, creative thinker

jensinewall

Tag Archives: creative

looking for ideas

14 Thursday Apr 2016

Posted by jensine in blogs, writing

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

brain, creative, creative thoughts, dopamine, ideas, thoughts, writing

Writing has been hard lately so as I sit and stare at both the screen and the keyboard I can’t help but wonder where do ideas come from, what makes them and where can I get them?

There seems to be a misconception that there are creative and non-creative people in the world. The one group have this unexplained power to see the world from a slightly different angle and create things that weren’t there before, the others only standing by in awe.  But that is not true, everyone can be creative – if they let themselves.

Although scientists have been trying to figure out how ideas are made inside our brain they haven’t really been able to figure out too much. They know that dopamine is a main contributor to the process and that certain areas of the brain tend to be more active than others, but they also know that being intelligent and being creative are not necessarily linked, so no excuses if you were bad in school.

The chemical dopamine is vital for people to actually get up and do things. Without this neurotransmitter we would all feel hungry, but not do anything about it and possibly starve to death.  But dopamine has been proven to also play a vital role when it comes to learning and remembering things, moving our body and naughty thoughts. This is possibly the reason why opiates (high levels of dopamine) are so highly addictive, not only do they make us feel fantastic but we seem to be able to do things better, faster and have wonderfully creative ideas.

A healthier way to help the flow of dopamine in your brain is listening to music. Not only does our favourite song make us emotional, kick start our memories or inspire us to jump around the living room as if we were a possessed prima ballerina but it also increases the levels of dopamine produced, encouraging our bodies and minds to do and feel things.

Of course there are foods that can help us along too. Sunflower seeds, whole grain and foods high in antioxidants like berries, tomatoes, broccoli and garlic (maybe not all at the same time) are perfect but ripe bananas seem to be the best. And while caffeine can give you a quick push, it doesn’t last long. And again (and I hate having to type this as lazy as I am) exercise seems to help too.

When all of that fails, and you still have no ideas, there is the simple trick of bringing your seven-year-old-self out to play. All children are incredibly creative and like anything else creativity needs practice. What we did so instinctively as kids we forget as adults. We stop picking up sticks and turning them into wands and swords, we don’t linger and watch as a spider spins her web or stand in awe as a butterfly opens up her wings and flies away. As adults a box is a box, not a time-machine or a typewriter or a hat, for a child a box is something of endless possibilities. And don’t be afraid to try something and fail, if it doesn’t work try again, maybe a little different and who knows what you will discover. After all children constantly fail at things but they change the rules and discover new possibilities, never lost for ideas and full of surprises.

So now I have to put on a CD,  eat a banana, do a few jumping jacks and turn my cereal box into shoes so that I can come up with ideas of how to fill my writing quota for the day.

my little mobile office

looking for words

frenzy Friday

14 Friday Aug 2015

Posted by jensine in Dublin, work and play

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Chocolate Factory, creative, creative thoughts, Dubllin Zine Fair, frenzy Friday, Fridays, writing

Busy, busy, busy is what came to mind every time I’ve looked at my calendar this week and even though it is Friday I still have a few busy days ahead of me. But when I look at my to-do list I have to admit I am pleased with all the crossed off items.

And since the weather has been beautiful in Dublin these last few days I can only hope it will last a little while longer, allowing my frenzy Friday to be bathed in sun as I hop into the car and drive to an appointment. After all if you can’t enjoy the sun in a park or on the beach, driving with loud music and sunshine is a good substitute.

The only downside to my bee-like week is that my writing has stalled -a  few moments here and there just aren’t enough to really get going. But hopefully Sunday will give me  a few hours of creative buzz, frenzy typing deeply desired. And if I lack inspiration I am sure the “Dublin Zine Fair” tomorrow in the Chocolate Factory will provide a few ideas and some motivation – after all seeing what innovative minds have created always helps your own mind find some of its own original thoughts.

A little gift from my sister - it makes me smile every time I go to my desk

a little gift from my sister – it makes me smile every time I go to my desk

day filled with words

08 Sunday Mar 2015

Posted by jensine in Dublin

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

creative, Dublin, Irish Wheelchair Association, Irish Wheelchair Association (IWA), magic, OFFSET, photography, printing, quotes, words

offsetYesterday morning I gave a talk about local journalism to a lovely bunch of women at the Irish Wheelchair Association (IWA). This group of bubbly, lively personalities were chatty and interested, all had something to say and wanted to learn how.

After two hours of talking, leading a lively debate and sharing what I know it was time to head back home and get ready for an afternoon filled with listening.

Once a year OFFSET hosts a ‘creative festival’ to which they invite a variety of creative people to talk about their work in the field of graphic design, animation, illustration, advertising, film, fashion and more.

As I didn’t hear about the conference in time I was only able to attend the talks that took place yesterday afternoon, but it was worth it. I sat through an in-depth discussion about magazines and where they are going. It was wonderful to hear people from the top of the industry give such insight and confirm what I believe – magazines have  a future, and print isn’t going anywhere.

Soon my head was filled with words, thoughts, ideas and facts and it was time for me to make my way back home. As I walked along the river Liffey the sun was setting behind the city, bathing the rooftops in a reddish-golden glow, a beautiful ending to a wonderful word-filled day.

Words are our most inexhaustible source of magic

Albus Dumbledore

sunshine and art classes

04 Thursday Apr 2013

Posted by jensine in work and play

≈ 14 Comments

Tags

art, art classes, arts, creat, creative, pinting, spring, sunshine

The sun has found it’s way back to Dublin and since yesterday afternoon clear blue skies and warm spring sunshine has been mocking my cold.  But while my nose dribbles and glows a vibrant red I must say my spirits have been lifted by the return of spring.

And because the new rays of sun have given me an infusion of energy I decided to make good on a promise I made to myself at the beginning of the year.

For a while now I have been thinking about getting back into drawing and painting. As a child and teenager it was my favourite pass-time but over the years other things have taken over my time and my scribblings have turned into blank pages. But every now and then I feel the urge to create, get my hands painty and attack a canvas with my arty attempts.

Because I wanted to do new and more things this year I decided to give art classes a try, however time flies by and all I have to show for my ambitions are a few new paint brushes. So this morning I decided to turn thoughts into actions and I found myself  an accessible art class and next Friday I’ll drop down and try it out for the first time.

I am quite excited about this and can’t wait to let my inner artist out to fingerprint. Who knows maybe I will even not be as bad as I think I am, which will hopefully motivate me to keep it up.

 

perfect three

02 Saturday Jun 2012

Posted by jensine in awards, blogs, writing

≈ 34 Comments

Tags

appreciated, appreciation award, awards, blog awards, bloggers, blogs, creative, creativeness, friends, love, miscellaneous, random, thoughts, writing

Another week filled with appreciation,writing and creativeness and I get three awards too boot! I can’t believe how thoughtful people are and how many seem to enjoy my little posts of random thought, ideas and sometimes rants.

The lovely EllieBloo thanked me for writing

The weird and very wonderful NovoZen called me creative (I think) 

The endearing Hawkruh appreciated me

Now most blog awards have rules and I am happy to partially abide by them, three of them to be exact. Link back to the blogger who nominated you, link to your nominees and post the award. As I have given tidbits about myself away in the past (I am really not that interesting)  and it has been quite a long day I will just ignore talking about myself or giving long accolades so here are my three times three nominees:

So check them out, enjoy getting to know them and have fun:

My 3×3 for  the Thanks for Writing Award:

The lovely Miles

Entertaining morezenow

Funny lilandjill

Readable Kate

Weirdly wonderful NovoZen

Endearing Hawkruh

Adorable RealityinProgress

Bantering Brigitte

And quirky Kinked Slinky

My 3×3 for the Kreative Blogger Award:

brilliant thesubterraneanworld

captivating newsofthetimes

Wonderful thewitcontinuum

Witty vickynewham

Fashionable katespadegirl

Interesting life@thirtysomething

Lovely circlesunderstreetlights

Big eyed ellieboo

Divers Adverse Univers

My 3×3 for the Reader Appreciation Award

The stunning AsTimeGoesBuy

Picturesque Earl

adorable greeneyedmom

varied katie

wordsmith dpbowman

inspiiring riatarded

The fabulous  Sorryiamnotsorry

Pink Suzy

Clever ailialana

original thought

29 Sunday Apr 2012

Posted by jensine in blogs, day to day, feelings

≈ 10 Comments

Tags

antioxidants, ‘The Uninspired Chronicles’, blog, brain, children, creative, exercise, food, health, ideas, random, science, thoughts, writing

For the first time since I started this blog I have no idea what to write about. As I sit and stare at both the screen and the keyboard I can’t help but wonder where do ideas come from, what makes them and where can I get them?

There seems to be a misconception that there are creative and non-creative people in the world. The one group have this unexplained power to see the world from a slightly different angle and create things that weren’t there before, the others only standing by in awe.  But that is not true, everyone can be creative if they let themselves.

Although scientists have been trying to figure out how ideas are made inside our brain they haven’t really been able to figure out too much. They know that dopamine is a main contributor to the process and that certain areas of the brain tend to be more active than others, but they also know that being intelligent and being creative are not necessarily linked, so no excuses if you were bad in school.

The chemical dopamine is vital for people to actually get up and do things. Without this neurotransmitter we would all feel hungry, but not do anything about it and possibly starve to death.  But Dopamine has been proven to also play a vital role when it comes to learning and remembering things, moving our body and naughty thoughts. This is possibly the reason why opiates (high levels of dopamine) are so highly addictive, not only do they make us feel fantastic but we seem to be able to do things better, faster and have wonderfully creative ideas.

A healthier way to help the flow of dopamine in your brain is listening to music. Not only does our favourite song make us emotional, kick start our memories or inspire us to jump around the living room as if we were a possessed prima ballerina but it also increases the levels of dopamine produced, encouraging our bodies and minds to do and feel things.

Of course there are foods that can help us along too. Sunflower seeds, whole grain and foods high in antioxidants like berries, tomatoes, broccoli and garlic (maybe not all at the same time) are perfect but ripe bananas seem to be the best. Caffeine can give us a quick push but it doesn’t last long. And again (and I hate having to type this as lazy as I am) exercise seems to help too.

When all of that fails, and you still have no ideas, there is the simple trick of bringing your seven-year-old-self out to play. All children are incredibly creative and like anything else creativity needs practice. What we did so instinctively as kids we forget as adults. We stop picking up sticks and turning them into wands and swords, we don’t linger and watch as a spider spins her web or stand in awe as a butterfly opens up her wings and flies away. As adults a box is a box, not a time-machine or a typewriter or a hat, for a child a box is something of endless possibilities. And don’t be afraid to try something and fail, if it doesn’t work try again, maybe a little different and who knows what you will discover. After all children constantly fail at things but they change the rules and discover new possibilities, never lost for ideas and full of surprises.

So now I have to put on a CD,  eat a banana, do a few jumping jacks and turn my cereal box into shoes so that I can come up with ideas of how to fill my day.

To read more on how others try and inspire themselves check out  ‘The Uninspired Chronicles’

Music makes us happy

It takes a long time to become young

Lives of the brain

 

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Shortlisted for Blog Awards Ireland 2012

Me and my thoughts

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And by the way, everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt. ~Sylvia Plath

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