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Creativity during days of isolation
As many of us are forced to return to lockdown and cope with the isolation of the pandemic that will hopefully be behind us soon, here are some creative things people are doing.
Came across this video of Annie Lennox at home on the piano playing one of my fave piano pieces:
Something I want to accomplish too one day.
What a funny interruption at the end.
Feel free to share anything you have.
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39 Replies
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Hey Jung, I wish you luck and know you will do it one day.
Interesting she had a Bird Fan. That’s cool. I always say if you get the attention of a bird, animal to the sound of music. You done a good job.
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Hey Joe, good Sunday afternoon! I think you are right, that bird must have been admiring the music. Thanks, I am feeling very motivated these days to get back to the piano. Seeing a video of myself playing this song from so many years ago recently made me remember that passion I had for it, and I want that back. With passion, we can survive anything,
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Wow, here is a golden nugget of wise advice from Annie Lennox on the key to creativity!
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And I continue on with writing poetry, rediscovering painting, keeping up with drawing/doodling/sketching, doing other crafty things of interest to me, and baking more often of my nutfree things I can safely eat… but I have 2 NutFree Bakeries in Ottawa to which I can safely enjoy Nutfree treats from when the cravings for storebought hit????
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I saw your video and you sound really good to me. Stick with it Jung and you will do it.
Passion equals love and with termination and focus you will succeed. What was that Nike saying. Just do it… My Friend.
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Thanks Joe! I will definitely “just do it”. 🙂 Maybe way in the future the Dulcimer too. It kind of looks like if you can do the piano, the extension to be proficient with the Dulcimer might be an easier step. It’s nice to dream for now anyway.
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I like what this video says about handwriting.
Handwriting slows me down, helps me to collect my thoughts, and express myself creatively, and find it soothing. Find it helpful to cope with stress, and has often given me some insight I might not have had if I didn’t slow down. The act of handwriting, the process can be therapeutic, that is not quite the same as quickly typing on the the keyboard. Some food for thought.
Try it, get some paper and a “nice” pen. Personally for me a nice pen like a fountain pen makes the act of writing more pleasurable and enjoyable, and that tends to foster more writing out of me which I think is a good thing. But anything you enjoy to write with is fine. The MLT pens are very comfortable and nice.
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This guy was spot on Jung. Letter handwriting has been thrown by the way side. It’s the same with the phones and social media. I myself refuse to text. If you need me than call me. It’s more personable. I rather have the human touch of talking than texting. I always say technology is good and bad. I’m probably old fashion I guess.
You just need to decide what is important to you and choose what side of the fence your on.
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I heard on the radio this morning that lots of people are more forgetful these days of isolation due to the pandemic. Going out for walks, journaling etc are some activities that can help.
A BBC article talks about it too.
Many of us have found ourselves in an isolated routine during the pandemic – and it turns out, that’s not very good for your memories.As Catherine Loveday, professor of cognitive neuroscience at the University of Westminster puts it: “Trying to remember what’s happened to you when there’s little distinction between the different days is like trying to play a piano when there are no black keys to help you find your way around.”As well as the days merging into one, so do the things you do in those days. In an office you might walk past a room where you had a particular meeting, which reminds you that you needed to email someone about it. At home there are no cues to help you remember the different parts of your work. Every memory is tagged to sitting at your computer. At work you might remember exactly where you had a conversation – by the lifts or in the office kitchen – and that helps you not to forget it.Then there’s a general fatigue, which also doesn’t help our memories. Zoom meetings are tiring, some work is much harder from home and holidays are getting cancelled. A lack of routine and anxiety about the pandemic can disturb our sleep. Put all that together – basically we’re consistently tired.So with the combination of fatigue, anxiety, a lack of cues, and fewer social interactions, it’s no wonder that some of us feel our memories are letting us down.The good news is that there are things we can do about it. Going for a walk, especially along unfamiliar streets, will bring your brain back to attention. And even moving makes a difference. Do you have to sit at your desk for every meeting? If it’s a phone call could you walk along the street chatting instead.Making sure the weekdays and the weekends are different enough not to merge into one can help with the distortions our new life can have on our perception of time.Loveday advises adding more variety to our lives, which might involve some creative thinking to achieve. If you can’t go out, she suggests finding a completely new activity at home, and then telling someone about it afterwards to help you remember it better.Deliberately reflecting on your day each evening can help you consolidate your memories. You could even write a diary. It’s true that less happens that’s noteworthy these days, but it could still be interesting to look back on one day. It can also help your memory right now.Dear Diary…8 WAYS TO MASTER THE LIFE-CHANGING HABIT OF JOURNALINGFrom Albert Einstein to Frida Kahlo to Sebastian Vettel, many of the world’s greatest thinkers and achievers have chosen to keep a journal. As well as guarding some of the most personal thoughts, a diary can improve health and help achieve professional success. But before you turn and fill a new page of your story, we’ve put together a few tips to kick things off.1. Find a purpose.First of all, decide what your journal is for. Is it going to help you organise your goals and track achievements, will it be a creative outlet, or a way to cultivate gratitude? For some, journals also help to stay on top of their daily to-dos and remember important details. It’s entirely up to you, which is already an encouraging start.2. Untangle your mind.Because writing things down keeps your mind uncluttered and helps you stay organised, it is a great way to feel balanced and less stressed. It’s proven that journaling can help you prioritise tasks and tackle them effectively. Just like pouring your heart out with pen on paper can help resolve emotional difficulties, using a journal at work can help you figure out the next steps for growing your business or solving a pressing dilemma.3. Write, don’t type.Numerous studies have proven that writing by hand is the key to reaping the benefits of journaling. It improves memory, encourages self-reflection, and makes you slow down mindfully.4. Let it flow.Free-writing and stream of consciousness are not reserved to surrealist artists. By letting your mind run free on paper, you too can tap into the deeper recess of your mind and uncover creative thoughts. To make the process smooth, choose a writing instrument and ink that writes fluidly and glides on paper – if you get a burst of ideas, you can write quickly and catch up with them.5. Consistency is key.One of the most essential elements of making good habits stick is to practice them regularly. You can incorporate journaling into your morning or evening routines. For example, sit down to write with your morning coffee or tea, or keep your journal next to your bed and write some reflections every night before you switch the lights off.6. Shake things up.It is easy to get stuck in a rut with any habit, including journaling. Refresh your practice by doing something unexpected: write with your non-dominant hand, head outdoors, choose a new location, or use a different colour ink. Experimentation helps you keep the creative juices flowing.7. Pause the perfectionism.Remember that your personal journal is not for reading. The goal is to get your thoughts on paper and your mind in good shape. So, don’t edit – just write. You can let professional editors do their job when your most successful ideas make it into a memoir.8. Get inspired.A blank page can be intimidating. Next time you feel the weight of a writer’s block, use writing prompts to kick-start your creativity. Find a moving quote and respond to whatever it sparks in you. If you are inspired by a particular person, describe what it might feel like to spend a day in their shoes. Envisioning what you can achieve is more than just blue-sky thinking – dreaming, after all, is a way of planning.The benefits of pen-to-paper journaling are endless and personal; from calming your mind, to setting and smashing your goals, to uncovering ideas and turning them into professional success. -
Interesting, that piano analogy reminds me of something similar in my telecommunications work.
When there is a data transmission system, the nodes at each end (Routers, switches, Multiplexers, Channel Banks etc), they synchronize to the data stream, binary ones and zeroes, on the line. When there is no data traffic, and the data stream is all zeroes, soon the equipment on the ends have nothing to synchronize on, and the transmission systems internal clocking starts to drift relative to the other ends system, and the network will eventually go into alarm. To prevent this, when there is no data traffic, the equipment at each end generate a keep alive signal of a few ones and zeroes every few milliseconds or so, so the equipment stays in sync. I think people are the same way, we need stimulation (a keep alive signal) during pandemic isolation to stay healthy, or else it’s not good for the body and mind.
So keep those creative juices and activities flowing.
Create something!!! Creativity keeps us alive. -
I like what this 103 year old pianist says at the end, that music never lets you down. People may, but not music.
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Oh I love this. A true story about the power of music! This is so moving, you have to see this. This 109 years old lady, her life was music, and music saved her and her friends literally.
“Music is god, in difficult times you feel it especially…In music, even the bad is beautiful…”
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Amazing. Thanks for sharing this, Jung. I like when she said,”Music is God.”
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Glad you liked it JP! 🙂 It is such a touching and inspiring story.
Here is another short video about this amazing lady and her philosophy on life.
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In terms of creativity I finally recorded a rhythm guitar track of an original song. When I listen to it, I can imagine additional instruments in the “song” and also a melody goin over the rhythm part.
I sent the track out to some music friends of mine and the feedback was positive. I have about 15 or so other rhythm tracks and will record and distribute to the same friends over the next few weeks. Mike.
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