On one shore of the lake there is a town called Passion and on the other Provision.

The boy was raised in Passion throwing rocks whose ripples lapped the shore.

As he grew he knew, instinctively, he had to move to Provision and as he threw his rocks they lapped its banks.  But he always longed for home.

As long as the echos of the ripples at Provision would last he would go back to Passion.  Then he would return.

As he grew his outrospection inspired him and his experiences strengthened him.

He began to throw larger and larger rocks higher and higher until they hit the middle of the lake – ripples racing to either shore.

It wonders the immense warehouse of your soul, mind and spirit checking the feelings pressure, monitoring the strength and weakness levels, double checking the insecurity read outs, gauging your optimetrix on the optimimometer (a device which measures optimism and pessimism), and gives you, its faithful companion, readouts.

And there is nothing that delights the little robot more than providing read outs. Read outs on your feeling.  Read outs on how your memories are interacting.   Read outs read out read outs.  It is capable of computing millions of readouts per second and excels at combining even the most extraneous data to produce new (you guessed it) read outs.

Introspection was designed by the body to provide information to you, its faithful companion and provider of new information.  It will not be offended if you reject its findings or decide not to use the information it presents.  It is quite content to provide more read outs read outs read outs.

You can send it on specific missions or it will roam at its own providing you with more read outs read outs read outs.

Since its job is not to analyze the data Introspection was specifically programmed with the ability to provide and believe data that is seemingly contradictory.  When recalling a conversation with a friend your happy feelings may produce happy memories of the conversation and the robot will take great delight in printing a read out.  The next day, let’s say it’s not a happy day, your memory of the same conversation may provoke jealousy.  And the robot will be equally delighted to print a new read – paying no mind to the last.

Because of the amicable nature of the robot and the efficacy of its actions many people can become enamored by it.

This, of course, can represent a whole range of problems.  If, say, you are watching Introspection at work you may fail to notice the light has changed and earn a honk from the angry person behind you.  Or, if while reviewing some read outs you realize that two results produce a paradoxical conclusion. You may attempt to believe both simultaneously.  (I am happy about my friend and jealous of her.) People, not programmed to believe disparate information, often find themselves in immensely uncomfortable situations as a result.

Introspection prints read outs.  Day and night.  It is our job to decide what to do with them.

Introspection looks in.  It puts you at the center of your focus.  It is a mirror to look at yourself.
Outrospection looks out.  It makes other people and situations the focus of your attention.

Like the intro and outro of a story they both have a place.

Introspection is the doormat to your life story.  It is where the greatest adventures will begin and end. It is where you will learn about yourself.  It is where you will see your strengths and weaknesses.  In the end, though, it is mostly just a good place to wipe your feet.

Outrospection lifts our eyes from the muddy doormat to the bright red door of opportunity.  It sees people’s needs, it sees what could be, it amalgamates the information gained from introspection with what it sees in the world ‘out there.’

Every great story that I can think of features people who have struck an organic relationship between these two elements.  They temper one with the other.

>Gandhi tempered his awareness that he needed to eat with the knowledge that his people were dying.  Because of his strong sense of justice he decided that he would pay the personal price.  For an interesting read on Gandhi check this out: http://orwell.ru/library/reviews/gandhi/english/e_gandhi

>Jesus, though moved with compassion for the multitude also took time to be alone in the hills.

>Tevye, the dairyman and father from Fiddler on the Roof watched in dismay as his children broke with tradition and as a pogrom was affected on his town.  He was aware of how his children felt and sacrificed his own convictions for them.  He always took time to talk and walk with his own thoughts and God.

>Bob Dylan was aware of what was going on.  He wrote songs that inspired a nation and a generation.  Songs of immense personal searching and reflection on the happenings of the day.  The crowd wanted him to lead them in their revolution.  He knew he was a voice and not a savior.  He complained of people pursuing him – preferring to live a quiet life. Of all the super sensations of the musical world he is one of the few with no self destroying drug addictions.

The list goes on and on.  I would be surprised if you could think of a story where this dynamic relationship did not exist.

“How would you change the world?” was the inane question I was assigned. I couldn’t help but laugh out loud. I was supposed to write IN FIVE PAGES how I would make the world a better place. My grade 10 mind exploded.

“Was this some kind of joke?”

My completed masterpiece was entitled “Gold Fish and World Peace.” Really, I might as well have called it “The Stupid Paper by a Know-it-all kid Who Thinks This Assignment is a Big Fat Waste of Time.” It was no essay I had handed in:  It was a mockera –a hastily thrown together (and mildly entertaining) project in which I crammed the first thoughts that came to mind. (In fact, I sign Christmas cards using the same writing philosophy.)

The idea I submitted was simple:  give every household in the world a gold fish.

I think the plan was that the gold fish would serve as a reminder to the families that they needed to think about something or someone other than themselves.  I reasoned that because it was a living creature people would feel more in tune with nature and therefore would be less likely to throw away recyclables or to pour paint down the drain.  I loftily portrayed neighbors united in their common cause of caring for their goldfish –forgetting about tools not returned and embracing the fish as a new symbol of hope.  Warring factions would see the common bond of the fish between them and stop slaughtering one another. “You have a fish and I have a fish… we are brothers.” It was a beautiful world I had written.

I don’t recall scoring particularly well on that paper, but I think I may have actually learned something.

Truthfully, I think that teacher asked one of the most important questions I have ever been asked. How would I take responsibility in the world and make a difference? How would I put myself in the game? How would I make a difference? That teacher taught me that I could be a part of the solution to the problems I could see around me.

It has been eleven years since I was in grade ten and, you know?, there are not many times that question has come up since.

Do I still think that everyone should own a goldfish?  Well, let’s just say I think there are better options… you might be able to think of some yourself.  Do I think my idea was dumb?  Impractical –yes.  Dumb –no.

The grim reality is that the world WOULD be a better place if I gave my neighbor a gold fish. It’s even grimmer that I probably won’t. It just doesn’t seem like a BIG enough solution.

Has anyone ever asked you how you’d fix the world?

If you can’t think of anything, you might want to give someone a goldfish.

First, a fire will only burn if oxygen is present.  No matter what fuel is present if there is no oxygen there will be no fire. This is why, contrary to popular believe, one should not try to blow fires out.  Yes, it works on birthday candles, but it tends to make things worse in most situations.

Second, the natural bi-product of every fire is water.  It’s true.  When hydrogen and oxygen burn they combine to make water.  Of course it doesn’t make so much water that it puts the fire out… it is quite hot (on account of the fire) and so should probably be classified as steam rather than water. (http://van.physics.illinois.edu/qa/listing.php?id=475)

(Thank you Calgary Board of Education.)

I bring this up as a Stage Two of the discussion concerning the combination of passion and creativity that yields life changing results.

According to my mac [F12] dictionary creativity is “the use of the imagination or original ideas, esp. in the production of an artistic work.”

I think the first half of this is agreeable enough, but the latter misses the mark.

It sort of suggests that the invention of Velcro didn’t have an ounce of creativity in it. Or that Einstein’s approach wasn’t creative.

Sure there is a whole group of people out there using their creativity for artistic work, but that doesn’t exclude everyone else from being creative! Creativity can show herself in many many different ways.  Sorry, I mean many many many different ways.

In fact every person has the innate ability to create.

Stephen Covey, in his book 7 Habbits of Highly Successful People gives us a wonderful insight into creativity.

He says that every action, every step, every piece of art, every bridge, every piece of garbage collected is the result of not one but two creative steps.

The first is seeing before it is.  Seeing your foot take the next step.  Seeing how your art could turn out.  Seeing how a bridge will work and drawing its schematics.  Seeing the floor clear of rubbish.

The second act of creation is actualizing that which you envisioned.  Taking the step, painting the picture, building the bridge, and picking up the trash.

In this light we are all very very creative people.  We see and act every day.

Perhaps picking up garbage isn’t the most creative thing in the world. At some point someone did get creative about the task, though. A grabber/ nabber was affixed to the end of a pole.  It could be operated from the top of the pole.  Perfect! the creator didn’t have to bend over so much. Seems pretty creative to me.

Creativity can invigorate any activity that requires you to exert yourself to find a solution.  (See Chpt. 9 and 10 that deal with how to focus creativity.)

Creativity is one of those things that is hard to describe. It’s a little too fluent to really peg down.  In that way it’s a bit like air.

As was mentioned at the top of this article.  Air has the potential to make things HOT. And we’re back to the car…

Performance vehicles are specially tuned to ram extra air into the engine so it can burn the fuel more efficiently and produce more power.

When we want to cover greater distances at more exilirrating speeds in the cars of our lives we must add air.

So to must we add creativity to our passion.  It is this blend that creates explosive energy catupluting our livese into the best selling biographies section of Chapters and making an honest-to-God difference in our world.