Tag Archives: self-expression

Resuscitate your creative heartbeat with a CPR!

Resuscitate your creative heartbeat with a CPR!

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It’s easy to fall into the routine of daily life.  Making time for your creative expression, whether it’s an avocation or a career, can be difficult for some people.  Here is a piece of writing that can help strengthen your vision and resolve by reminding you why you’re doing what you’re doing.  It’s called a CPR, which stands for Context, Purpose, Results. 

Topic:  Pick an area that’s meaningful to you, and make that the title of your CPR.

Playing the Ukulele

Results:  Make a list of 10-20 things you want to result from playing the ukulele.  They can range from concrete and specific to abstract and ethereal, but make sure you write them in the present or past tense, as if they have already happened.

  • I learned twelve chords.
  • I can play all my favorite Tiny Tim songs.
  • I really enjoy practicing every day.
  • I don’t even mind now that the uke looks so tiny in my hands.
  • People love to sing with me when I pull out the uke, and I feel like a party animal now.
  • The uke really feels like an extension of my body because I play it so much.
  • People call me all the time, asking if I’ll bring my uke to their parties, and I make so many new and interesting friends because of it.
  • I really feel self-expressed.

Purpose:  Write why you want to play the ukulele.  Then, think about what you’ve just written.  And say what that makes possible.  And then, say what makes that possible.  Continue to "ripple out" the effects of your uke-playing to see the largest possible effect it has on the world.

I want to play ukulele because the special plinky sound of the strings makes me feel happy whenever I’m feeling blue.  If I’m truly happy and self-expressed, I will brighten the lives of those around me.  If those around me are brighter, they will touch and enliven their friends, family, and co-workers.  If this many people even spread one small, bright note of authentic cheer to everyone they know, I will be contributing to world peace.  So, my playing ukulele contributes to world peace.

Context:  Write a few words that sum up the kind of person you’d have to be to make each of these things true, i. e. if what way do you need to move around your world to achieve these goals?

playful, disciplined, expressive, open

Take what you’ve written, and put it on the wall where you can see it (with the Context at the top, then the Purpose, then the Results at the bottom) every day, and let it remind you of what you really, really want.

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     "Hide not your talents.  They for use were made.  What’s a sundial in the shade?"

     -Ben Franklin