Carly's Ramblings Blog - Style

Comfort Zones and Mindset & Artistic Process

Blog City – Day 940

Prompt: What are your feelings about your comfort zone? Could you be happy to be living inside your comfort zone forever or would stepping out of it, at least once in awhile, provide you with renewed energy and inspiration?

I realize this was yesterday's prompt, but I liked the prompt and wanted to comment... a cold has hit me and I am feeling a bit dragged out. Having worked yesterday I did not feel I could give it the justice it needed.

The comfort zone is a lovely place to be, but I will admit there is no growth in the comfort zone. It is a place to recharge after stepping beyond and seeing what you can do beyond it. With each new advancement, there is a new level of comfort zone - a grace period of taking a breather before marching forward. We are meant to challenge ourselves, to step beyond and try something new. We can surprise ourselves with new knowledge and exploration... there may be success and a building of confidence, but their may also be failure.... but that is okay, too, as we learn and grow from those mistakes. Keeping a growth mindset is what propels us forward.

A growth mindset can be defined as - "In a growth mindset, people believe that their most basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work—brains and talent are just the starting point. This view creates a love of learning and a resilience that is essential for great accomplishment. Virtually all great people have had these qualities." (from:http://mindsetonline.com/whatisit/about/)

As compared to a fixed mindset - "In a fixed mindset, people believe their basic qualities, like their intelligence or talent, are simply fixed traits. They spend their time documenting their intelligence or talent instead of developing them. They also believe that talent alone creates success—without effort. They’re wrong. (from:http://mindsetonline.com/whatisit/about/)

Having the positive attitude, or mindset, that you can do it if you put your mind and heart into it, energizes me.... and it is being taught in the public schools in the school board where I supply teach.

The idea that 'it is okay to not know, but it is not okay to not try' is something that has always stuck with me. Working with a student willing to try is so much more rewarding than working with a student stuck in the belief that they can't do it - regardless of their starting point.

So I believe that keeping a growth mindset is important and comfort zones are only stop overs on the way to greater growth. To stay locked in a comfort zone is to shift to a fixed mindset and growth will never happen then. We were made to grow and learn.... and we can only do that by stepping out and challenging ourselves beyond the comfort zone.

Blog City – Day 941

Prompt: "Fabric is my blank canvas and fashion textiles emerge as wearable art, touched by the possibilities of threads, beads and artful embellishments." If you are an artisan, you will get this. If not, write anything, you want about this.

Curious who said this quote.... I found this on a google search... Sue Rangley...
http://www.textileartist.org/sue-rangeley-interview-bespoke-embroidered-textiles...

Impressive designs!
I am not an artisan but I can appreciate the creative process that went into such glorious designs. As a writer, a creative person in my own right, I can be energized by her work. She works with fabric, threads and beads... I work with words and craft imagery. Both of us communicate what we love. Both of us follow a process that brings something wonderful from nothing but a spark, an idea. That is what is so amazing about creative people... whether they work with fabric, paints, words.... or even food. Bringing creative sparks to the world brightens things up... opens the stage for marvelous things to happen. Allows for connections to happen and let us you we are not alone.