Creativity Information

We Tend To Make Up Our Own Truths: What Stories Are You Making Up?


Someone once said that man keeps looking for truth that fits his reality. Oddly, more often than looking for truth, we tend to make up our own truths. Meet Roger & Elaine. Roger is attracted to Elaine and asks her out. She accepts; they have a good time. Later, he asks her out again, and again they enjoy themselves. After a while neither one of them is seeing anyone else.

One evening on the way home, a thought occurs to Elaine. She says, "do you realize that we've been seeing each other for exactly six months?" Silence. I wonder if that bothered him? Maybe he feels confined.

Maybe he thinks I'm trying to push him, Elaine thinks.

Roger, meanwhile, thinks, "six months?"

Elaine's thoughts continue. But I'm not so sure I want this kind of relationship either. I wish I had more space, time to think about where we are going. Are we just going to keep seeing each other like this? Marriage? Children? Am I ready? Do I even know him?

Roger's thoughts are a little different: so that means ...let's see?February when we started going out, which was right after I had the car at the dealer's, which means I'm?Whoa! Way overdue for an oil change!

"He's upset," muses Elaine, "It's on his face." He wants more from our relationship, more intimacy, more commitment. That's why he's so reluctant to say anything about his own feelings. She gasps, mentally. He's afraid of being rejected! "And they are going to look at the transmission again, it's still not shifting right. They better not try to blame it on the cold weather this time. I can't believe it cost $600. I'll bet..."

He's angry -- I don't blame him. I'd be angry too. I feel so guilty for putting him through this, but I can't help the way I feel. I'm just not sure if...

"They'll say it's only a 90 day warranty. I'll bet they'll tell me..."

I'm too idealistic, waiting for a knight on a white horse. I'm sitting beside a perfectly good person. I enjoy being with Roger, I care about him...he cares about me. And now he's in pain because of my self-centered, schoolgirl romantic...

"Warranty? I'll tell them what to do with their warranty. They can-"

"Roger," says Elaine, interupting Roger's mental tirade.

"Huh?" Says Roger, startled.

"Please don't torture yourself," she says, her eyes beginning to mist. "Maybe I should never have?..oh, I feel so awful?" Roger stays silent, but one eyebrow lifts slightly in puzzlement.

"I'm such a fool," Elaine sobs, "I mean, I know there's no knight. I really know that's silly. There's no knight and no horse."

"No horse?" Roger's eyebrow rises another quarter inch.

"You think I'm a fool, don't you?"

"No!" Says Roger, relieved.

"I need time," Elaine says.

"Yes," he says, after a brief pause. Elaine, moved, reaches to touch his hand.

"Oh Roger, do you really feel that way about me?"

"Yes indeed," says Roger hesitantly.

"Thank you, Roger," She says.

" Thank you," says Roger.

The next day, Elaine calls her best friend. Together they analyze the whole scenario in a marathon two hour conversation. A few days later, Roger plays racquetball with a mutual friend of their's. He pauses before serving and asks, "did Elaine ever own a horse?"

The ways that we see ourselves and the world at large is a function of the "stories" that we make up.

We need to challenge our views on things. After doing this, a whole new set of opportunities may emerge. Our stories lurk in the strangest places!

Eric Johnson is a regular contributor to the Investor's Value View Newsletter. To learn how to contact Mr. Johnson or to subscribe to the Investor's Value View Newsletter, visit http://www.valueview.net

  


MORE RESOURCES:

Delhi Fashion Week to combine luxury with creativity (Preview)
SINDH TODAY, Pakistan - 5 hours ago
New Delhi, Oct 13 (IANS) Luxury and creativity will be exhibited in full throttle at the inaugural edition of the Delhi Fashion Week (DFW) that starts at ...


Why Advertising Is Different Today
Adweek, NY - 5 hours ago
As they disappeared, swallowed by bigger fish, some of the creativity in our business disappeared with them. Agencies today are not as entrepreneurial as ...


High gas prices lead to creativity in vehicle choice
AutoWeek - 1 hour ago
OK, if you insist on panicking at the onset of $4-a-gallon gas, we will join right in. Go ahead, get off the grid, grow your own organic broccoli and wear ...


Fluid Creativity add Pay Per Click specialist
How Do, UK - 10 hours ago
Pay Per Click (PPC) specialist Simon Rattray has joined Fluid as the company look to increase their PPC and search engine optimisation offerings. ...


Q&A: Some insights gleaned from industry innovators
Computerworld, MA - 6 hours ago
Why is creativity suddenly coming off the back burner? When business is more difficult and things more competitive, everyone is trying to run faster than ...


Architecture as a subject allows immense creativity
Financial Express, India - 15 hours ago
My son is currently pursuing IB course. He has taken visual arts, mathematics, physics at the higher level and English, Hindi and business management at ...


Creativity goal of state panel
The Republican - MassLive.com, MA - 21 hours ago
"Our whole economy is driven by innovation and creativity," he said. "We bring it to everything we do." Bosley said the council "will formalize the ...


Creativity’s not a 9 to 5 job’
Times of India, India - Oct 10, 2008
Creativity is not a 9 to 5 job, it comes from enthusiasm. The day I’m not enthused to create comething novel, I’ll stop working, because then I would have ...


Magazine publisher to speak at conference on creativity
Charleston Gazette, WV - Oct 11, 2008
Soon, his creativity took him into technology. Along with Tim O'Reilly, he formed O'Reilly Media in 1978. The company soon became one of the premier sources ...


Good authors immerse themselves in creativity, not just skills
Jakarta Post, Indonesia - Oct 10, 2008
In his article, which appeared in this newspaper on Aug. 23, Setiono Sugiharto wrote, "Writing competence can only be acquired via reading. ...

creativity - Google News

Article List | Index | Site Map
All logos, trademarks and articles on this site are property and copyright of their respective owner(s).
The comments are property of their posters, all the rest is Copyright © 2006 CanadaSEEK.com - All Rights Reserved.