5 Totally Liberating Things To Do This January 2012 That Will Kick-Start Your New Year

It's 2012. This is it. We are now in the future!

So how's your year going so far? I hope it's going well and living up to all your wildest expectations...

This year for me so far has been a blast. Now I'd like to tell you about 5 Totally Liberating Things I've Done So Far In 2012... things that so far have been like blowing away the proverbial cobwebs and have allowed me to refocus my mind on what matters most to me. I thought it might be interesting to share with you, so here goes...

5 Totally Liberating Things To Do This January 2012 That Will Kick-Start Your New Year:

1. Rearrange your personal creative space. I did this the other day. My number one work priority in my day-to-day life is simply to 'create' (drawing, sketching, illustrating, producing ideas, writing) to my best ability, and to this end, I need to exploit the maximum potential out of the limited workspace I have. Having everything chaotically bundled on one 'workstation' desk was becoming a nightmare. Staring endlessly at the distractions of the internet and the computer screen were, I realised, 'totally not working' for me! So I had a good think about what my real requirements were, took time to reassess what I really needed, and suddenly it hit me! What seems painfully obvious now, I only just realised. I needed to sort out my creative space. So I split up the creative and brainstorming side of my work from the purely administrative and distracting 'processing' part of my work (with the computer, notebook, diary, etc), and decamped to a free space in my living room. I now have no computer or technological distractions, I now look out of a beautiful bay window at a sunny view, and I have all my pens and paper to hand - permanently. I cannot describe the difference this simple shift has had on the way I feel about my work! Liberated!
2. Get your hair cut off! I lost the plot with my scraggy split-ends once and for all the other day and suddenly felt an enormous urge to just go and get my hair cut. I had tried for so long to have long, beautiful hair but it sooooo wasn't working - I realised it was, quite literally, dragging me down. It so wasn't me. It was flat, lifeless, and, well, boring. So off I went that day for the sudden chop! "Just cut it off! I am sick of this old hair not doing anything! Make me feel like me again!" Edwina Scissorhands set to work with gusto. (The woman wasn't too chuffed by my frazzled dry ends either.) An hour later, I could feel a marked and noticeable swing in my stride as I stepped out of the hairdresser's feeling absolutely follically liberated. Just an inch or two, but what a difference. Bounce!
3. Give up the booze for 2 weeks and instead spend the time you would have been half-cut or mildly inebriated instead thinking really hard about What It Is You Really Want. I did this. I know, I know, I already spend an enormous amount of my time pondering this question...but this time I really felt focused! Go cold turkey after the excesses of Christmas/New Year and give your self a bit of a break from digesting ethanol and sugars. January's such a boring month anyway, you might as well use it as a good time to focus on your health and fitness and what you might want to achieve in the coming year. But back to Goals. I thought about What I Really Want in life, and wrote down no more than 20 things that I actually want. I concentrated on feelings. It strikes me that most of what we 'want' isn't so much about achieving tangible 'things', or 'having this' or 'getting that' - nah, most of what we really want can usually be distilled down to some ulterior feeling which we seek to have inside of us. e.g. security, warmth, power, love, comfort, etc. For example, "I want a flashy new sports car" probably really equates to: "I want others to look up to me/I crave admiration from others/I want a lot of attention." For example, "I want to be rich and famous" probably equates to: "I desperately seek affirmation of my worth from others." We all do it. Think about it really hard! Write down what it is you really want.
4. Ditch your favourite old tunes that were so last decade and embrace the Modern Music! I cleared my entire iPod of all the old stuff that I'd been faithfully listening to last year...and the year before...and possibly the year before that...and just suddenly thought, "We're in the future now! This is 2012! NOW is exciting. Let's keep it fresh and modern. And DEFINITELY not boring! Let's give the kids a chance!" There's a danger as you get older of falling into the Trap Of Comfortable Slippers, i.e. 'I do this a certain way and I know what I like and I like what I know and I'm happy with my choices thank you very much...so kindly leave me alone to my old ways...' BUT YOU'RE WRONG!! Suddenly 2012 sounded fresh and exciting and the place to be. Old things sounded, well, old. Dated. Tried and tested favourites were sounding done-to-death. So I scrapped the old stuff that had been so easy to listen to (not easy-listening, I hasten to add, hell no!) and went straight out and bought some Bangin' Beats. Stuff from now. Modern stuff. Cool stuff, not pipe-and-slippers-music. Dance music. I felt alive again! Again, Dr. l.i.b.e.r.a.t.e.d. (LBRTD?)
5. Live Out Your Perfect Day. Again, I'm thinking about what would make your life better. Today can be better than yesterday, and tomorrow promises to be better than today! So here's what to do. Take an afternoon to write down 'My Perfect Day' - everything; from when you get up, who you speak to and meet, what you are wearing, what you eat, what scent you wear, where you are, what it feels like, and what you get up to during the course of the day - and write it ALL DOWN. In grotesque amounts of detail. The more detail the better! Next, when you've a free day (perhaps at the weekend?) set that alarm and then just do it! Live it out! Enact your Perfect Day. I did this at the weekend and it was amazing. It was a brilliant day. The only thing that was missing, sadly, was the sunny weather, but hey, it's January....we can't have everything... You will realise if you do this, I think, just how many tiny, little, seemingly insignificant things make up such a Big Deal in living your perfect day, and hence, your life. For me it was such small things: it was setting the alarm earlier and getting out the door, wearing my best clothes, getting more exercise, eating nicer foods (and more fruit!), it was sensory pleasures such as the sense of smell that made all the difference; and best of all, it hardly cost me any money. And now that I've done it once, I can definitely do it again! So in this simple experiment I conducted I think we can safely say that happiness is in many ways not dependent on winning the lottery but in how you can maximise the physical way you feel. Do it!

So that's my 5 Top Things I've Done So Far This Year That Have Been Utterly Liberating... As you can see it's all about living in the moment, the now of today, the now of 2012. I hope you've found this article interesting or maybe you've been urged to go and so something equally liberating in your life. Have a happy 2012! Here's to Now!

Annie

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Brand New Dictionary Definitions

iPeoiaud (n.) – generic device to be found dangling from the ears or hanging out of the pocket of some ultra-attractive alpha person, which makes the wearer feel very happy and content with their life.

iPhad (n.) – trend for the latest technological electronic device to add to one’s personal body armoury of cables, wires, screens and earplugs, without which life would be impossible.

iJone (n.) – a generic technological gadget available to purchase in stylish black or white with one’s Christmas bonus that allows one to feel socially on a par with, or superior to, one’s social competitors/peer group. Plural iJones.

iGlare (n.) – the look of rapture and intense excitement I have on my face as you pull out your latest iJone mid-conversation to show off its like amayyyyzing features and cool apps. “Like, FASC-in-a-ting.”

iZone (n.) – area in the home that used to be given over for conversation and asking how you are getting on (such as the kitchen table or dining room), but which is now silenced by the tapping of fingers on iPhad gadgets and the scrolling of menus on iJones.

iGrid (n.) – the vast power supply packs, generators, servers and air-conditioning units that modern iPeoiaud users must each individually transport with them when travelling abroad or to the country to power up all their iJones, without which, life cannot continue. As in, “Have you packed the wellies? Yes. Have you packed the waterproofs? Yes. Food? Yes. Oh wait! We haven’t left any room in the car boot for the iGrid!”

iBone (n.) – type of magnetic autoslave chip inserted under the skin of iPeoiaud shoppers on completion of their first purchase, that makes the shopper keep coming back panting slavishly for more six weeks prior to the release date of every new iPhad.

iGod (n.) – Steve Jobs. Religious leader of the 21^st century, with a massive following of Appleists and Apple Witnesses who make pilgrimages every 12 months to one of the holy sites where they queue for days kneeling and worshipping before handing over some monetary offering to their deity.

It's a funny old world...

;-)


Annie

If I have learnt anything at all about creativity...

If I have learnt anything at all about creativity...

...it is that people (consumers) want to see something that is genuinely different - something genuinely new, fresh, and highly original. What they don't want to see is same-old-same-old - old ideas rehashed and reworked to be your own. People will talk only about what is new, cutting edge, genuinely different and conversation-generating. I think about this statement in terms of art, design, engineering, product design, music, performance, commerce, consumerism and ways of thinking.

So do not copy. Do not imitate. Do not seek to do as others have done. Do not do what is 'in vogue', fashionable and already being done. Look deep into the innermost recesses of your very being, excavate the mines of your soul, and see what nugget of newness you can find there. Strive to be utterly original in thought and in action. Do not be afraid. 'Fortune favours the bold'. It is so hard to be truly original, and few will achieve groundbreakingness, but it can not be impossible. It is not just a 'desired' of creativity; it is much more important than that: it is a necessity. It is very necessary to be truly ground-breaking and original in art.

Annie's Daily 5 Essentials

With the days ever shortening at the moment as we head towards the winter solstice, I think it's even more important to banish those winter blues! A few years ago I came up with my own distilled principles for living life well and with greater satisfaction. Forget complicated life 'rules', or philosophies, gargantuan 'to do' wish lists, diets or finite 3-month 'health kick' regimes. You'll finish them, go 'yay!' for a week or two, then go back to the way you were before. Years ago I started to analyse what my definition of a satisfying life actually was, and then I stripped it right back and pared it down to the absolute basics. So I came up with my own simple approach - entitled "The Daily 5" - which I have written on a whiteboard in my office at all times:

Annie's Daily 5 Essentials

1. Laugh
2. Exercise - preferably outdoors
3. Be Creative
4. Learn Something New
5. Eat Well

What it means is that no day can truly be a good one unless I have wholehearted done all of these five!

Laugh. Find someone to share a joke with, or, if you can't, think up something funny yourself. Being amused by something energises us and relaxes us for many minutes after we've first thought about it.

Exercise. Make sure you get outdoors for exercise, daily, in order to feel the rays on your face and get the dose of vitamin D we all need on our skin. A day inside is a day wasted, in my opinion.

Be creative. Our brains are naturally creative anyway, but make sure you take time to think laterally - just do something off your own back for its own sake - and put pen to paper. Doodle. Wander. Ponder.

Learn something new. All it takes is a bit of time away from the daily grind to read a book or come to terms with some idea or principle. Your mind is a great thing, but it too needs to be fed and exercised to be kept fit and agile.

And finally, eat well. I don't do diets but I don't eat a great deal of junk food either. Why starve and then gorge? Treat your body to nice wholesome things (and predominantly whole foods) and it will in turn treat you well over the years. My lifestyle approach now means that I don't mind taking the time to cook everything from scratch.

Just kinda basic really! These are my principles for a good day, and so a good life...what are yours??

Annie

Introducing Circumference: New Ways of Thought

Circumference: a blog by Annie Copland

All of the prophets agree on one thing: to paraphrase:

"To thine own self be true."

To be oneself, to be able to look in the mirror and see no one but oneself, to walk into the room being no one but oneself and wearing no one else's clothing but one's own. They make it all sound so easy! It most definitely is not. In fact it may be the hardest thing.

I myself have a favourite quote which paraphrases this idea - from Goethe:

"What has not burst forth from your own soul will never refresh you."

(It means looking inside your heart of hearts and finding that nugget of "you-ness" that actually makes you you, and not some insipid copy of someone else whom you admire or believe you should be...)

We all know places we have been where we've pretended to be someone else, worn someone else's clothes, borrowed someone else's dress sense, put on someone else's accent, said things just to "fit in", and - in short - not been ourselves. It can actually make us feel quite uncomfortable.

Let me suggest to you that one of the bonuses of getting older is that the true self finds it easier to make itself seen and heard.

You will know when you are being your true self when you step over the doorway to the home of a familiar old friend. The wine tastes sweeter. The food tastes that little bit more natural, more wholesome. The laughter is soft and natural and not put on. The water tastes more refreshing and you feel 100% relaxed and at ease with yourself. You know that you are 100% acceptable as you are, not as something they think you should be. No need to impress, no need to defend, you just are yourself.

Today we'll find happiness in life by being with more of those people who just "make us feel ourselves". Go on!

School Run?....Yeah, Run For Your Life!

I'm getting really angry at the moment with the local 'mums and kids' school run. A time-worn rant, but fresh as seen from my eyes.

Basically I live a few minutes' walk away from a top notch fee-paying junior school, and any time I have been walking past the gates to its entrance, I've felt like I've been dicing ever-closer to death.

Between 3pm and half-past 3, the pavements which hitherto had been quiet thoroughfares for the pedestrian minding his or her own business, instantly become mayhem. Pandemonium. Kerb-to-kerb carnage. I thank God I wear my iPod so that I can't actually hear the accompanying conversations of what's going on.

Most days I nearly get killed by the said middle class, smartly-uniformed school pupils on those stand-on scootery things, riding willynilly down the pavements. Sometimes it's bikes. Now, I had the luxury of being brought up in the country where cycling off-road was the norm, so maybe it's hard to teach a kid to cycle in a "built-up" environment. But as a pedestrian I cannot STAND it when these so called educated, polite, considerate parents actually encourage their 4 or 5-year olds to screech down the (narrow) pavements on their bikes/trikes/scooters. To school! Not once teaching them to brake and get out of the way for other people. It's actually pretty inconsiderate.

Then there's the parents themselves. You should see the carnage that happens as a gaggle of identikit Moms (yes, Boden and knee-high boots and the ubiquitous Puffa jacket) arrive in their convoys of Audi estates and identikit BMW X5s to sweep up their precious darlings. They all MUST have the nearest available space to pick up young Thomas and darling Katie: 5 minutes away WON'T DO.

Yesterday I nearly got killed by one such mother who actually mounted the kerb, reversed into somebody else's private drive (which I wouldn't be too chuffed about), then performed a rather shoddy 3-point turn on the pavement - in the busy main road, holding up traffic. All the while I had to stand there wondering if this woman who was frantically mirror-talking to two kids in the back seat actually even SAW me. I doubt it.

A few days ago I had made it beyond the school gates to the designated "mum parking point" (basically a street that only ever fills up for half an hour a day), only to find that I had to battle my way past two fee-paying school boys who were literally kicking each other's nuts in, as they waited for their turn to enter their mother's SUV. I practically had to karate-chop my way through their boxing match. Their mother didn't seem to pay a blind bit of notice. Tears from both boys ensued and I actually yelled something like "it helps if parents actually keep their children UNDER CONTROL" behind me, but it no doubt fell on exceedingly self-absorbed, deaf ears.... so inconsiderate!

So, to get past the school, I must stand and patiently wait my turn to cross the road, whilst I let the troop of 4x4s and huge estate cars guzzle up and absorb children. Not once do these women (always women, I've noticed!) ever think to be polite enough to let pedestrians cross the road. They then screech off at breakneck speed - seemingly trying to go from 0 to 60 in under 2 seconds - roaring over speed bumps and veering past parked or reversing cars. Downright dangerous. I'm not making any of this up. All the while they're looking in their rear-view mirror mouthing: "AND HOW WAS YOUR RUGBY MATCH TODAY, HENRY??"

I used to think that people from posh schools were brought up to have manners. Now I see they're all just the same, these inconsiderate townie numpties.

Crime and Punishment in the capital

So, I become a crime stat for the second time in my many years in the capital. My weekend goes swimmingly until precisely 10.30pm last night when I realise I have a 'Police note' dropped inside my car. Uh-oh. My heart sinks. Further inspection reveals a nice 2-inch gap prised between passenger door and body of car. 'Attempted break in'. Arghhhhh.....not again...

Policemen two come round to visit me this a.m. Am visibly routine and nonchalent, expectant now of this type of petty crime. Invite officers over the threshold to perform the mandatory 'statement taking' (it takes two of them these days); but shocked that police standards have slipped so much these days that they actually dare to SIT DOWN WITHOUT being asked! - I mean, did you EVER? Shocking!

Boringly feel like am having deja-vu after we discuss the circumstances of the 'crime'. Neds. Ne'erdowells. 'Just kids'. But am somewhat surprised when Officer 1 summarises in a bored tone: "Well, you know what you've got to do - MOVE OUT!" Yes, the thought had crossed my mind, too. No point in making the streets safer, striving hard to make our communities feel like safe places, being tough on tracking down crime, or whatever else the police used to do before they visited and beseated themselves in other people's flats of a morning while it's raining outside, etc, etc, etc. No - that's the official police advice now: if you don't like the crime - JUST MOVE OUT! So simple. Yep. You heard it here first.

After not sleeping much last night, naturally, whilst decrying petty crime and pre-pubescent criminals (what were they: high on Irn-Bru?), feel lightheaded and sleepy come dinner prep time. So much so that I try to open a tin of tomatoes with a nutcracker. Great. Crime drives the innocent insane!

The CCF (Carer-cum-Fiance), seeing my malady, jumps to his feet and sneakily puts the kettle on. "What are you doing?" I suspect of him.
"Nothing."
He brings over a bowl of what looks like steaming boiled water in a bowl.
"There - it's a hot flannel to put over your face - you look like you need it," he says with care.
"That's a floor cloth." I point out. "I'm not putting a floor cloth on my face."

Comfort food of lasagne washed down with a litre of cooking wine seems like the only option at this late stage.