THE WORLD IS OUR TEACHER

When I was younger,

I'd often get myself into trouble and have to stand in the corner of a room.

Or I'd have to help dad with the gardening -

trimming lawn edges of which I didn't give a monkey's about.

But during the time I was bored cutting the lawn edge,

during the time I was stood head down in the corner of a room,

I learnt things I wouldn't have learnt before.

It wasn't about my punishment,

It was about what I saw during the time I thought would be unbelievable dull.

While out gardening, I observed a small spider.

It was spinning a remarkable web ready for its nest of eggs to hatch.

A spider, just getting on with life, doing the best for its offspring.

No matter how big or small, all creatures are just going about their business,

making the most of their time on earth.

While I was stood in the corner of a room, 

I started to notice the paintwork on the wall,

and how the wooden skirting boards joined together.

It got my mind intrigued.

What is the purpose of a skirting board?

Are there different shapes?

It got me wondering how other things where put together, too.

My interest in product design was born.

It took me a while to figure out that actually,

nothing in life is ever wasted.

Time stood waiting for the next tube train to come along.

It's never wasted.

Time listening to a long, boring conversation.

It's never wasted.

Time waiting for someone who doesn't show up.

It's never wasted.

Of course, there'll be more interesting and exciting ways

for time to be spent.

But we'll always go away from a situation, an experience, a moment, 

and learn something.

The world is our school.

Everything in it is our teacher.

We live in a huge classroom that's constantly teaching us, constantly challenging us.

The people we meet, the relationships we have, the jobs we take, the places we live.

Everything that's put on this planet is here to teach us something.

Everything that life throws at us has come along to test us.

How we choose to react is completely up to us.

What we choose to take away is completely up to us.

We have the power to turn a negative experience, into a positive one.

It shapes us, it shapes who we are.

I've come to understand that life isn't about just getting to the good stuff.

Life is also about getting to the bad stuff.

Going through the bad stuff.

Learning how to deal with the bad stuff.

And then finally, what we take away from the bad stuff,

the bad that will enrich our lives,

for the better.

BRAIN VS CREATIVITY

A few weeks ago I attended a one day acting workshop.
For the hell of it? Absolutely.
Just so that 25 year old sponge inside my skull has something new to drink up.

That Saturday morning, I nervously made my way to the acting studio.
To my surprise, the room was full of equally nervous beings, all waiting anxiously, speaking in great fear about the daunting prospect of making a fool of themselves.
That, is exactly what happened.

We were told to leave our brains behind.
When it comes to acting, the brain is useless.
If anything, it just gets in the way.
To help us get into this state of mind, we were told of the acting academy's important mantra:
"Don't think, just be. Don't think, just do".

For me, this "Don't think, just be. Don't think, just do" malarky, was something I found easy to get my head around.
It was a breath of fresh air.
Soothing my soul it made me feel wonderfully free.
I was able to lose all of my own feelings, my own emotions, views and opinions, and just let them disappear for a while; fabulous.

We had to loosen up.
This involved being pinched in the face by the instructor and losing complete control of our bodies and where our body parts were going (whacking someone else's out of control limbs).

After embarrassing and humiliating body and facial exercises, we were ready for the big stuff.

I was up first to perform.
With a partner, I had to stop this person in their tracks and seduce them by saying the letters A, B & C, repeatedly.
I had no time do think about what I was going to do.
I went straight in.
Using my body to touch theirs, my seductive voice to hold their attention, and eye contact to really move them, I successfully seduced this poor soul that was my partner for the afternoon.
It was a strange but wonderful feeling.
In that moment, it was only me and this other person.
I felt separated from the rest of the room.
I switched off from my life and everything I knew.
Suddenly I was this other person, this person that wanted another so badly.
I wanted to seduce them, so I did.
After a round of applause I felt great.
What was more interesting was watching everyone else perform.
It came clear that the more people watched others, the more they had time to think about what they would do.
This reflected in the performance.
Because they had time to think about it, the performance was staggered, it was generic and it was predictable.
What the mantra "Don't think, just be. Don't think, just do" did, was help to give raw, spontaneous performances that came across very real and more believable - capturing the entire audience.

After a remarkable day, I left on a high; over a pint, I had a moment of reflection.
It occurred to me that acting is a lot like the creative process.
You wait for that Eureka moment. That moment after searching your brain high and low, back and fourth, inside and out, you finally find that show-stopping, awe-inspiring, award-winning, gob-smacking idea that will blow away the account team, then the client, then the consumer in equal measure.
But more often than not, when you search too hard, it just doesn't come to you.
You think about it too much.
It's not until you go off, do the cleaning, hang the washing out or just nip to the shop... BAM, there it is, your subconscious has kicked in and out of nowhere, that headline you've been struggling with all day has suddenly made itself known to you.

We often let our brains take over.
Brains that know right from wrong.
It's difficult to let creativity seep through and beyond this.
Beyond the facts.
Take the brain away, and there's a world of creativity to dive into.
It sometimes just needs a break away, a walk or two from the desk, our eyes on something other than a computer screen, and for us to
"don't think, just be. Don't think, just do"
to explore what's really out there.
Outside of what our brains currently know.

THE CONCRETE JUNGLE

New York, New York.
So good they named it twice.

I've spent the past 9 days in midtown Manhattan, I've 3 more to go before I head back to London. This is my second trip to The Big Apple, my first was when I was a student and the idea of heading to New York was fabulously glamorous.

My second trip out here is slightly different.
I experienced all the famous sights and attractions during my first stay here: Times Square, Statue of Liberty, The Empire State building, Rockefeller Center, Central Park, The Guggenheim, Brooklyn Bridge.
This time round is different, and I got to thinking.
All these famous landmarks that I've seen so many times over and over again, on TV screens, cinema screens, billboards, magazines and newspapers, seen by so many all over the world, did I actually want to see all of it again?
Did I ever really want to see it all in the first place?
Or was it all just for me to say 'Yes, I've been there, I've done that, that's another thing to check off my list of famous places to visit, and I've also made a few of my friends and family slightly jealous in the process'?

And then I thought some more.
Now don't get me wrong, being at the top of the Empire State building really was amazing - it's always great to see things first hand (the Statue of Liberty was surprisingly smaller than I had originally imagined).
But why are we all so drawn to the iconic, the famous, the well-known, the popular, the obvious?

Millions upon millions have experienced Times Square up close, millions upon millions have taken shots of The Statue of Liberty, why would I want to spend any more of my precious time in the city that never sleeps visiting places and taking photographs of objects many have photographed and seen before me, and many more will see after me?
Do we only really take notice of something after several others have taken notice of it first?

This is the time for me to find the real hidden gems of the city.
The ones that aren't featured in the next great blockbuster, that aren't on the news or in magazines; I want to discover the deep realms of New York that really make me go 'wow' because it's unexpected, it's unique, it's off the beaten track.

This weekend I'm heading south of New York to Coney Island.
I'm looking forward to stepping away from the famous concrete exterior of Manhattan, and to perhaps be the first that I know of, to find one of those hidden gems along the coast somewhere.

LIFE IS GREAT

When I was 5 years old I couldn't wait to be 8 so I could go swimming with all my school friends.
Life will be great then, I thought.
When I was 8 I always wished to be 13 so I could play in the park I knew to be the furthest away from my home.
Life will be great then, I thought.
When I was 13 I longed to be 17 so I could drive a car and travel to different places.
Life will be great then, I thought.
When I was 17 I couldn't wait to turn 19 so I could flock the nest and enjoy the university lifestyle.
Life will be great then, I thought.
When I was 19 I couldn't wait to be 23 so I could get a job, get my own place, and finally have money of my own to spend.

Life will be great then, I thought.

And then I turned the age of 23, and I stopped.
I stopped and I began to ponder over the subject.

Are we ever completely happy?

It's great to have goals.
I have many of them.
But are we able to just be happy and content with what we have now?
Is being comfortable in life actually uncomfortable for us to deal with?

Things will be perfect when I get my dream job.
Things will be perfect when I meet my ideal partner.
Things will be perfect when I get married.
Things will be perfect when I have kids.
Things will be perfect when I get the keys to my idyllic family home.
Things will be perfect when the kids grow up and leave.

It's a never ending spiral.
No matter where we are or how much or little we have, we seem to want more.
And more.
Perfection is imperfection, right?

We wish our time away, without actually stopping to pause for a moment and look at what's around us. Yet we look back at our memories and wish to go back to that moment in time.

I'm 25 now.
And that's it.
I ride the storm and enjoy what is now.
I stop, regularly and just enjoy the wonderful world around me; good and bad - for I know that this moment isn't going to last forever.

My family, my friends, my health and my happiness is all here.

I might not have all the money, I might not have the nicest apartment, the fastest car, or my dream home, but to me, I am the richest woman in the world.

EXPRESS YOURSELF

Can we really, truly express ourselves over digital platforms?

Text messages.
Emails.
Blog posts.
Social networking sites.

No matter how advance technology becomes, will we ever be able to communicate as accurately and as effectively as talking to one another face to face?

Sarcasm is something that isn't so easy to understand through digital mediums.
More offen than not, it can be misleading, cause offense, or just baffle the person reading it.
There isn't a specific typeface we all understand as being the typeface you use for when you want to be sarcastic.
There isn't a particular font weight that immediately suggests we are 'joking around'.
So can we always be clear about what we say?

The reader can find themselves second guessing.
'What was he meant to say?'
'Was that really a joke?'

Or we can spend a lot of our time explaining ourselves.
'What I really meant to say was...'
'How it was supposed to be read was...'

In that space of time, what we actually said in the first place, slowly turns into something not even worth all the effort explaining.
So we move on.
It no longer matters.
We forget it.

After going backwards and forwards, the inevitable always happens.

You come home from work and sit and chat with your wife.
You catch up with friends over a pint in the pub.
You finally go for a coffee with the person you've been emailing all week.

And we all sit and relay the things we talked about over text message, over email, over Facebook or Twitter.
We clarify, we explain.
We tell the story again.

Only this time, we can really tell it.

We've create the right mood, we've set the right tone.
Our stage is ready, and our audience is listening.

LOVE YER LANGUAGE

I've recently been spending a bit of time back home (the North) with the family.
It seems my speech is slowly but surely turnin' in ta one like me mams.

After living in London for 3 years, all the northern nonsense just started to fade out.
I started to talk 'proper' English, rather than propa English.

Now, after just a short while at home, I've found me northern roots again.
For those of you that do not understand northern terminology and would like to have a conversation with a northerner, here are a few basics to get you started:

• yes = yer
• your = yer
• no = nor
• go = gor
• over there = ower thur
• washing = weshin'
• hole - orl
• hall = orl
• water = wata
• mates = merts
• Saturday = Satdee
• my = me
• here = ere
• don't = dorn't
• isn't = int
• her = er
• him = im
• the other = t'other
• the internet = t'internet
• self = sen

One word that has originated amongst my very large family, though, is 'minge'. 

Meaning goodbye/see you later.

I believe this came from my mother.

The long winded 'see you in a minute' was shortened to 'see you in a min'.

Then shortened further to 'in a min'.

Until finally it just became 'minge'.

Language is beautiful, isn't it?

Now go forth, spread your wings; be a northerner for a day, be a southerner for day, be whatever the hell you want to be for a day. 

Listen and embrace the ever changing terms that live within such a wonderfully diverse language.

THE BEGINNING

So I guess we all have to start somewhere.

My inspiration for writing this blog came from the long and painstaking search of getting the old foot in the door of the giant, parellel universe that is advertising.

For me, that actually was 3 years ago when I finished university.
I left with a degree in Creative Advertising, had a creative partner at my side, and was ready to take on the world.

Alas, 3 years later, I am in search of getting my other foot in the door.
And it doesn't get any easier, even after 2-3 years experience.

So here we are.
This time I'm keeping a record of this wonderful adventure ahead.
Come join me, won't you?

T'rah for now.

Jen