innovative

My bedrock of ideas
Is an openness
Of heart and mind
While laying upon my bed
When I seemingly have time
For freedom of thought
And illumination of the mind
The Creator in me
Won’t just let me be
There is always more
To hear and see
Thus I embrace it
Happily and inquisitively
Always myself curious
What new things
Shall come to me
Awake and stir me
Excite and invigorate me
Teach and transform me
For I oft am the first recipient
The delightful participant
Of my new invention
Ingenious creation
Thankfully the Spirit within
Graciously chooses
To interrupt my sleep
To take me deep
Into the depths of discoveries
Even heavenly mysteries
To uncover new truths
Hidden from the ages
To clarify confusion
That baffled the sages
It’s not that I am
So resourceful
On the contrary
I’m just available
Willing to commune
With my own heart
Upon my bed
While the Holy Spirit
Impregnates
And fills my head
With such revelation
I cannot rest
For it resurrects
Uplifts
Shifts
Shakes
And even takes
Over me
At first my wife tried
Now she just lets me be
There is no turmoil
In this my dilemma
For I am a writer
Ready and willing
Such inspiration
Leaves me happily singing
Smiling at any hour
At the awareness
Of such miraculous power
So I follow the flow
Like a little child
Tender, meek and oh so mild
And I never am disappointed
By my sporadic
Wee hour of the night
Divine appointments
For in them
I always come out the better
Never the lesser
Always getting something richer
Wonderful
Orchestral
And when I go back to bed
I do so bountifully full.

Paul Davis is a life coach (relational & professional), traveling minister and fitness trainer. Paul is the author of several books including Breakthrough for a Broken Heart; and Stop Lusting. Paul is a popular worldwide keynote speaker, creative consultant, humor being, adventurer, explorer, mediator, minister, liberator and dream-maker.

Paul’s compassion for people & passion to travel has taken him to over 50 countries of the world where he has had a tremendous impact. Paul has also brought revival to many in war-torn, impoverished and tsunami stricken regions of the earth. His nonprofit organization Dream-Maker Ministries is building dreams and breaking limitations.

Paul’s Breakthrough Seminars inspire, revive, awaken, impregnate with purpose, impart the fire of desire, catapult people into a new level of self-awareness, facilitate destiny discovery and dream fulfillment.

Contact Paul to minister, speak at your event or for life coaching: RevivingNations@yahoo.com 407-967-7553.

For additional info: http://www.DreamMakerMinistries.com, http://www.CreativeCommunications.TV

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Gone are the Jordan Almonds wrapped in tulle, miniature picture frames with name cards and votive candles. Wedding favors have come a long way from the traditional offerings we’ve become accustomed to. Today’s innovative brides have come up with more unique and interesting favors for their guests to treasure.

In terms of edible favors, brides still favor candy wrapped up nicely in boxes but instead of throwing a few Jordan almonds or mints into a box, how about homemade truffles? Store bought are even better for those not having the time or abilities, either way, these beautifully delicious creations are appreciated by all. Some couples are opting to have individual wedding cakes made for each table, for guests to share, fulfilling two needs, a wedding cake and a favor that the guests don’t have to take with them. Little bottles of maple syrup have been popping up at weddings in upstate New York or western Massachusetts where tapping sugar maples are popular. Homemade jam in tightly sealed jars gives your guests a sample of a yearly family tradition. Perhaps the favorite so far and gaining popularity is a “Candy Bar” table set up with numerous amounts of delicious candies for guests to enjoy. Cellophane bags or takeout style boxes imprinted with a thank you from the bride and groom allow your guests choose their own candy favorites to take home. Of course kids go crazy for this, but it is also fun watching the adults indulge!

Forgoing a traditional favor and using the money to donate to a charity of their choice has also been gaining popularity with couples today. This not only saves them the time of having to think about and putting together something for their guests, but also lets them give something back to help others.

A relatively new idea is to bypass the standard centerpiece and instead create that unique focal point for the table by having multiple vases of flowers. Each guest is then enabled to take home there own little piece of the reception decor.

With more and more couples having destination weddings or weddings in unique venues, themed favors are always fun. A beach wedding in Hawaii may have miniature sandcastle wedding favors for the guests. A couple who enjoys gardening or the outdoors may choose to give something as simple as a packet of seeds or a small seedling of a tree to signify the beginning of their new life together. Other couples may choose to embrace their culture or that of their parents by having an ethnic favor. Elaborately decorated trinket boxes from India or Thailand give guests a piece of something exotic.

With the help of the internet, shopping for that perfect wedding favor is easy no matter how obscure or different the idea is. A variety of wedding favors can also be personalized with a custom message. From pens and glassware to chocolate bars and candles. The possibilities are endless and are only limited by how much the couple wants to spend in terms of time and money. In the end, wedding guests should just be content that they are able to share the special day with their loved one or friend. But then again it is always nice to have something to remember the day by.

Pavika Wilson writes for Cleveland Wedding Decor. Northeast Ohio’s freshest studio for Creative Wedding Favors and today’s innovative brides.

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Although everyone in business agrees that innovation is vital to continued growth and success, creating work cultures that encourage creativity is easier said than done. Bowing to competitive pressures, we demand immediate paths to profitability and 100% success. “Doing more” is confused with increased productivity, even though it’s well documented that negative stressors like anxiety and fatigue lower performance.

An article titled “Who Needs Nature?” describes the “free-range expeditions of discovery” experienced by those of us who, growing up in a different time, spent hours of unstructured and unsupervised time “messing around” outside as kids.(1) Beyond lamenting the loss of the archetypal American childhood, the article serves as a reminder that “messing around” is a crucial part of innovation, and has its place in the adult landscape of work.

Writing about insight in his book, Scientific Methods, Richard Jarrard explains that, “the combination of mental relaxation with either physical relaxation or mild exercise” creates the conditions that are conducive to insight.(2) We’ve all experienced this phenomenon when the answer to a problem suddenly pops into our minds as we’re driving to the store, gardening, or otherwise distracted from thinking about it. Conversely, “I have seen anxiety cut worker productivity by about 50% and cut discoveries by nearly 100%…” Jarrard continues. (3)

Ensuring that you and your employees have some time to mess around with what ifs and why nots, without pressure to produce results, is a prerequisite for creating a culture that fosters innovation. So is making your work environment conducive to insight. For instance, are employees encouraged to use all of their vacation time and to take it without checking email? Do people take a break at lunchtime and eat away from their desks? Is your organization “right-sized” in terms of staffing, so that people have enough, but not too much to do?

Frenzied schedules fueled by adrenaline inhibit creativity,(4) and while the above suggestions are simple, they can have a profound affect on people’s ability to think outside the box. Here are some additional tips to keep the inventive ideas coming:

● Keep your options open. Instead of choosing between two solutions, think about how you can have both. One trick is to use “and” instead of “or,” asking, for example, “How can we lower marketing costs and generate more leads for the sales team?”

● Save the analysis for another day. Limit your brainstorming meeting to just that - the rapid generation of good, bad, and crazy ideas. Debating the merits of each one as it’s presented slows down the process, and may result in some inspired ideas never making it to the table.

● Don’t assume that silence means agreement. People may not feel confident expressing opposing viewpoints, particularly if they contradict those of a senior manager. Ask people what they like and don’t like about an idea.

● If it didn’t work in the past, don’t assume it won’t work now. Remember that market conditions, technology, and customer appetites change, so don’t be afraid to revisit ideas that may have been ahead of their time.

1 Who Needs Nature? By Chris Leahy and Gerard A. Bertrand, Connections, A Newsletter for the Members of the Massachusetts Audubon Society, Volume 4, No. 3, August - October 2006

2, 3 Scientific Methods, © 2001 Richard D. Jarrard, Department of Geology and Geophysics, University if Utah

4 See the previous Forward Motion Coaching newsletters, “More Effort, Fewer Results” (January 2006), and “Attention Deficit Trait” (April 2005), in the archives section of my Web site, www.ForwardMotion.info.

Barbara Bissonnette is a certified executive coach and the principal of Forward Motion Coaching (http://www.ForwardMotion.info). She helps executives and business owners manage time, stress, and other people more effectively. Her guide, The Case for Business Coaching, How It Can Improve Your Performance, Productivity & Profitability is available at no charge through her Web site.

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