michaelbiehness: Creative Imagination | Self Improvement, Faith ...

Imagination ? HNBD (Photo credit: HNBD)

Creative imagination is more than just active imagination. To be able to actively imagine things, to see and hear things in one?s mind, is an important ability. It doesn?t have to involve much creativity, though, does it? Daydreaming, for example, is a process of imagination. It can consist of an elaborate fantasy world, but one full of all the things that many people think about.

Creative imagination, then, has to include the ability not just to imagine things, but to imagine original things. It is seeing things that others don?t see, and coming up with new ideas. So how do you cultivate this?

<b>Creative Imagination 101</b>

First, exercise your basic imagination. It can be as simple as thinking in pictures more, or listening to music in your mind. Play little ?movies? in your mind, until you can watch them on command. This is a simple process, but for those of us that can?t easily do it naturally, it can take a lot of practice. Fortunately, it is not an unpleasant activity.

The second part of developing your creative imagination is to get more creative in your thinking and imagining. Start by paying attention to your creativity. Our subconscious minds give us more of what we pay attention to. Ignore creative aspects of your life, and you?re telling your subconscious they are unimportant. On the other hand, if you note when you?re creative, your subconscious mind will start feeding you more creative ideas.

Different surroundings can also encourage your creativity. Want more creativity in your love life? Hike up a mountain with your partner. Do you write? Try sitting on a roof to write. Want new ideas for your business? Take a notebook to the park and sit by the duck pond. A change of environment can get your thinking out of it?s ruts.

You can play games that exercise your creative imagination. One such game uses a technique called ?concept combination.? Alone or with other players, you combine random concepts or things in new ways, to see who has the best idea. A thermometer and a billboard, for example, could generate an idea for a sign that checks the weather and adjusts the message accordingly (?Come in out of the heat for a cold beverage,? or ?Come in out of the rain and warm up with our gourmet coffee.?).

Don?t Wait For Creative Imagination

Creative inspiration certainly can strike at any time, but it strikes more often when there is work instead of waiting. So if you want to come up with creative inventions, start mentally redesigning everything you see. Imagine a better bicycle, a faster mail service, or a better chair. Continue this for three weeks, and it will become a habit.

Of course, creative imagination goes beyond solving specific problems or inventing things. Truly creative minds are always coming up with the questions too, not just the solutions. If you want to be more creative all the time, focus on three things:

1. Changing your perspective. A child might think that working just to not work (to retire) is silly. Thinking from that perspective might give you ideas for how to make money doing things you enjoy. Seeing the world as a bear sees it might give a painter imaginative new ideas. Looking at things from a customer?s perspective is a sure way to find creative improvements for a business. See everything from several perspectives.

2. Challenging your assumptions. What if restaurants didn?t have employees? Visitors pay a machine as they enter, feed themselves at a buffet, and everything is as automated as possible, so one owner-operator could run a large restaurant alone. Challenge all your assumptions for practice. Do you really have to pay rent? Do swimming pools need water? Can exercise be a bad thing?

3. Let your ideas run wild. Does a flying bed seem silly? It could lead to the concept of a helium mattress. When you get off it in the morning, it floats out of the way, up to the ceiling. Perfect for small apartments. Don?t stifle your creativity. Relax, and let ideas come. You can always discard them later.

For these techniques to be a habitual part of your thinking, use them regularly. Since it takes several weeks to develop a habit, remind yourself to use them each day. Jot a few of your favorite techniques on a card and carry it with you. Look it over throughout the day and apply the techniques to anything. Soon, you?ll have a more creative imagination.

Ch? Palk

Like this:

Be the first to like this.

Born and named Che Linton Palk in Andover Hospital, Hampshire, one cold January morning 1976. Grew up in an amazing village just outside Andover called Hurstbourne Tarrant, and always still even now, though miles away, is my home. Then after 15 years we moved into Andover Town, which had massive changes not just to my social network but would lead me to reavaluate the secular world which consumed me. Not wishing to go into too much detail here,(for now), let's say I found faith. Spent many hours deciding what I believed about life's ultimate questions, Why am I here? Does life hold any purpose? Who am I? The whole God question! life was it Futile? My fialures fatal? My death final? After which I decided I needed to get out more and trance took hold of me. Been a DJ ever since. The music it matters!..

Source: http://chepalk.wordpress.com/2013/01/28/creative-imagination/

what is sopa marianne gingrich ibooks author gabrielle union mark wahlberg merle haggard ladainian tomlinson

Source: http://michaelbiehness.blogspot.com/2013/01/creative-imagination-self-improvement.html

IFE Fireworks 2012 4th Of July independence day BET Awards 2012 declaration of independence 4th Of July 2012 Zach Parise

Harry's Afghan downtime: movies, candy trades

LONDON (AP) ? Prince Harry's off-duty time in Afghanistan appeared to be full of war movies, board games and elaborate candy trades.

The 28-year-old helicopter pilot and fellow members of his squad swapped Kit Kats and Rice Krispies Squares for American soldiers' M&Ms, according to a British media pool report released Sunday.

Harry himself outlined one of his less-prestigious duties. The third-in-line to the U.K. throne said anyone who lost at Uckers ? a military game similar to Ludo or Parcheesi ? had to then wait on his comrades like a Buckingham Palace butler, ready with a fresh cup of tea whenever anyone rang their bell.

"Whoever loses ... then you have to make brews for everybody all day," Harry told journalists ahead of his return to Britain this past week.

He also denied rumors that he was far better at PlayStation than at traditional board games.

"I don't know who told you that," he told reporters. "I lost two days ago, and yesterday, so since you guys have been here I've only lost."

Harry returned to Britain on Wednesday after a 20-week deployment in Afghanistan in which he acknowledged that he had targeted Taliban fighters from the cockpit of his Apache attack helicopter.

Asked in an earlier round of interviews whether he had killed anyone, Harry said: "Yeah, so, lots of people have." That admission disturbed some Britons and led to front-page headlines like the one in The Daily Mail that read: "Harry: I Have Killed."

This latest round of interviews, focusing on Harry's daily life at Britain's Camp Bastion military base in Afghanistan, is not likely to draw the same kind of headlines.

The report mainly carried glimpses of the prince's daily routine, including his favorite foods ? chicken and broccoli ? and his favorite movies ? "Full Metal Jacket," ''Apocalypse Now," and "Platoon."

In an interesting twist for an Apache pilot, "Black Hawk Down," the Ridley Scott film about a helicopter raid gone wrong in Somalia, was among the movies spotted in Harry's communal tent.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/harrys-afghan-downtime-movies-candy-trades-090928405.html

60 minutes go daddy Tom Kenny Long Island Medium Alfonso Ribeiro cbs sports adam sandler

In Asia's trend-setting cities, iPhone fatigue sets in

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Apple Inc's iconic iPhone is losing some of its luster among Asia's well-heeled consumers in Singapore and Hong Kong, a victim of changing mobile habits and its own runaway success.

Driven by a combination of iPhone fatigue, a desire to be different and a plethora of competing devices, users are turning to other brands, notably those from Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, eating into Apple's market share.

In Singapore, Apple's products were so dominant in 2010 that more devices here ran its iOS operating system per capita than anywhere else in the world.

But StatCounter http://gs.statcounter.com, which measures traffic collected across a network of 3 million websites, calculates that Apple's share of mobile devices in Singapore - iPad and iPhone - declined sharply last year. From a peak of 72 percent in January 2012, its share fell to 50 percent this month, while Android devices now account for 43 percent of the market, up from 20 percent in the same month last year.

In Hong Kong, devices running Apple's iOS now account for about 30 percent of the total, down from about 45 percent a year ago. Android accounts for nearly two-thirds.

"Apple is still viewed as a prestigious brand, but there are just so many other cool smartphones out there now that the competition is just much stiffer," said Tom Clayton, chief executive of Singapore-based Bubble Motion http://www.bubblemotion.com, which develops a popular regional social media app called Bubbly.

Where Hong Kong and Singapore lead, other key markets across fast-growing Asia usually follow.

"Singapore and Hong Kong tend to be, from an electronics perspective, leading indicators on what is going to be hot in Western Europe and North America, as well as what is going to take off in the region," said Jim Wagstaff, who runs a Singapore-based company called Jam Factory http://www.jamfactoryonline.com developing mobile apps for enterprises.

Southeast Asia is adopting smartphones fast - consumers spent 78 percent more on smartphones in the 12 months up to September 2012 than they did the year before, according to research company GfK http://www.gfkrt.com.

IN WITH THE YOUNG CROWD

Anecdotal evidence of iPhone fatigue isn't hard to find: Where a year ago iPhones swamped other devices on the subways of Hong Kong and Singapore they are now outnumbered by Samsung and HTC Corp smartphones.

While this is partly explained by the proliferation of Android devices, from the cheap to the fancy, there are other signs that Apple has lost followers.

Singapore entrepreneur Aileen Sim, recently launched an app for splitting bills called BillPin http://www.billpin.com, settling on an iOS version because that was the dominant platform in the three countries she was targeting - Singapore, India and the United States.

"But what surprised us was how strong the call for Android was when we launched our app," she said.

Indeed, 70 percent of their target users - 20-something college students and fresh graduates - said they were either already on Android or planned to switch over.

"Android is becoming really hard to ignore, around the region and in the U.S. for sure, but surprisingly even in Singapore," she said. "Even my younger early-20s cousins are mostly on Android now."

BillPin launched an Android version this month.

Napoleon Biggs, chief strategy officer at Gravitas Group http://www.gravitas.com.hk, a Hong Kong-based mobile marketing company, said that while Apple and the iPhone remained premium brands there, Samsung's promotional efforts were playing to an increasingly receptive audience.

For some, it is a matter of wanting to stand out from the iPhone-carrying crowd. Others find the higher-powered, bigger-screened Android devices better suited to their changing habits - watching video, writing Chinese characters - while the cost of switching devices is lower than they expected, given that most popular social and gaming apps are available for both platforms.

"Hong Kong is a very fickle place," Biggs said.

Janet Chan, a 25-year-old Hong Kong advertising executive, has an iPhone 5 but its fast-draining battery and the appeal of a bigger screen for watching movies is prodding her to switch to a Samsung Galaxy Note II.

"After Steve Jobs died, it seems the element of surprise in product launches isn't that great anymore," she said.

To be sure, there are still plenty of people buying Apple devices. Stores selling their products in places such as Indonesia were full over the Christmas holidays, and the company's new official store in Hong Kong's Causeway Bay has queues snaking out of the door most days.

But the iPhone's drop in popularity in trendy Hong Kong and Singapore is mirrored in the upmarket malls of the region.

"IPhones are like Louis Vuitton handbags," said marketing manager Narisara Konglua in Bangkok, who uses a Galaxy SIII. "It's become so commonplace to see people with iPads and iPhones so you lose your cool edge having one."

In the Indonesian capital Jakarta, an assistant manager at Coca Cola's local venture, Gatot Hadipratomo, agrees. The iPhone "used to be a cool gadget but now more and more people use it."

There is another influence at play: hip Korea. Korean pop music, movies and TV are hugely popular around the region and Samsung is riding that wave. And while the impact is more visible in Hong Kong and Singapore, it also translates directly to places like Thailand.

"Thais are not very brand-loyal," says Akkaradert Bumrungmuang, 24, a student at Mahidol University in Bangkok. "That's why whatever is hot or the in-thing to have is adopted quickly here. We follow Korea so whatever is fashionable in Korea will be a big hit."

(Additional reporting by Lee Chyen Yee in Hong Kong; Khettiya Jittapong and Amy Sawitta Lefevre in Bangkok, and Andjarsari Paramaditha in Jakarta; Editing by Emily Kaiser)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/asias-trend-setting-cities-iphone-fatigue-sets-212849658--finance.html

adrienne rich autism cesar chavez day raspberry ketone ron burgundy millennial media nit championship

Frozen Greek Yogurt Is a Healthy Dessert Choice

Posted by Anders Abadie on 1/16/13 ? Categorized as Food and Drink

Even though you have made the decision to adapt a healthier diet, that doesn?t mean that you have to give up on sweets and desserts. There are some healthy alternatives that you can eat. Frozen Greek yogurt is a healthy and tasty alternative treat that you can enjoy any time of the day or night. You don?t have to worry about any high sugar content or whether or not it will disrupt your digestive system if you happen to have a lactose intolerance. It comes in a wide variety of flavors and it is very inexpensive as well.

Frozen Geek yogurt has become so popular that it can be found in many local grocery stores and ice cream shops. If you have never tried it before, then you truly don?t know what a treat you have missed out on. It has a creamier consistency than regular ice cream. Instead of the main ingredient being milk it is yogurt, which is very beneficial since it has lots of probiotics in it. Probiotics are tiny organisms that play a large role in regulating a healthy environment and balance inside of your intestines. There is also significantly less fat content and calories, which lessens your chances of gaining extra pounds.

Since there are many different brands for you to choose from, you should be aware that all are not created equally. Some brands have extra fillers and other junk ingredients that increase the amount of calories and fats in them. Some flavors and brands have more sugars and calories than others. If you want to improve your chances of maintaining a healthy diet, make sure you check out the nutritional labels before you make any purchases. Don?t be afraid to experiment with different flavors. If you are not too keen on any other artificial flavors, you can always go with the plain flavor of frozen Greek yogurt and add fresh fruit toppings and nuts to it.

If you happen to have a little free time on your hands and want to do something creative, you could try making your own frozen Greek yogurt. It is a very simple process and requires an ice cream maker that you can find them at most kitchen supply and department stores. You can find many great recipes online. When you make your own frozen desserts, you can experiment with different ingredients and come up with your own favorite recipes.

Go to an ice cream parlor or to your local grocery store and purchase some frozen Greek yogurt. See how much you enjoy its flavor and texture. Experience how different it is from actual ice cream and experience how much healthier it is as well. You don?t have to worry about crashing your diet since it is among the healthiest desserts on the market.

Choosing frozen Greek yogurt as a replacement for ice cream can help you stay on track during your diet. Find out more about this low fat snack at http://ciaobellagelato.com.

Source: http://www.articlesrx.com/frozen-greek-yogurt-is-a-healthy-dessert-choice/10768

octomom dan savage new world trade center kellen moore ryan braun bryce harper may day

Tamoxifen ameliorates symptoms of Duchenne muscular dystrophy, study suggests

Jan. 15, 2013 ? A new study has found that tamoxifen, a well-known breast cancer drug, can counteract some pathological features in a mouse model of Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). At present, no treatment is known to produce long-term improvement of the symptoms in boys with DMD, a debilitating muscular disorder that is characterized by progressive muscle wasting, respiratory and cardiac impairments, paralysis, and premature death.

This study will be published in the February 2013 issue of The American Journal of Pathology.

Using the mdx^5Cv mouse model of DMD, investigators found that tamoxifen, given orally for more than a year, "caused remarkable improvements of muscle force and of diaphragm and cardiac structure," according to lead author Olivier M. Dorchies, PhD, of the Department of Pharmacology, Geneva-Lausanne School of Pharmaceutical Sciences of the University of Geneva and University of Lausanne. For instance, in the heart, fibrosis was diminished by approximately 50%. In the diaphragm, the muscle of the dystrophic mouse thought to be most like that of human DMD, tamoxifen reduced fibrosis while increasing thickness as well as the number and average diameter of muscle fibers. The net effect was that tamoxifen raised the amount of contractile tissue available for respiration by 72%.

Patients with DMD show muscle degeneration, and their muscle fibers become abnormally susceptible to stress. In this animal study, tamoxifen improved the structure of leg muscles, slowed muscle contraction, increased overall muscle function, and made leg muscles more resistant to repetitive stimulation and fatigue. In fact, tamoxifen rendered dystrophic muscles even stronger than those of non-dystrophic control mice. "Our findings of a slower rate of contraction and an enhanced resistance to fatigue in muscles from tamoxifen-treated dystrophic mice are of significance for the pathophysiology of muscular dystrophy," say the authors.

A wire test revealed that treating male mdx^5Cv mice with tamoxifen for more than a year increased the whole body strength 2- to 3-fold, close to that of normal mice.

Additional findings shed light on the mechanism of tamoxifen's therapeutic actions. For example, plasma creatine kinase (CK) activity was found to be about 3 times higher in the dystrophic male mice than in the non-dystrophic males, and tamoxifen treatment normalized the CK levels of the dystrophic mice. The authors suggest that this effect is mediated by an estrogen receptor (ER) dependent mechanism. The study also reported for the first time that mouse dystrophic muscle is high in both ER ? and ?, and that tamoxifen raises levels of ER?2 in particular. Other findings, such as increased levels of calcineurin and accumulation of several structural proteins, indicate a protective effect of tamoxifen on dystrophic muscles. The authors point out that the beneficial effects of tamoxifen were seen with muscle tissue levels much lower than those reported in previous studies of normal rodents, suggesting that doses lower than those used to treat breast cancer may be effective in the treatment of DMD.

Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:

---

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Elsevier, via AlphaGalileo.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

---

Journal Reference:

1. Olivier M. Dorchies, Julie Reutenauer-Patte, Elyes Dahmane, et al. The anti-cancer drug tamoxifen counteracts the pathology in a mouse model of Duchenne muscular dystrophy. The American Journal of Pathology, Volume 182, Issue 2 (February 2013) DOI: 10.1016/j.ajpath.2012.10.018

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_health/~3/omG-ozNKLy8/130115085843.htm

minnesota twins bobby abreu 2012 draft colt mccoy arbor day mike adams janoris jenkins

How much do you know about Inauguration Day? Take our quiz.

President Obama will be sworn in for his second term at noon on Monday, Jan. 21, in the 57th presidential inauguration in American history. But in fact, Mr. Obama will have been sworn in officially the day before in a small, private ceremony. That is because this year, Jan. 20 ? Inauguration Day, as mandated by the Constitution ? is a Sunday, and by tradition, whenever Inauguration Day lands on a Sunday, the festivities take place the next day. Take our quiz and see how much you know about Obama?s inaugural and inaugurations past.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/0yM8iIWI1wI/How-much-do-you-know-about-Inauguration-Day-Take-our-quiz

mega millions winning numbers autism speaks ubaldo jimenez ncaa final country music awards autism awareness angelman syndrome

Remarks by President Herman Van Rompuy at the Confederation of Egyptian European Business Associations

Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

Source: http://www.consilium.europa.eu//uedocs/cms_data/docs/pressdata/en/ec/134665.pdf

the walking dead the walking dead Walking Dead Season 3 vampire diaries derek jeter Red Bull Stratos Redbull Stratos