Though it might just make the world a better place a paragraph at a time, the art of letter writing is dying.

The nails in the coffin are hammered an email at a time as the ink that once amplified human thought moves closer to memory (while the pixels multiply to replace them).

But YOU know better.

You know that in just a few minutes, you could give a boost to your inner confidence and improve the personal world of someone you love.

The same communication that once required long weeks of anticipation is now available at the speed of a click, and often from your palm or pocket. The euphoria that once came with a fresh delivery of mail is in danger of disappearing forever.

The art of writing letters to people we care about, including our friends, family, spouse, children and even ourselves, is now endangered.

But letter writing still holds power; a power you can harness to show others you care, place permanence to your thought, and improve the character of your memory.

Writing is Personal and Permanent

A hand written letter is the ultimate gift; unique, priceless and possible only from you. By using your valuable time to carefully craft your words, you are showing the recipient you care about them more than the million trivialities that seem to swallow most of us whole each day.

Once the thoughts that usually fall from your lips start bleeding across the page, they take on a permanence that’s otherwise impossible. Most conversations drift to fragmented memory and emails are rarely read twice. But a letter can be folded, saved and reread time and again.

Your Words are a Gift to be Remembered

Like pulling the bow from a Christmas present, finding a love letter addressed to you can leave you beaming with excitement and brimming with curiosity. Writing weekly love letters to those you cherish most is an excellent way to give them the gift of knowing they’re special enough to you to deserve your time, attention, and permanent thought.

A Quick Way to Confidence

When you take the time to express yourself, you are crystalizing your own thoughts. Whether you are telling your wife you love her, your son that you’re proud of him, or yourself that you’ve been doing a terrific job, taking a few minutes to write a letter to someone you love is a small thing that can make a big difference.

Time is a valuable commodity, and most people do everything they can to keep the lion’s share for themselves. By writing love letters, you are letting your loved ones know they are important in your life.

You can start strengthening the character of your relationships today, a letter at a time.

Sean Platt is an author and happy dad

, and part of the crew at the lifestyle design site

, Your Life’s Blueprint. Life’s better when you follow him on Twitter.

Feeling burnt out or lacking creative ideas?

This article is especially for all you writers, artists, business owners or anyone looking for some new ways to get their creativity flowing.

Here are 15 ways to give your creativity a jump start:

Write Your Ideas Down

Get into the habit of writing your ideas down as soon as you get them. This way you train your brain to keep coming up with ideas, and as soon as you get them you write them down.

When they are written down you don’t have to worry about remembering them and this allows more room for new ideas to form in your mind.

Relax

Good ideas and creativity usually do not appear under stress. When you are relaxed and rejuvenated, creative ideas usually come rather naturally.

Take a walk on the beach, take a nap, go and play some sport or do whatever it is that relaxes you so that your brain can be more creative when you get back to work.

Have No Expectations

Similar to living with no stress, but specifically no stress from the outcome.

When you create with love and passion and no expectation of the outcome, the chances are much greater that you will create something remarkable!

Be Easy On Yourself

Stop criticizing yourself and stop being so harsh for yourself. Accept yourself the way you are and do things to the best of your ability.

You are enough and you are creative. Don’t let self-limiting beliefs block out your creativity! Remove the barriers and the ideas will begin to flow.

Read

Reading stimulates the mind. The more you read, the more you open your mind up to new ways of thinking and thus the more creative you will become.

I know that reading can be a bore, especially if you have to force yourself to do it. Just start small.

Choose a book on a topic that you like (it can even be about your favorite sport or artist) and spend 30 minutes before you go to bed reading that book. This way you can read 1-2 new books every month without it being a lot of effort, and it will definitely contribute to you being more creative.

Listen to Mozart

Albert Einstein said he owes his creativity to listening to Mozart pieces. Certain songs and compositions allow the brain to be more creative and function better.

Albert Einstein did not know why this was the case, but he found Mozart compositions to help his thinking.

In the present age the concept of music enhancing your thinking has been scientifically researched and proven. Certain frequencies have a positive effect on increasing your brain’s performance and creativity. Today they are known as Binaural Beats and Isochronic Tones.

Basically, scientists have engineered sound-files (I canít really call them songs) with researched frequencies that have proven to increase brain performance. Simply buy purchasing some of these tracks and listening to them with stereo headphones, you can already notice an effect on your thinking and creativity.

Meditate

There are certain techniques that allow your mind to find peace and that allow you to silence all the hundreds of thoughts that constantly run through your mind all day.

When you achieve this inner calm, it has all sorts of benefits like being more creative and having better ideas.

Exercise

The effects of exercise and physical movement on the mind and creativity have been studied for centuries.

There is no doubt that you feel much better after exercise. This is because after you exercise, endorphins (feel-good hormones) are released into your bloodstream.

Ask For Help

Don’t be scared to ask someone for help or for their opinion. The input from a friend or stranger could be enough to jump-start a whole series of ideas and new creativity.

Expand Your Horizons

Do something you have never ever done before in your life. Go sky-diving or bungee-jumping. Sign up for hip-hop classes.

The experience of it may be enough to boost your creativity tenfold and give you many new ideas.

Eat Blueberries

Blueberries are said to be the richest in anti-oxidants and good for your brain an thinking abilities. Eat a handful a day, and even if you donít get extra creativity, enjoy the taste and the health benefits.

Stop Doing Drugs

I’m talking about sugars, processed foods, alcohol, caffeine and cigarettes.
(I shouldn’t have to tell you not to do hard drugs!)

Not only will your health benefit, but you will feel much more energetic. The chances are huge that you will find all sorts of new inspiration that comes with your new energy levels once you start eating healthy and stop consuming junk.

Do Puzzles

Puzzles stimulate your brain to look at a problem from different angles. The easier you are able to open up your mind to new ideas and new approaches, the more likely it will be that you become more creative.

Make Music
I personally like playing piano. It is relaxing and it allows me to experiment with new tones, melodies and ideas. Often while playing an instrument and making music I get very creative ideas for my own projects.

If you’ve never played an instrument, why not start with something simple like piano, guitar or the drums?

Practice

Practice makes perfect.

Yeah it’s cliche, but it’s true. Do you want to be a great writer? Then write ever single day, even if it’s just about your dog.

Do you want to be a good designer? Then design something new every day, even if it’s just a logo for your favorite food.

Diggy shares his experience about self improvement at his blog Upgrade Reality

Diggy also created a cool course that will teach you how to cook easy healthy dinner recipes in 10 minutes or less.

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Whatever your career, and whatever your goals in life, ideas are going to matter to you.

One great idea could give you that million-dollar business you’ve dreamt of.

One great idea could raise thousands of dollars for a charity that you support

One great idea could be the perfect present for someone you love.

One great idea could change your life.

The thing is, you probably don’t have as many great ideas as you’d like. Perhaps you feel unimaginative and unoriginal. You keep hoping that a really good idea will just pop into your head, but that never seems to happen.

The good news? Ideas aren’t magic dust sprinkled by the Muses. There’s an awful lot you can do to generate ideas any time you want.

Set Aside Quality Time to Think

This is the most crucial step. You need time to come up with ideas – and quality time, where you’re not worrying about the chores or your emails.

Some ideas come on a grand scale: life-changing moments where you recognise a new possibility that you’d never seen before. These occasionally appear out of nowhere, but more often, they crop up when you’ve prepared yourself.

Getting quality time ideally means taking a whole day away from your regular responsibilities. Go out to a coffee shop with a notebook, or shut yourself in a room at home without internet access. Get a zoomed-out view of your life: set aside worries about “but what would people think?” and “is it sensible?” and let yourself dream.

You’ll be amazed what you come up with.

Get Proto-Ideas Out of Your Head and Onto Paper

Ideas often come to us half-formed. You might have a vague concept in your head – perhaps you’re thinking that you’d like to travel for an extended period of time, for instance – but there’s no real detail there.

Instead of trying to mull over the idea in your head until it becomes something, get it out onto paper. Write (or draw) what you’re thinking, and add in all the new possibilities that start coming to you. A mindmap is often a good format for this, so that you don’t feel constrained by working linearly.

Don’t Judge Your Ideas

Ever had an idea which you immediately dismissed? You probably told yourself “That’s stupid,” or “It’s been done before.”

When you’re generating ideas and thinking through possibilities, you’ll inevitably come up with a few false starts. Some ideas will be unoriginal, undesirable or unworkable.

But that’s not a bad thing. One idea often leads to a whole train of thought – and you might end up with a really good idea from something which seemed, at first glance, unpromising.

Talk to Other Like-Minded People

Although I’m a bit of an introvert – I like to spend a fair amount of time on my own – I also get a great buzz from being with like-minded people and discussing ideas and projects with them.

You’ve probably experienced something similar yourself – maybe in a brainstorming meeting at work, or maybe just at a bar with friends. The energy generated by several people together can spark some brilliant ideas – ones which you’d never have come up with alone.

How do you find like-minded people to bounce ideas off? You could try:

• Local groups, such as evening classes.
• Getting together with a couple of friends who “get” your dreams.
• Finding an online forum of people with the same interest or goals as you.

Read Widely

Ideas don’t just appear in a vacuum. They’re formed from all the various input that you take in. Sometimes, a news story might give you the perfect idea for a Christmas present for your sister, or a book that you’re reading might get you thinking about a particular goal in your life.

The more widely you read, the more open you’ll be to new ideas cropping up. That might mean reading a magazine or journal article that’s far outside your normal area of expertise, or turning to a biography of someone who you know almost nothing about.

A great place to start is online: blogs, news sites, forums and even Twitter and Facebook are all a rich source of ideas, just waiting for you.

How do you come up with great ideas? And is there a particular area of your life where you feel like you’re lacking inspiration?

Don’t Forget To Follow PickTheBrain on Twitter!

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You never know when you may be the lucky recipient of an inspirational moment, something that causes you to take pause and think and really appreciate what you have and the incredible resilience of fellow human beings.

Last night I went with my wife to a local hole-in-the-wall pizza parlor where we heard rumor live jazz was going to be played. As our neighborhood is sadly lacking in after-hours-entertainment of this type, we showed up early and got a good seat, close to the action but not so close that you had to shout to be heard. It was a small place, probably seating about 50 people max so the setting was very intimate so we were just a few feet away from the live performers.

Within twenty minutes, the first musician climbed the stage with saxophone in hand. He did a wonderful job playing two soulful songs with the background provided by a drummer, keyboard, and bass player. He finished his second song, accepted his light applause, and returned to his table where a well deserved adult beverage awaited him.

We learned that this was how the evening was going to progress with numerous musicians of all ages and proficiencies stepping up to play a few songs and then making way for the next performer. There was a small whiteboard on a stand and whoever wanted to play just signed up, with ages ranging from what looked like about 20 to what was definitely at least 65. What fun – we were in store for some talent-filled times over the next two hours.

Enjoying our pizza, I observed the other members of the audience as they filtered in to find a seat. A pair of twins took a table next to us, an older gentleman sat at the nearby bar air-drumming along with the music, and students from the local college joined the growing ranks. I noticed a man who came in on a pair of crutches, struggling a bit to navigate the narrow path between booths and tables, but with a big smile on his face. He sat down with the twins and listened to the trombone performer currently wailing on stage. The young brass player finished his first song, took a breath, and started his second and final rendition.

About this time, I noticed the man on crutches working his way up to his feet and then carefully to the booth in front of us. I was rocking out to the jazz and assumed he just wanted to get a little closer to the action. I saw him raise a small suitcase from the floor and carefully place it on the table top. He opened it and took out a mouthpiece that was to fit on the end of the saxophone stored within. Holding it carefully while balanced on the end of the seat, he adjusted the reed and wetted it and fiddled with it, preparing for his performance.

The trombone player finished, took a bow, and headed back to his seat. The man with the crutches carefully rose with his saxophone suspended around his neck. With one crutch on his left side, he started forward, his free hand moving from chair to chair to keep him stable. The stage was about 10 feet away but it took him a few minutes to manage the distance. He was offered a chair to sit on but turned it down, instead leaning against the booth closest to the stage. Once situated, he turned to his right to face the audience and share a brief smile. The song to play was agreed upon and with a one and a two and a three, they began. And he was good. Not just good, but GOOD! Crisp, clean notes rolled from his instrument, tight harmonies with the others on stage, smooth transitions, just pure sweet music. I may have imagined it, but I swear he had a smile on his face while he was playing. He finished his first song and was heartily applauded by the audience and his fellow musicians. A quick breath and he started in on his second song which was equally as beautiful. Inside of me, I felt a pride for what he had done and admiration for what it must have taken to get here.

How difficult must it have been to focus on playing such beautiful music when at any moment you might slip from your perch and end up on the floor?

How much effort and commitment and never-say-die attitude did it take to get that good despite his physical challenges?

How much faith in himself was needed just to participate and excel amidst a group of generally younger, universally talented, and physically fit fellow musicians?

You never know where you will find inspiration. You never know when someone’s strength may become your strength. And you never know just what you might find at your local pizza parlor on an average-every-day week night.

Inspiration is everywhere if you just tune in to hear it. Now that’s music to my ears…

David Bernard is a guest blogger for PickTheBrain. He is the founder of the blog Love Being Retired.

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The more we stress about our problems, the bigger they get.

Sometimes the best thing to do is let go of our problems.  Not to give up, but to let up – and make some “space.”

Yesterday I took the afternoon off.  Even though it was during the week I decided to go on a date with my wife.  No blackberries, hand held devices or computers.  No email.  Just the two of us hanging out for the afternoon; just like we used to when we first met.

It was such a great afternoon.  I forgot about all my problems.  I forgot about all my concerns and I forgot about my work.   That evening, 8 or so hours later I solved two of my biggest problems… one of which didn’t require any work on my part.  The other one came to me as a new idea.

How did I do it?  What’s my secret?

Here are the three steps to think more clearly and creatively:

Step 1: Think on Paper (30 Minutes)

There is a quote from one of the Rich Dad’s from the popular book Rich Dad, Poor Dad Book.  It goes,  ”Always think on paper.”

I’ve always loved this quote and lived this.  I have a white board in my office where I do all of my thinking.  I draw and doodle; I connect the dots.  I look to see how things flow together.  I cut and paste.  I use words and text to mold my ideas and explore my problems.

Once I’ve emptied my head I’m then ready to…

2. Mastermind (1 hour)

The phrase “two heads are better than one” is an understatement.  Masterminding is when you have two or more people brainstorming and working together to come up with new solutions to problems.  It’s also a great tool for generating new ideas.

My business partner and I have these mastermind sessions quite often.  We use these sessions to brainstorm ideas and bounce new concepts off each other. Before we start our mastermind sessions, we normally ask ourselves these 4 questions:

What is this meeting about?

What are we trying to achieve?

What are the challenges we want to overcome?

How will this help us? Our clients? Our business?

These are great questions to ask yourself when masterminding.  Just let the ideas flow and you’ll be surprised at how crazy and remarkable the solutions will be.

The last step is to…

3. Take a Mini-Vacation (2-6 hours)

Take a what?  Yes, a mini-vacation.

Decompress and disconnect.  This has helped me solve my biggest problems with the least amount of effort.

You’ve got to give your subconscious breathing room.  It’s part of letting go and trusting in yourself.  My best ideas are not the ones I get during a mastermind session or when I’m writing them out.  They come 2-48 hours after I’ve done my deep thinking or had a really good masterminding session.

So the trick is to be patient; to let go and relax.  The more relaxed you are the better.  That’s why I suggest taking a min-vacation; taking a nap, go for a walk in nature or socialize with friends.  Just give yourself a break.  The ideas will come.

Think clearly and more creatively by following these 3 steps.  You’ll be glad you did.

Steve is the creator of Freedom Education: Manifesting Your Desires Download Steve’s 7 Secrets of Rapid Transformation.

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It can be seen by the lengthy distance between the dates for each blog post, the writer that creatively tells stories that inspire has been lost in the quagmire. Okay, so bad pun! I gotta play with what I got and get the juices flowing again!

Of course, with the fingers off the keyboard, the mind was dancing with many turns of phrases that told a story. Laptop not ready, clumsy fingers on a tiny keyboard, and no notepad in sight. What was it? I can’t help but wonder.

Nonetheless, with the keys finding their way through the telling of this moment, a lesson is learned about inspiration, regaining a foothold on what seemed a slippery surface, and letting the moment carry you through it. There is always good to come from everything if you can let go and flow with the moment.

A writer has to write, and even when the mind tricks us into believing nothing good will happen, the fingers will tell an entirely different story. That’s flowing!

Originally uploaded by andrewlee1967

If you are so caught up in your intellect and what is and has been defined, how will you ever discover more?

If you are so stuck on your judgements and beliefs about what is real and what is not, how will you ever discover what is unreal?

If you are only flesh and blood, consisting of mind, body, and emotions, how will you ever experience the richness and possibility of an everlasting spiritual identity and the promise that might hold?

If the flesh and blood is your anchor, how will you ever access the mysterious possibilities available through Mother Nature and the quantum field of possibilities? Interacting your energy with Source?

What is, is not all – there is always more.

I know I make statements of belief, and I want you to know, I’m not held in their tentacle grip. I am always looking for more, and, and, and, and, what else. As I discover more, I can evolve more. It’s much like programming a computer; the first release works fine and over time with advances made in knowledge, skills, and tools, you are able to embed new code and out comes release two. This is the journey of awareness and integration.

I just found out. It sort of came to me in a flash of clarity; shocking, stark clarity. I’m not normal. I never have been and I never will be. It’s like having the earth fall out from beneath you and discovering that you’re just floating in space; you’ve always been floating in space. Everything else was just an illusion. And then I see it, all of space, not just that focused pinhole where I thought I saw the earth vanish. It’s then I realize that normal never existed and it never will. So why try to fit in? Look at the space around you. There are so many choices for you to discover who you are.

November 12, 2005

The Infinite is in Emptiness, it is those spaces – perfect – there is no light, there is no dark, there is no matter, no nothing, just – perfection – the source of love, of creation – it exists in the empty space of nothing – that’s where we come from, what we’re made of.

By going inwards, within ourselves, to reach the quiet space, we can hear God and hear our spirit – we cannot comprehend what we cannot see and what is nothing cannot be seen – and yet, nothing is everything.

Remember the invisible building blocks of the Universe. It’s all one and it is invisible.

How you look at things determines what you see. Difficult experiences cast a shadow upon the lens of the soul, as many express the limiting perspectives these experiences create. Recognizing and making choices to push beyond a limiting perspective yields enormous potential.

The challenge I’m finding now is combining head and heart without burning out.

A lot of people want to know how to do things. Search the Internet, read blogs, and there are a million of items telling you formula for this, for that, and everything in between. I’m a different sort of fish though. I want to understand.

The problem with wanting to understand is that it is a never-ending story.

“So how does this work?”

Well this goes here and does that causing that thing to go beep and that does this.

“Okay, so how does this, here, that, thing, beep, does this each happen and work?”

And down the rabbit hole I go.

So when you stumble around this site, wondering why you read something that sounds like advice but doesn’t really feel like it gives an answer; you’ve hit the jack-pot.

With understanding, you will gain access to your Answers.

Some people I know are very hung up on the importance of the human race. As I listen, thoughts of time since the beginning of existence, the multiple lives and deaths of the planet earth, all life upon her, and her rebirth with newly evolved life that one day will likely all be completely obliterated from our point-of-view as the Sun that gives us life destroys itself at some time in the long-distant future.

Emotional Intelligence triggered these thoughts. The link to Spiritual Intelligence. No one knows what that really means and everyone has made it mean their own thing. I will stand today and challenge everyone on that. Spirituality is not a belief in something, it is the pursuit of Truth and Understanding. In that same vein that life is not a destination, it is a journey, so is the Spiritual path.

Upon our world we literally bastardize every opportunity for enlightenment. I won’t get into why. I want to share a beautiful abstract thought of existence that popped into my head as these spontaneous points collided in that sheer moment. Quite remarkable.

We are children, all of us, no matter our age. Young, old, and everything in between are mere babes in Mother Cosmic’s arms. Our brielf blink of an eye will end, and something new and more beautiful will evelve. This is the nature of God, the Universe, Life Itself, Loging to Expand in Consciousness, Awareness, and who knows what. And the coolest part is we’re all a part of it.

If you’ve ever seen a time-travel movie, this stop in the human plane is a beginning on an even bigger journey. As the legends of bible suggest being seated at the right hand of god, at the suggestion of life-after-death by various traditions and belief systems, and by the abstract understanding of the cosmos itself, it is all true.

Life is a source of energy, of power. You are one such source. Also, the earth, me, other beings, entities, and so on. Each represents a life force that continues. Maybe they evolve, maybe there are joining of forces, maybe, maybe, maybe. But in essence, the reap what you sow pertains to the energy of the physical body while here on this earth.

Reap and sow love, you may become the Sun giving life to a Solar System. Reap and sow commerce, you may become a planet sustaining an ecosystem rich with biodiversity teeming with life. Reap and sow destruction, you may become … any suggestions ?? … violent sporadic moments of storms? Earthworms?

Just some fun and entertaining thoughts that can also challenge some of your most cherished beliefs. Sleep well.