Creative Mastermind for Week 9/23: Amy Grant's "Helping Hand"

Good Day to you wonderful Creative Cabana readers!

It's Wednesday, which means we're halfway through the week already and even more so can you believe September is almost over? Geesh! Where does the time go? Speaking of timing I'd like to share with you a message regarding this week's Creative Mastermind post. I had the original intent of posting the Creative Mastermind on Monday evening, but hit what's known as "Writer's Block." If you're not familiar with this concept, it's a case of where your mind draws a blank and doesn't really know what to write down. So I figured I'd think about it overnight with the intention of having a great idea to post on Tuesday. Plans changed and they changed my way of thinking quite a bit.

Yesterday I witnessed something that I had never seen with my own eyes before. I actually saw a car crash in action in front of me. No, I was not the one involved, but I witnessed it first hand. In Columbus, we have these structures called Roundabouts which are circle-shaped intersections for traffic usage. In theory they are supposed to make traffic quicker and safer for drivers. I disagree, but that's just me. Anyway while I waited my turn to enter the roundabout an SUV coming around the curve hit a smaller car that was entering the roundabout on my left side. It happened so fast I couldn't believe what I just saw. Granted it didn't take long for me snap back to reality as the driver behind me started to honk at me for not continuing on with traffic. At first I started to continue down my usual route, but my conscious got the best of me and I quickly turned around to go back. I pulled my car off to the side away from traffic and ran to the victims to make sure they were ok. One was younger girl, I'd say early 20s driving the smaller car, but the other lady was in her 30s or possibly 40s who was in the SUV. The younger girl was clearly scared, but appreciative that I came back to make sure no one was hurt. I can't say the same for the older lady who was quick to blame the other girl for the accident. I'm not exactly sure who was at fault, but I assured them that I only came back to make sure they were alright. Once I realized both ladies were ok, I gracefully made my exit and proceeded on home. During my drive back a song came on that reassured me what I did was the right thing. It was called "Helping Hand" by Amy Grant. Click Here to listen to this amazing song!

Amy Grant is one of my favorite artists hands down from her contemporary christian music to her upbeat 90s hits like "Baby Baby" or "Every Heartbeat". This song was purely ironic and inspiring! One of things I find creative about "Helping Hand" is that it's very interpersonal. She sounds as if she is singing her thoughts- "Take a look at your fellow man, and tell me what can I do today?". The music is very simple, no fancy orchestra, or complex music composition, just a basic beat with some drums and keyboarding. Towards the end you get a chorus background singing with Amy Grant which I think symbolizes people coming together to offer that "Helping Hand". She starts out alone and as the song progress more music and singing is involved with the message.

I deem Amy Grant as this week's Creative Mastermind for her song "Helping Hand" because this is one of the few songs I know that doesn't so much focus on themselves in a relationship, or cheating on someone, etc. Instead it asks "What can you do to help someone?". Instead of making the song about "me" or "you", it focuses on "everybody" and coming together to build friendships and make the world a better place. It's creative as to how the song is portrayed as well. Every time I hear "Helping Hand" I feel as though I'm actually having a conversation with Amy Grant herself. In many songs the idea is behind a story, or a specific emotion the artist is battling with. In this particular song, it's more of a message and conversation piece where someone is saying here's what wrong and here's what you should do to help. I know other songs similar to "Helping Hand" that also portray these kinds of messages, but this song just strikes me instantly. It's especially ironic to me how this came on in my car after I gave a "helping hand" to the victims of the car accident. So congrats to Amy Grant and her wonderful song "Helping Hand".

If you'd like to lend a helping hand to The Creative Cabana then make sure you follow the cabana on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. Just search "Creative Cabana" or check out the Connect With Me page for instant access!

* Image of musician Amy Grant was pulled from a search in Google Images. The songs "Helping Hand", "Baby Baby" and "Every Heartbeat" are the sole property of Amy Grant and respective songwriters. Usage of video links through YouTube are credited to respective account holders and content is property of Amy Grant. Article linked regarding the term "Roundabout" is credited to Wikipedia and was used only for educational purposes. No copyright infringement intended! 

What to do when Life gets a little TOO crazy...

Wow, ok, WOW! I cannot believe I went an entire week without posting something here at The Creative Cabana! I strongly suspect my reasoning for this is due to the one thing that constantly seems to plague my life: STRESS. Yeah, everyone gets stressed and we all go through things in our lives that just make us wanna scream. Personally, over the last few years I've been on sort of a quest to seek out different ideas that can help calm the senses. No matter what though, life still seems to get in the way of what we want to do. In short, I apologize to my readers for leaving you out in the dark over the last week due to my STRESS.

This does setup a nice platform though for my next idea to suggest here at The Creative Cabana. In the title of this post I asked "What to do when Life gets a little TOO crazy..."? Well there's really no right or wrong answer to this question. We all have our own unique strategies of how we handle life's hurls. For me I tend to shift in the things that help me to settle down. When I was younger before we had all these fancy Tablets, MP3 players, and well Netflix- I used to draw, ALL THE TIME! I literally had a stash at home where I kept a tablet, pencil, crayons, etc. and would just draw anything I could think of. Now a days I tend to just listen to music and trying to do something productive to take my mind off of problems. Still, for me I don't think anything really satisfies my senses more than drawing. I don't have pictures of my artwork yet to upload and show you, but rather than make this about me I'd like to focus on creative stress relievers for you!

Whether you feel you are artistically talented or not, I encourage you to embrace yourself and try to create some Art that reflects what you find happy, soothing, or any other encouraging emotions. You can draw, paint, color (that's right, go ahead and relive your childhood), or just doodle. It doesn't matter if it's good or not- Art is only in the eye of the beholder. Got a spouse or co-worker driving you crazy? Draw up a little cartoon on some scratch paper that will turn your frustration into humor- nothing cures stress like a smile and chocolate helps too. Is school letting you or your child down? Try making education fun by adding fun drawings to study sheets. It's good for memorization and helps to keep you positive while studying. So go ahead- get your creative thinking cap on!

Also, my friends, we are getting ready to head into the Holiday seasons (I know where did the time go?). So over the next few months I'm going to try centering some of my posts around different aspects of the holidays and give you some fun creative ideas to share with your friends, family, and other peers. This is only the beginning, get the stress out now because coming soon we're going to make some holiday magic! Have a wonderful creative day my friends! Check back soon for this week's Creative Mastermind!!!

Creative Mastermind for Week 9/16: Jamie Neal- "A Single Girl's Journey To A Life Of No Regrets"

Good day to you my wonderful Creative Cabana readers!!! It's Monday, new day, new week, which means a new Creative Mastermind has been crowned. In keeping with the ideals of trying to mix-up the background and occupations of the recent Creative Masterminds, this week I have done something a little different and I have chosen to profile my good friend, sorority sister, and fellow blogger- Jamie Neal.

Jamie and I met during our freshmen year of college and experienced all kinds of interesting things together. She was one of the first people I met on campus and instantly I was attracted to her kind personality and sense of wit. Together we served on our school's homecoming committee, became sorority sisters, and now here we are living the post-grad life.

Jamie has a blog of her own titled, "A Single Girl's Journey To A Life of No Regrets." In her blog she talks a lot about some of the things she's experienced in her post-grad journey, and discusses her steps into living the life she wants to live. She really gives a good insight into things that we might not always think carefully about. Her blog sort of articulates what a lot of younger adults go through as they try to transition into this thing called "adulthood".
Jamie really puts a lot of personal thought into her blog and organizes it into a chique-designed template.

So what it is about Jamie Neal that makes her a Creative Mastermind? It's just simply that. Jamie is truly one of the most creative and unique individuals I've ever met. She's artistic, thrifty, simple, and resourceful. She's not a celebrity in New York or Hollywood, you won't find her on TV, and you probably won't find her as a best-selling author anywhere- although I hope some day she achieves all of this! She's just a normal person who happens to be richly blessed with the gift of creativity and resourcefulness.

I look to Jamie as a Creative Mastermind because she shines in talent not just with her blog, but also her many hobbies of photography, writing, and crafting. In her blog she's addressed several of these features and how she has accomplished them. One of her more recent posts addressed the topic of photography and how one deems it as "professional". Very similar to the beliefs I have on this subject, she also displays examples of some her best photography work to date. These are just great examples of what qualities I try to look for in a Creative Mastermind- insight, inspiring, and a unique level of creativity.

If you do get a chance, please check out her blog  "A Single Girl's Journey To A Life of No Regrets" and I hope you will discover some of the unique aspects about her that I enjoy. She is my friend and sorority sister, but I also look to her as someone who inspires me to really "think outside of the box", not just with art, crafts, or anything like that. She has personally encouraged me and her peers to not be afraid to do what makes you happy. Being creative personally makes me happy, so find what makes you happy and you too can become a Creative Mastermind like Jamie Neal!

*If you know someone or something who would make an excellent candidate for Creative Mastermind, please leave a comment in this post.