Monday memo #73
Use your emotions.
The Monday memo is food for thought to fuel your week.
Hi everyone,
How do you feel today?
This is such a simple question, something we ask each other all the time. Emotions mark our ups and downs and define our experience of life. What’s meaningful? What matters? What’s good? What’s bad? The answers come down to how you feel about things.
Emotions aren’t just background noise; they are tools we can use to think better, work smarter, and explore new possibilities.
Positive emotions like joy, curiosity, and excitement tend to open the mind. When you feel good, you’re more likely to see connections between ideas. So if you want to be more creative, it actually helps to boost your mood first. Take a walk, listen to music, or do something fun before you start.
But it’s not only good feelings that impact your creativity. Even negative emotions can be useful. A little bit of frustration, for example, can help you focus and sharpen your thinking. While positive moods help generate ideas, negative emotions can lead to better idea evaluation and refinement.
The trick is not to get stuck in your emotions. Too much anxiety or anger can shut down creative thinking. But if you can notice and regulate how you’re feeling, you can actually use those emotions as signals: What’s bothering me? Is there a new approach I haven’t tried?
Emotions also drive curiosity and exploration. When you feel genuinely interested in something, you’re more likely to ask “what if?” and go deeper. So if you feel drawn toward a question or topic, follow that spark. It might lead somewhere unexpected and valuable.
Another powerful emotion for creators is passion. If you care deeply about what you’re working on, you’ll stick with it through setbacks. Passion fuels perseverance, which is critical for solving complex problems or finishing long-term creative projects.
Exercise.
Emotions are signals about what’s going on in your life. The stronger the emotion, the stronger the signal. This week, pay attention to the emotional signals your body is sending you, and give them space to fuel your creative energy.
When you notice an emotion, good or bad, ask yourself:
What is this emotion?
Where did it come from?
What do I want to do with it?
See what happens.
This week: Dress rehearsal!
This week we will share our final projects with each other in a “practice session” for our spring open house and exhibition. This will be a chance to practice as well as double-check things like technology, recording settings and so on.
Then, next week, May 14th, we will close out the spring term with our open house exhibition, where we will open our doors to share what we’ve been working on with the world.
Everyone is invited! Here’s the invitation to our Open House. Please feel free to share this with your family, friends, followers, subscribers, customers, and whoever else you think might enjoy it.
More information for members is below the fold.👇