Edinburgh jeweller

'Do what you can with what you have where you are' is one of my favourite sayings. I don't always live it though! I often think, oh I need some more supplies to work on that jewellery project so I'll have to wait. So I won't be creative that day. But when I do take the time to look at what I have and play around with it I find that I make something different, have a new idea.  I was very inspired by  Phil Hansen 's TED talk which you can view below. He is an artist who developed a tremor in his hand while in art school. He was devastated and felt that this meant that he couldn't become an artist. After a long time coming to terms with this he decided to 'embrace the shake' and focus on what he could do. And the art that he continues to create  by giving himself limits is just amazing.  The talk is just ten minutes long and could give you a new perspective on creativity so have a look. 

My cat, who teaches me about slowing down! Do you need to slow down? I know I do. I begin teaching a new Psychology course at the Mary Ward Centre , London next year called 'The Psychology of space and time'. I have started doing some reading and research for my lesson planning and resources. I came across this Ted talk Carl Honore Praises Slowness  which I hightly recommend watching. Not only did it give me a great subject for one of my classes it gave me some food for thought for myself. Carl Honore is a journalist who has researched and written a book called In praise of slow: how a worldwide movement is challenging the cult of speed  which I plan to read but have not yet. He realised that he needed to slow down when he found himself rushing through bed time stories with his son. He's not alone. The slow movement  believe that what we are missing by rushing through life is connection - with each other, with our surroundings, with our environment. And so now we ca...