From one field to another, makers note, “Creativity itself requires limits.” (2)

“Creativity needs boarders.” (3)

Alright X 3.

The edges of a canvas

Help a painter out by reining them in.

Stop x 4.

A series of drop-offs reign

Simultaneously supporting and abandoning

A saturated work in progress.

In painting a watercolor, building a picnic table, or designing a cereal box

We showcase the meaning of parameters

By working within a series of “restrictions and challenges.” (5)

What’s your budget? Is there a timeline?

Will what you make sit in the sun?

Are people going to put their weight on it?

“Pause and consider in order to place.” (6)

“Through parameters are often thought of as limitations

They can be springboards to better ideas.” (7)

Just down the block, a painter you know well

Faces a canvas that’s 20 x 4, instead of the more familiar, traditional 20 x 24 frame.

(A not-yet-seen insight has way less space to hide.)

A not-normal setting

Sets the groundwork for a new thing to spring.

[ What might emerge from this uncommon crop? ]

A restrictive canal channels a stream.

A fresh idea becomes apparent

In a maker's mind.

“Limits are not only unavoidable in human life, they are also valuable.” (10)

Limits are necessary, like the “banks of the river, without which … there would be no river.” (11)

Our “struggle with limits is actually the source of creative productions.” (12)

“Sorry, did I mention the client’s poster is printing 2-color and not 4?”

Yes, and thank-you!

The ideas just keep coming.

Read the room. “Get with what is.” (13)

In doing so, new concepts are

Born.

Parameters hold art

Into

Being.

Parameters prohibit and constrain, while

Encompassing our process, focusing our eye

Holding a place for potential to take hold

Grounding journeys and breakthroughs that grow

Us

Beyond the mind we have.

Parameters prepare places and stand guard, contouring narrow, expansive paths forward.

Engaging the known and unknown that follows is the

Creative process, a journey that

Judges our judgment by and by, by revealing what is

More, pointing out the presence of multiple points, all along the

Way. More points per inch provide higher resolution, which challenges and affirms the connections we've made within the conclusions we've drawn.

Solid conclusions persuade us to walk towards them, through them, in them, and by them.

These pictured visions sort our view, while serving up goals that assist.

There’s something in our eye, all the time. Ask others to weigh in and see.

“Support.” (17) For the human kind of being, the

Creative process appears to be a

Mystery to take up in time.

“On Your Back.” (18)

“Part of living well is recognizing and learning what it is that’s yours to

Carry.” (19)

Switch fields.

“Carry each other.”

Try the other side. (20)

A net

Anchors a series of lines.

The spirit of the game throws through.

“No. You can’t treat another player like that.

This game will fall apart if others follow that

Lame of a lead. The approach you chose is

Unsustainable. Your performance is

Needy. The way you play is

Poor.”

Restrictions

Pitch

In

Confronting

Anything goes.

Parameters Proposed Prohibit Participants

As a particular game appears

Within

A particular set of lines.

Bring it

In.

Listen

Up.

DO NOT use your hands

Unless

You’re tending to

Your goal.

[ Soccer ]

Use your hands … but

DO NOT use your feet. Also, no goaltending.

[ Basketball ]

Games exist because of parameters.

One of many ways to think about being human, is that we

Live

In

The midst of overlapping games

That nest at different levels of abstraction.

Many of us got our start

Playing a game called

[ Family ]

Built on house rules that vary.

“Heads

Up!”

DO NOT run with scissors.

Take turns with the popular toy. Feet off the table.

DO NOT throw chairs.

As we grew

We were prompted, persuaded, and pressured to

Go outside and play.

“Get

Out!” Find some friends and fit

In. [ Team Sports ] are essentially the [ Family ] game expanded into a pack.

“Spread

Out!” (What have I gotten myself

Into?)

DO NOT run your mouth.

Take turns with the ball by passing, putting into play what we practiced.

DO NOT throw chairs.

We grew what we knew through play, before upping our game and getting a job.

A [ Job ] is essentially [ Team Sports ] with different lines, uniforms, and positions.

It’s also the [ Family ] game with different roles. (Connect the Dots.)

DO NOT run with assumptions unless they’ve been cross validated.

Take turns talking in that heated, bored room.

DO NOT throw chairs.

Consider how often you are

In a single-player or multi-player game

That happens to be nesting in a larger game.

Me playing soccer at 46

Might look like I’m playing soccer

Which I am

But the larger game I’ve got my eye on is called

[ Just Try Not To Pull Anything. ]

“What does success look like to you?” (29)

This idea that we are constantly

In

The midst of a symbol rich game to

Partake in

Or

Pass on

Is a way of seeing that works good.

Don’t take it from me

Take it from you.

1. Picture a

Job, relationship, environment, or situation

That is

Not aligned with the expectations you brought with you to hold the

Job, relationship, environment, or situation

You’ve pictured.

Scan your view. You are HERE. Traditional and Untraditional are too.

Notice how Familiar and Unfamiliar are fighting for how your attention is spanning.

To the degree you pictured any of this beforehand, you are simultaneously on and off.

2. Articulate the context you find yourself in.

Recognize just how unique the conditions are.

Identify the variables, seen and unseen. Dig into the depth of this field.

Map out the landscape in your mind. This is new territory, and yet

You have been HERE before.

You kind of know this KIND of job, relationship, environment, or situation

Super well. Distinguish the parameters of the [ game ] before you.

Grab a genre and use your own words to

Name the frame.

3. Abstract even further by pushing yourself to see

Yourself

In what you face.

Grow an awareness for an emerging resemblance before you.

This frame is like me in multiple ways.

Not perfect. Check. Full of potential.

Check.

Explore.

See.

4. If

You want to, choose to

Accept the framework before you

Forgiving it for being

Like you. Not all there.

5. Agree to play anyway.

Open that door while promising

Potential you’ll try your best, within

What just is.

6. Surprise yourself. Unbury treasure

Inspiring onlookers

Gathering on and off sides

7. Leave it all on the field.

Rest, reflect, recharge and renew.

8. Repeat

As if this rhythm is actually needed.

A crowd stirs while mulling over

Multiplying moves you made.

Client work has taught me a lot about the importance of parameters.

19 years of blind dates went a little something like this: “We’d like you to design us a logo.

Make sure that it's down to earth. Make it high-end. We want to stand out and fit in.

Make us look modern, retro, timeless, cool, and hot.

We don’t have much to pay you. Hope that’s ok.

How soon can you have this done?

We love your creative instinct and are excited to see what

You come up with.

Also, here’s a drawing our partner did on a napkin.”

What is [ the particular game ] I am

Being invited to

Play?

What Phrase might sum up and stand for

All the times I’ve found myself stuck in this

KIND of game?

A: I can pass.

(Not a bad idea).

“It’s not me, it’s you.”

B: I can play.

(Not necessarily a bad idea).

“Let’s see what we can do.”

The job at hand is not

Ideal, but …

Ideal jobs are hard to come by. Plus … I’m open.

Here’s the unideal deal: [ The opportunity before me is a way to pay some bills, as well as a

Chance to improve how I hold my tools, while adding another story to tell. ]

Choose your own adventure.

“Hi Risk.

Looking

Good.”

“Thanks Reward.

Where have you been

My friend?

“Everywhere.

In everyone ever

Mislabeled and misunderstood.”

Game on. Here’s my proposal: [ I will explore and present just 1 concept instead of 3 ]

In light of the size of your budget.

Same for revisions, unless that is, you want to invest in the

Way

4th drafts are typically better than what you see in round 2. (Sandpaper comes in more than 1 grit.)

Stronger solutions need a longer timeline to get an average placeholder rolling

Providing our subconscious depths something to latch onto, speak into, and transform.

Get something started, then give it a rest. Hit the shower, then sprint for a pen.

(Try not to pull anything.)

Let’s go

In light of

Logos: an abstract representation, marking

The

Creative

Process

A powerful path forward, through limitations

Held into being by invisible qualities

Dwelling in how things get made.

Granted, negotiating a [ Contract ] with reasonable points is not always an option.

Too many makers have no say

Trapped in games they don’t want to play.

To be clear, points made thus far are not suggesting

That we put up with unjust rules or oppressive rulers because of potential silver linings to find.

Rather this about reframing how we view particular scenes in the midst of what just is

Out of our control, in order to gain or regain a small, yet sufficient sense of control that sustains.  

Reframing our perspective of a job, relationship, environment, or situation, has a

Way of hinting at new goals that can fix our eyes, followed by new momentum.

This setting is

What it is

Circled with constraints that cycle.

Gravity is a given.

Layers of limitations abound.

Reality really appears

To

Be

Inviting me into a particular game to play. Let’s see what we can do.

I can complain about the clock … or … I can do something

More

Creative than that.

This job, relationship, environment, or situation

Facing me, is nowhere near ideal.  

Right. Now, think of a new name for this frame and love it as yourself.

Rise. Tear off that warm up. Realize a transformation.

Look at you go now that you’ve gotten past complaining, breaking free from the way it holds.

Look at you go now that you DO NOT have time to question your every move.

Sometimes we are presented with parameters that we wouldn’t have thought of on our own.

One of my favorite prints came from this kind of arrangement.

An art show approached me and asked if I wanted to play.

The parameters were:

[ Make a print that explores 3 themes: Beer + Minnesota + Community. ]

So many options were off the table. What a gift. Their focus hooked me in.

From this limited space to work within, a concept I didn’t see coming

Arrived

Revealing what I had been storing.

A piece emerged that I still barely understand.

My love for minimalism and horizon lines informed a container pouring

Representing brewing, a process where someone combines and holds difference

Together, while giving that relationship time. In this shared space

One part activates something in another, which generates a new, 3rd thing.

This is brewing. This is cooking. This is Family, Team Sports, and Jobs.

This is contemplation by ourselves. This is conversation and cooperation in community. This is the

Creative process. This is

Life itself.

Day in and

Day out

We are flooded with inputs from sources that surround.

Evolving environments speak into our work

With traces, notes and nods.

What we make tells of a conditioned context.

Our act evolves through seasons, in stages

Overseen by care takers, taking turns

Making and breaking our casts.

In our beginning, we watched one another play before imitating some of what we saw.

This is what we’re like. Still. Like 2nd graders indirectly telling 4th graders “you rule”

We never stop looking up to those who represent next steps.

We observe and save our notes somewhere

Somehow

Following along accordingly

Copying steps within routines for “individual use.” (49)

“We are a face-to-face species.

We are remarkable in our capacity to empathize, to mimic, to mirror.” (50)

In play

Kids take turns describing parameter sets

Following after the heart of improv, inviting others to join in.

As seen on more than TV

Past scenes we’ve gathered roll, informing roles

In school rooms, hospitals and homes.

In play

Kids work out basic concepts like, “care,” “self,” and “other.”

“Settle down.”

“How about [ you’re the puppy and I’m the zoo keeper.] ”

“Yes! ... and

[ This laundry basket is my cage and it’s snack time and puppy needs more gummies. ]”

“But

Our

Father said no more gummies.”

“Ga-ha-meeeees.” (“Puppy in a cup.”) (53)

“No.”

“Puppy will bury the wrappers in the couch cushions next to the carrots.”

An idea

Works

For way too long

Then

The remote gets lost

Followed by an old man’s cool.  

What

The

…

In early rounds, high-powered authority figures, such as tall moms and big brothers

Lay down laws.

Being naughty is punishable. Don’t get caught. Hide your polypropylene trail.

Context matters, but generally speaking, initial parameters such as

[ Limiting snack intake ] or [ Prohibiting hitting ]

Provide guard rails which get us going on a path that's right

While growing our concept of “health” and “care.”

Training wheels serve for a season, assisting in ushering in

A coming of age.

In our first few rounds

Getting

2nd hand knowledge is key.

“[ DO NOT touch the stove! ]”

“Why?”

“Because we’re trying to save our savings for more than a trip to the ER.”

As we age, we begin to see why certain parameters have been put in place.

Here, we begin to play by the rules for reasons we

Get 1st hand.

Being prohibited from touching the stove is a rule for a reason.

Disobey if you will … just don’t get caught red handed.

“Dad.”

Sorry.

Constraining house rules are a practice round of sorts that gets us

Ready for a “real” world, run by a transparent

Super

Parent

We’ve captured in our traditions.

A multitude of Ology’s have reckoned with this

Force, according to their kind. This

Character of characters is a profound mix of

Intense and kind

Compassionate and harsh

Slow to anger and seriously mad.

Honoring this

Mix that has been passed down

Is nowhere near straight forward.

Consider for a moment, a healthy aspect of this hard to follow

Mix that drives

Us.

Think about being told to exercise by a

Higher power such as our father, mother, doctor, or gym coach. (Kiss your comfort zone goodbye.)

Picture the ridged schedule of a Track & Field team, made up of weekly practices.

Push. Remember to breathe. Go another round.

A voice calls out from a teal windbreaker, making us do what we ought to do:

Drills that burn our core.

After a Track & Field season

We hit an off-season

Where our assigned coach isn’t there

Watching.

"Freedom! Finally. No more

External

Authority

Figures enforcing painful rituals

Towering over my every move, telling me what to do."

On Summer Break, intense instructors don’t call us out. In time, they don’t need to.

Our lungs sub in and take their place, doing just fine, and not so fine without them.

An irony

Wind tunnel begins heating up

In the midst of a pickup game

Speaking up about something our body is missing.

An undeniable

Word that we get on a gut level, tells us that we’ve separated ourselves from our own

Life in some way, according to an invisible rule, written on at least our lungs.

In skipping out on exercising, we don’t exactly get away with it.  

Our own lack of practices preach

Without words, finding us right where we’re at. Calling this disruptive

Encounter names, helps us build a relationship with the

Way

It can bring us back to our life.

Multiple references are in order, in order to begin to hold and honor the complexity of this

Significant

Other.

Our

Life is after

Us. We are members of

More

Than we understand

In an epic struggle to learn and live

The

Power of

Cooperation.

“The individual is an organ of society,” and (65)

Life is a

[ Game of [ games ] ] in need

Of

Cooperation, a shared activity

Driven by a benefit that’s mutual. Here

More than one member works together

In

Solidarity, towards a “common purpose” pictured. (66)  

The source of cooperation is “mutual respect.” (68)  Reciprocating the idea that another is

Worth our while, sets the table for

More. This claim works, even if the other has baggage from their journey

Like we do. “Solidarity between equals” serves us all a deeper definition of home. (69)

Go and multiply

What caring for the other as if they were you

Looks like to you

Expanding how your vision works

Enlightening next steps to take.

We go through thousands of rounds of growing up, relearning what we thought we had down.

We forget to remember

All the time, what it is we think we believe. Also, we don’t know everything there is to know.

This being true, means we will

Encounter others who know how our big picture could be

Better.

Listen

Up

Always.

As far as the game called [ Society ] goes

Different points of view have emerged on

What’s working and what needs work.

It’s not a stretch to say that

The dusty gameboard

We are standing on is

All kinds of

Broken and

Fixed.

HERE

We

Are.

Where

Does

One

Go

From

HERE?

Some say

We still have a long way to go, but that the [ Structure ] we’ve got is still

Much better than most of the alternatives out there.

Some say the societal

Arrangement that we inherited is simply the [ Channel ] we got

Which we could and should use to revise the [ Channel ] we got

Leveraging more of

Our

Potential by getting more of who we are engaged.

Some push back

Saying simple summaries are part of the problem, as they

Fail to address complexities unseen, embedded deep

Which is

Why

Progress is so hard to come by.

Some are simply tired of hearing about change from leaders

Benefiting from the [ Channel ] they keep

Plugging.

A current within invites

Us in time to question the depth of

Our stance. A subtle

Shift FROM asking [ will I get caught cheating ] or [ will I get shunned by my base ] TO

[ Is my way of play good for us, as in “all of us,” ] and [ can it scale if others follow ] (76)    

Is an important transition to take. In doing so

We grow the

Way

We hold pages.

Reread the signs

Between the lines

Deeper into wide.

Go through again the

Word

Shrewd, honing your craft with “good (as opposed to duty).” (78)    

Throw through. Push your play.

“Do the right thing, not out of fear of punishment,

But because it’s the right thing to do.” (79)

In his studies, Piaget noticed that as children aged, they took on a

Likeness by entertaining an inner

Authority. In play, stages of development revealed a “spirit of the game” that

Influenced and inspired those gathered. (81)

Games still had their constraints, consequences, categories and competitive nature; and

Stronger, taller players remained stronger and taller, but

In the end, which became a beginning

[ Conceiving of other players as equals, on deeper levels, ] became a much more convincing

Compelling reason to play fair.

This vision of [ Cooperation overseeing Competition ], served aging children as a

Reliable, transcendent, governing

Force that worked

Way better than the fear of getting in trouble.

Imagine that.

Picture that and share. Help us heal

From our hit list of theories

Built upon man-made

Projections.  

Piaget notes: “Why should one not cheat at games? The answer falls under four heads:

1) It is naughty

2. It is contrary to the rules of the game

3) It makes cooperation impossible

(“You can’t play anymore” “It spoils the game”

“If everyone did that no one’ll play anymore.”)

4. It is contrary to

Equality.” (84)

“Good eye.”

[ Envisioning yourself as the other ]

Is a parameter

To partake in.

[ Seeing another

As another you ]

Is an up-and-coming, oncoming, incoming frame

That works

For our good, to the degree we entertain this roundabout definition of

Love.

Is there a best

Way forward, as far as looking out for our well-being goes?

What kind of ruler would one even use to measure that value claim?

A healthier

Us calls out from the future, past and present

“On your Left. On your Right. Align to

The

Golden

Rule.”

[ The Golden Rule ] is a

Parameter of parameters that guides            

Us forward.

[ The Golden Rule ] is a

Path of paths that channels our current events, keeping

Us from doing whatever.

[ The Golden Rule ] is a

See-through coaching staff that grows

Our grasp of everyday concepts, such as “hosting,” “home” and “away.”

By the

Way, this

Rule of rules is

[ Love. ]

“All this time

(So many signs).” (89)

Breathe deep and listen to your neighbor. [ See the other as another you,

A visiting guest, who just like you, is a work-in-progress with issues. ]

[ “Long for the best for that other as you would want the best for you.” ] (90)  

Reflect on the

Mystery

We are, ringing in more than our years.

Don’t look now, but a motion picture is bearing it all

While we faithfully cover it up

Using hand-me-downs, grandfathered in.

A face now glowing, continues scrolling through yet another draft.

“This screenplay could be better.” (A line blinks.) A cursor winks

Signaling another round.

A passage appears

A gateway to explore

Rough, smooth edges and all.

Take a knee

Past the rock. Tend to

Our plot

With all you got

In light of a gut checked

Power within.

Roots underground mirror branches seen, anchoring a symmetrical sprawl

Holding a horizon line, preparing to bear

Fruit to share.

Order in the court. An ever-present threshold courts

Us

All

As a variety of goals

Lead us on

According to their kind.

A difficult action awaits.

From Piaget’s study: “Interviewer: Is it just the same to tell lies to grown-ups and to children?

FEL (age/6): No.

Interviewer: Which is naughtiest?

FEL (age/6): To grown-ups.

Interviewer: Why?

FEL (age/6): Because they know it isn’t true. ( The more a lie shows, the worse it is. )

DEN (age /11): “It’s’ worse to a child because he’ll believe it.”

Piaget: Here we see the “progress of solidarity.” (95)

Where

To

Start

With our

Super

Small part

To play?

A woodworker comments from another angle

^ Know thy context. Honor thy process.

Go against and with the grain.

Facing and dealing with “limits

For the human personality

Actually turns out to be expansive.

Limiting and expanding thus

Go

Together.” (98)

Strong and

Flexible to

Follow.

You are a maker in charge … in part … of [ Realizing heaven on earth. ]

Go through again those roots, adjusting your stance as needed

Setting bars high, aiming deep, helping who we are

Catch on. Dream, and DO NOT be afraid

As you consider

Pulling into being the most beautiful picture you can manage.

Re-member these fragmented members we are.

Re-ligament what we’ve warped and torn.

Re-write who we may be.

Prepare a place for new things

Brewing

Stirring more than your crowd.

Move

Us forward with a

Word

Written in your chest, revealing how well your vision works

For a world you still, so

Love.