No New Ideas?

In a conversation today, my colleague stated that there is no originality left; there are no new ideas.  OUCH! I agreed that there has been a de-facto culling in the music industry for years - the music we are given easy access to is all rehash. (As wonderful as she is, have you noticed how close Adele's style is to Amy Winehouse?) However.... if you go out to hear live music, you will find that there is a lot more happening than what's presented on mainstream radio, and this is where the true creativity lies. There are many great musicians out there who've been on the scene for a lifetime, creating, innovating, collaborating, and their uniqueness is shunned by the industry. I could give you a very long list, just of musicians in NYC! And what about artists, authors, software designers, architects? The same thing applies. It is extremely difficult for people to get exposure for their new and different ideas, and increasingly, people have been programmed to reject new ideas.

Generally, the same is true no matter what business you're in.... the mainstream will present new versions of old ideas while obfuscating the true innovators. I won't get into the "why" of this right now, but you can see it happening in our education systems, our workforce, and our media. People are being programmed to be content with less freedom and less choice, and I, for one, am not jiving with that agenda!

I believe that we haven't yet scratched the surface of what we're capable of, as humans. In general, (perhaps with the exception of our genius heroes, ie Einstein who was quite big on playing music as a means of processing his theorums.....) we tend to use a mere fraction of our brain's capacity. Spiritually, I think humanity is moving forward at a nice pace, but creatively we need to step it up a couple notches. There are so many things you can do to break out of your routine and get the creative juices flowing, and here are some of my favorites:

1. Take a class at your local community college in a subject that interests you.
2. Try a new restaurant that serves food you've never eaten before.
3. Join an online community specializing in something that interests you.
4. Ask your librarian for a new and exciting author.
5. Try a new color or style in clothing.
6. Initiate a conversation with someone while waiting on line about a subject that interests you.
7. Travel someplace you've never been.
8. Learn to play in instrument, or take voice or acting lessons.
9. Start keeping a journal.
10. Study a different language.

The point here is that you need to activate and "work out" the creative part of your brain, and when you do, you'll find that new ideas pop out ALL THE TIME. We all have the capacity for invention and creativity, but if you don't use it, you lose it.

The best of all lives is when your work/income stems from your own ideas. People who give life to their ideas are the most fulfilled, in America and around the world. (http://www.forbes.com/sites/haydnshaughnessy/2012/09/07/who-are-the-happiest-workers-in-america-and-who-is-getting-happier/).

IDEABASH.org is designed to help people step into this kind of life, to help people become entrepreneurs and business owners; to simplify and economize the start-up process. We're about inspiring and promoting countless new ideas! It's my belief that ideas are the currency of the future, and we must encourage people to innovate and educate and evolve as fast as possible.

So, do we live in a world where all ideas have already been created? Absolutely not. We've only just begun!!