Tales of Turtles

 

Turtle fables abound. A turtle represents creation, endurance, strength, cunning, longevity, and stability. Turtles provide happiness, protection and good fortune.


The turtle’s shell figures in many tales. Zeus invited a turtle to a party. When she declined the invitation and said, "There's no place like home," he put her house on her back. In China a turtle shell formed the vault of the heavens. Vishnu, the Hindu god, changed into a turtle's shape to carry the world on his back. For many Native Americans the world rides on the back of a giant sea turtle.

An African legend tells of the leopard who built a drum that everyone can hear. He will not permit anyone to try the drum, not even the Sky-God. Angered at this behavior, the Sky-God announces that anyone who can bring leopard's drum to him will receive a reward for teaching the leopard a lesson about his greedy, disrespectful ways. Then the Sky-God waits.

The elephant, monkey and tiger try to get the drum but the leopard scares them away. Finally, the tortoise steps up. The animals laugh and tease her because of her size and soft shell.

She proceeds anyway and tricks leopard by telling him his drum looks only middle-sized, but nice. She says that the Sky-God can climb inside his drum and not be seen at all.

The leopard brags that he can climb into his drum and not be seen, too. When he squeezes himself completely into the drum, the tortoise seals it with a cooking pot. She drags the drum to the place where the Sky-God waits. He laughs at the lesson that the little tortoise has taught a big, bragging leopard.

As a reward the Sky-God presents her with the strong, hard shell that the tortoise wears to this day.

In reality, sea turtles have poor eyesight and cannot use visual clues to find their way. Experiments have shown some turtles can detect differences in the angle and intensity of the earth’s magnetic fields. Scientists theorize they follow each region’s magnetic pull to find their way back to birth beaches. They have a built in global positioning system.

The first turtles swam more than 150 million years ago. Seven species of sea turtle survive today: loggerhead, leatherback, hawksbill, green, olive ridley, Kemp's ridley, and flatback.

Five of the six species that live in the United States appear on the endangered species list.  The sixth, the loggerhead, is listed as threatened. The last species, the flatback sea turtle of Australia, is considered "vulnerable" to extinction. 

Celebrate a turtle in words today.

Creativity's Thrill

 

Happiness lies not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort. - Franklin Delano Roosevelt's First Inaugural Address

In her book, YOUR CREATIVE BRAIN,  Dr. Shelley Carson shares the psychology and neuroscience of creativity. A Harvard psychologist, Dr. Carson defines creativity as something novel or original and useful or adaptive to some portion of the population. She focuses on the distinction between originality and creativity. Carson indicates that many things are original but aren’t particularly creative.

Psychologists used to believe the left brain analyzed with an involvement of sequential thinking and the right brain handled creativity. 

The movement developed toward the front-back brain division. The front brain became the gatekeeper and controlled the input from the back brain. 

Now we think it’s more complicated than either model. It depends upon which stage of the creative process you’re in.

Dr. Carson feels contentment is the enemy of creativity because the creative mind constantly hungers for stimulation.

Creativity involves novelty-seeking. Studies of cognitive behavior have shown you can change brain activation states, alter neurotransmitter levels and the receptors for those neurotransmitters and receptors. Dr. Carson believes, “if we have the ability to change our brains with cognitive behavior therapy, why not use that power to become more novelty-seeking and more creative?’

Carson adds, to increase creativity, “keep learning new things. Take courses, read widely, and learn how to play a new instrument or how to cook Tuscan food. Learn, learn, learn! Second, try not to judge the things you’re learning. Keep an open mind. Everything you learn is a possible element that may make its way into some future creative idea that you can’t even imagine today. And the more open-minded you remain about what you learn, the more likely you are to see how it can be combined with other information to form a novel and original product or idea." 

What could you do to develop a novelty-seeking ability in your life today?

How to See a Tree

 

During childhood, I spent most of my free time in trees. Climbing into a 30-foot magnolia provided my view of nature's magic. Butterflies visited along with ladybugs. Ants left trails to follow.

I escaped from my bedroom window by climbing down a jacaranda. A eucalpytus tree grew from three trunks that enclosed a space for hiding. My body fit with just my head peeking out. Oak trees also invited my climbing adventures. I adorned my friends with ribbons, balloons, and flags.

Pine trees coated me with sap. Apple, citrus, fig, and avocado trees provided treats. I marveled at the aromas and tastes. All seasons revealed opportunities to investigate the bounty of wood near my home.

Because of my friendship with trees, I believed they never died. I watched them transformed into doors, furniture, sculptures, and stationery. I collected decorated boxes that opened with a rush of scent.

Have you ever paid attention to a tree?

How to See a Tree

At first light, three men entered the forest.

The axeman downed a tree riddled by insects

seeing it worth only fire wood.

The logger brought a chainsaw with greed in his smile.

He would sell lumber and make a fortune.

The woodsman searched all day

playing fingers over bark and limbs.

His nostrils filled with scent of tree,

he honed planks suitable for

instruments whose living notes

might please a weary world.

Describe a childhood experience in nature that provided insights.