If you are interested in understanding people, handwriting analysis is one of the most fascinating hobbies you could ever cultivate. It will lift your understanding of people to a whole new level.

We’ve all come across people who hide behind a facade of pretense and whose real personalities are completely camouflaged. With handwriting analysis you can remove the mask in minutes.

Family members, friends, competitors and even rivals will be easier to understand. Not only will it help you to understand the people nearest and dearest to you, you will also be able to see into the characters of those not so dear to you!

When you study someone’s handwriting you are not only looking at the written page.  You are delving into a real live person’s feelings, motives and behaviour.

That is why handwriting analysis is so fascinating.  The material is so interesting.

You can collect the handwriting samples of the rich and famous, of historical characters or of your own ancestors.  From their handwritings alone you’ll be able to discover so much about them as real people that it will amaze you.

You can examine the handwritings of presidents, royalty, politicians and film stars to  see what really drove them to achieve. The possibilities are endless.

It gives you a whole new understanding of all kinds of people. And of course there’s the huge plus of getting to know yourself too.  But that is a whole book in itself. Which incidentally, you can check out here:

How to Find the Real You – Self-Discovery in handwriting.

Craft and Create - The Creative Route to Personal Development

Taking up a craft can really change your life. Not only can it make you more inventive, and productive, it can also give you several health benefits.

Taking up a craft has been proved to aid those suffering from anxiety and the after-effects of trauma.

A craft demands focus and because of this it helps you to break any negative thought-cycles. In many cases it helps people to heal and get over their anxieties.

If you are suffering from anxiety you are probably plagued by repetitive and intrusive thought-patterns. Focusing on these thoughts only drives them deeper into your subconscious mind. Learning a new craft helps you to concentrate on things other than these intrusive thoughts.

A craft such as knitting or crochetting gives you the space for relaxed concentration. It retrains your brain to work in a non-anxious cycle. In fact, it actually helps to re-program your brain when you concentrate on things other than your anxieties.

Crafts such as knitting, crochetting or quilting can put you into a relaxed state of mind similar to meditation. Psychoanalysts like Carrie Barron have sung the praises of crafting in general and knitting in particular, comparing them to long-acknowledged calming practices such as yoga and zen meditation.

A sense of self-worth is immensely important to your sense of well-being. Few people can maintain good mental health if they cannot respect themselves.

Taking up a craft can teach you surprising things about yourself. It takes the power of determining your self-worth away from the judgment of others, and gives it back to you. If you create something of which you can be proud, it increases your self-esteem and feeling of self-worth.

It is well-known that art therapy helps people to regain their sense of self-worth. Occupational therapists who teach people certain crafts in treatment centres say that this type of therapy has brought about some amazing results.

The idea of art as therapy is nothing new, but it’s becoming more and more relevant because of the stresses of our daily lives.

Importantly, the process of creating seems to impart a feeling of power and control. When you are working at a particular craft you decide on the medium, the actual form it will take and the outcome. You can change the format at will, and you alone will be responsible for the finished article.

This freedom is immensely empowering. It gives you the mental space and opportunity to focus on something you enjoy doing and in the process it helps you to beat your personal demons.

Article by guest writer, Helen McAndrew

Craft and Create - The Creative Route to Personal Development

Don’t let perfectionism kill your creativity. I’ve seen it happen to people many times.

You see, perfectionism is a fear of making mistakes.  It’s a fear of failure. And it’s precisely that fear of failure that paralyzes you and prevents you from challenging your paradigms.

For example, what is writer’s block if not a form of perfectionism where you get paralyzed because you are too afraid to make a mistake?

Mistakes are an important part of the creative process. If you want to create  something you have to be prepared to make mistakes and stick your neck out. Creativity is not for the faint of heart.  It’s for the bold and brave in spirit!

How often have you seen a child painting with joyful abandon, completely unconcerned about the outcome?  Ask that child what she is painting and after a brief moment of thought she will come up with a precise answer.

“I’m painting a rainbow and a house and a little dog,” she will tell you.  And if you can’t see it that’s your shortcoming not hers. In her mind, the painting is perfect.

But tell her that she is painting it all wrong and you will soon see the momentum of her creativity disappear.

How Perfectionism kills Creativity

Sally was only 9 when she decided that she wanted to be an artist. Already a perfectionist, she loved drawing and made a neat little book of fine, penciled sketches.

Then some well-meaning friends introduced her to a professional artist who showed her into his studio and overwhelmed her with his larger than life canvases and colourful, bold paintings.

Back at home she took out her meticulous little drawings and careful sketches and looked at them with dismay.

They now seemed so insipid and insignificant that she could only regard them as evidence of her own inadequacies rather than the fine sketches that they really were.

She soon lost heart and after that no one could persuade her to put pen to paper again.

Another child might have been inspired to see the artist’s studio but Sally, being a perfectionist, had a fear of not being able to reach the standards she had set herself.

I think it’s a very sad little story and a classic example of the destructive influence of the fear of failure – and how perfectionism kills creativity.

And if you think it only happens to children – just think of the last time you had writer’s block; or left that painting half done. Or gave up playing the piano or – – I don’t really have to remind you do I?

The bottom line is – create with abandon.  Create with passion.  But don’t set such high standards that prevent you from ever starting.

See also Perfectionism can ruin your relationship

Signs of Perfectionism

Craft and Create - The Creative Route to Personal Development

Over the years discussing our New Year’s resolutions has turned into a rather scary tradition in our family.

It takes place at the very first family dinner in the New Year when each person sitting around the table has to commit to at least one new goal for the coming year.

It can be somewhat daunting because if you haven’t set any goals you can be absolutely sure that the rest of the family are ready and waiting to pounce on you.

Funnily enough, there’s method in this rather bizarre tradition.  Because once you’ve announced your New Year’s resolution you are saddled with a commitment that you are forced to take seriously.

Obviously any resolution can be made during any time of the year. But somehow it carries more weight at the beginning of the year; the time for new beginnings when we start with a clean new slate.

Top Ten New Year’s Resolutions

If you haven’t yet decided on a goal for the year, here is a list of some of the most popular New Year’s resolutions. It may just help you.

It isn’t a definitive list – it’s simply the most popular list made up of resolutions that people seem to make year after year.

They are hardy perennials because they come up every year.  So here they are in no particular order.

1. Spend More Time With Family and friends
2. Get  Fitter
3. Lose Weight
4. Enjoy Life More.
5. Quit Drinking
6. Get better organized
7. Learn Something New
8. Save more
9. Stop Smoking
10. Find a Soul Mate

Many of us prefer to keep our resolutions to ourselves. It makes sense in a way because we don’t always follow through with them.

But the advantage of making your resolutions public is that it forces you to take them more seriously.

I can vouch for that personally.

My own New Year’s Resolution

Years ago, when it was my turn to talk about my new year’s resolution at our family dinner, I announced that my goal would be to learn something new. (No 7 on the list above!)

That something new was going to be Graphology!

Well, at the time it was just a whim.  But it was the beginning of my long love affair with graphology.

It has been an awesome learning experience for me. And the learning never stops because the mysteries of human nature are never ending.

The moral of my story is: be careful about the goals you commit to because they have a habit of taking over.

If you have chosen your goal for the following year I invite you to make your commitment right here and now! It may just kick start a new beginning for you.

Craft and Create - The Creative Route to Personal Development

An Easy Traditional Fruity Christmas Cake with Brandy.
Here is an excellent Christmas cake that is very easy to make. It improves with age so it would be best to try to keep it for a while so that the flavours can blend and become even richer. It tastes good immediately but this is the type of cake that improves with time.  It lasts for ages (if your family can resist the temptation) so the big advantage is that you can bake it well before you need it.

The ingredients are easy to find and it takes only a few minutes to put together.  It’s one of those “add everything together” recipes that works every time.

After you have boiled the ingredients together you simply mix in the remaining dry ingredients and voila! Your cake is ready to pop into the oven.

You will be thrilled with this cake because even though it is so easy to make, it turns out perfectly every time. And for those first time bakers out there the good news is that it never falls in!

You can decorate this cake as you wish – with or without icing.

This recipe can be used over and over again – and you don’t have to restrict it to Christmas. It’s a flavourful rich fruit cake that will grace any party table throughout the year.

You’ll find the recipe at Fiverr

Craft and Create - The Creative Route to Personal Development

If you’re on the lookout for an inspiring and creative craft that you can really enjoy you should think about pressing flowers.

For one thing, flower pressing is a wonderful boost to creativity – which is a gift in itself.  But it’s also a great stress reducer and that is certainly one of its most appealing qualities. It takes your mind off everything because it becomes quite addictive and all you need to do is concentrate on your lovely flowers and designs.

You’ll be pleased to know that you can learn to press flowers rather quickly. And once you get started you’ll be amazed at the variety of articles that you can make and decorate with your lovely collection of pressed flowers.

How to use pressed flowers

Pressed flowers are ideal for making colourful and original greeting cards.  You can also use them to make pictures for framing.  I have used smaller pressed flower pictures in sets of three to decorate a little girl’s bedroom.

You can use your pressed flowers to decorate boring looking telephone directories.  My own telephone directory  is quite a conversation piece!

Candles, photo albums and lampshades look great with applications of pressed flowers artistically placed in one corner.  There is no end to the various ways you can use your collection of flowers. You are truly limited only by your imagination.

A really big plus is that the tools you need for pressing flowers are simple and easy to obtain. You’ll probably find that you have most of the requirements for flower pressing in your home already.

If you liked this post you will also find the following articles interesting:

A Few Pressed Flowers – Pretty and easy to make

How to Make your own Greeting Cards

Craft and Create - The Creative Route to Personal Development

There’s something very special about the craft of pressing flowers. Maybe it’s so special because it involves working with real flowers at the peak of their beauty.

Nothing can compare with the joy of working with real flowers. Not only because of their beauty but because they hold a special meaning for us.

I think that part of this meaning lies in a flower’s fragility and fleeting existence. We know that it will only last for a short while.

A flower is but a brief moment in time.

When you press a flower you capture that moment in time and preserve it in a picture where it will always be able to jump-start a memory.

It can be a flower from a wedding bouquet, a leaf from a memorable holiday or a gift from a loved one.

Pressing flowers isn’t just about sticking flowers to cardboard. It’s so much more than that. Pressing flowers connects us with nature.

It’s a way to appreciate the joyful little things that money can’t buy, like a new bud, a curved tendril or a delicate petal.

It makes us more aware of the beauty in nature and gives us a way of looking at the world with appreciative eyes.

How to press flowers

Craft and Create - The Creative Route to Personal Development

Creativity and inspiration are deeply connected. While creativity is about thinking outside the box and letting your thoughts run free, inspiration is the starting point.

It’s difficult to be creative without inspiration. Inspiration breathes life into the process of creativity. In fact, the word “inspired” comes from the same root as “to respire”- to breathe.

There are many ways to encourage your own inspiration. Try the following tips and see what inspired ideas you can come up with. You may surprise yourself!

Develop different Interests

One of the best ways is to find a hobby that interests you – whether it is learning a new language, taking up photography or attending lectures on art or politics.  You could even take up a team sport or become involved with some physical activity such as karate or hockey.

You could also learn a lot by writing or blogging. Just think of all the different subjects you could write about.

When you expose yourself to different issues and new ideas you learn a great deal.  New information is a great source of inspiration that could trigger off an exciting new project – even a brilliant idea for a novel.

Brainstorm for Creative Inspiration

Brainstorming is an excellent way to guide and channel your creative thoughts in the right direction. Different people brainstorm in different ways but it should involve freely jotting down all the thoughts that come to mind about a given topic. In this way you  can trigger fresh thoughts and new ideas.

Basically what you are hoping for is a chain reaction of creative thoughts to spill onto the page.

Some people also find that saying their thoughts out loud helps them to process the information better.

Learn to relax

It’s important to remember that you are much less likely to come up with brilliant ideas when you are stressed, tense or tired. Fortunately, there are a number of ways to help you to relax.

Some people like to listen to music as it helps them to unwind. Others practice deep breathing exercises such as those recommended by yoga.

Think about what normally works for you and go with it. If you are stressed about a particular area in your life you should to try separate yourself from this so that you can slip into “creative mode.”

Do some Exercise

When your body feels alive your mind feels more alert too. If ideas don’t come it won’t help you to sit at your laptop slumped over your notes or chewing the end of your pencil.

Exercise gives you energy and clarity of thought. So take some time out to go to the gym and you will find that you will be fresh and full of ideas the next time you sit down to work.

Many people say that they get their best ideas during a brisk walk or a jog in the countryside.

The most important thing to bear in mind is that you are more likely to find inspiration and creativity by living a full and interesting life.

This Article was contributed to Craft and Create by writer Eve Mills.

Craft and Create - The Creative Route to Personal Development

How to Press Flowers

One of my favourite crafts is pressing flowers. If you haven’t tried it yet you don’t know what you’re missing!

I use pressed flowers to make greeting cards and pictures and they always attract attention. But most of all, I enjoy making them.

Greeting cards made with pressed flowers are completely different from the ordinary printed variety. And you don’t have to be particularly artistic – the flowers do everything for you!

Here are 5 of my flower pressing tips to get you started:

1.     An important tip when you start to press flowers is to make sure that you only use fresh flowers. Flowers that are not at their best tend to lose their colour very quickly.

2.     See to it that the flowers you press are always dry. Dry flowers press the best because they have little moisture to spoil them. Remember that any damp flowers will simply collect mould and even spoil any other pressed flowers that are next to them.

3.     Try to secure a regular source of flowers for your pressing. For example you will need to be able to rely on your own garden or a market or a florist for a suitable supply of flowers.

4.     Do not try to buy expensive flowers for pressing.  In general, the best flowers for pressing are the least expensive ones.  In fact, orchids, roses and exotic flowers do not press well at all. You will soon find that you will rely mainly on inexpensive, very ordinary and easily obtainable flowers.

5.     You also should not be tempted to invest in expensive equipment. A flower press can easily be made using readily available material that you have in your home. You can easily make a flower press with bricks and hardboard. There really is no need to complicate matters by purchasing ready made flower pressing kits.

Follow these tips and dive right in. Remember that the most important step of all is to get started. Begin with just a few flowers and you will soon start to experiment and enjoy this lovely creative craft.

If you would like to find out more about pressing flowers try Flower Pressing Secrets

Craft and Create - The Creative Route to Personal Development

I have discussed several types of crafts and creative interests in these posts where I have included some of my own interests as well as a number of other crafts.  

Of course there is so much in this field that I have not yet touched upon. 

But before I get diverted, there is one type of craft that I think is far more important than any of the others.

And yes – it’s about

Crafting your own life!

So many of us go through life from day to day at half mast! We get through the boredom of our daily tasks and sigh with relief as we tick them off our “to do” lists.

But what we don’t always realize is that we also create with our thoughts and actions.  They contribute hugely towards fashioning the circumstances of our lives.  And so, just by our attitudes alone we can lift our lives from the mundane and boring to the heights of creativity.

Of course it helps a lot if you have a craft or creative pursuit that you enjoy. But even if you don’t it helps to think of your life as a canvas.  A canvas that needs to be filled with beautiful designs – and some shadows of course – but these only serve to highlight the brilliant colours.

No truly creative work can be accomplished in a mood of boredom. A lacklustre attitude will permeate your craft. You have to be passionate about what you do.  You have to be in a state of fired creativity.

A Magical Sense of Flow

There is only one way to reach that level of passion.  You have to get in touch with your deepest desires.

Your deepest desires are the things you absolutely crave to do.  The things that give you that magical sense of flow when you don’t even realize that time has passed while you were working.

Only your deepest desires can motivate you to reach your greatest achievements.

So if you find your heart’s desire – something you’ve always wanted to do and you have the opportunity to do it – don’t hesitate and deliberate till you lose the impetus.

Go out there and get busy with crafting you life. And do it wholeheartedly – with passion!

Craft and Create - The Creative Route to Personal Development