Observations

What To Do With What You Observe

Garth Beyer

Relentlessly you’re advised to observe, to notice things, to really see everything that is happening throughout your day, throughout your life. What do you do with your observations?

Write about them? Smile at the moment, then forget about it?

Or invest them, shape the observations into something remarkable, turn them into insights that you can then use to build, to create, to share. Perhaps the best thing to do with your observations is invest them.

 

Stay Positive & See The World With Your Own Eyes First

Once You Leave

Garth Beyer

Once you leave your cubicle, your apartment, your comfort zone, your box, you expose yourself. You risk at all levels. Most people stay in their zone because of that risk, because of their fear. Nothing can throw you out of wack if you stay put in your structure. The interesting revelation is this:

Once you leave your cubicle, your apartment, your comfort zone, your box, you expose yourself. But what you expose yourself to is never what you think and worry about. Once you leave your zone, everything that you dreamed of, craved, and desired in your zone, comes to you.

Want to find love? How can you do that when you stay in your room all day? Forget it. Anyway, love will find you….once you leave your room.

Want to see something truly beautiful? Even more beautiful than what you can Google on the internet or see out your window? You have to leave your space.

Want to laugh unexpectedly? Once you leave your box, something will happen that makes you crack up.

Just getting out of the place you confine yourself to, that you are comfortable with, is all it takes to get what you want. You don’t have to go after it, you don’t have to jump 50 hurdles to get it, all you need to do is get out!

Go to the park. Find a place to see the sunset. Walk to the grocery store. Don’t worry about how you dress, what you carry, or if you wear any shoes. Just leave.

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This post was inspired by the experience I just had. I’ve been in my apartment all day (got off work early) and wasn’t planning on leaving it. I was comfortable, I was safe with my books, my notepads, sticky notes, pens and laptop. I was content, even happy with the breeze and the sound of the water (how could I not be?). Then I decided to do something off Michelle Welsch’s Manual For Daily Adventure. I got up, grabbed a favorite book (Keri Smith’s How To Be An Explorer Of The World) and went to the park. The following things are what I got to experience because I left my apartment.

  • See a runner giving it her all.
  • Laugh and shake my head after watching two black basketball players almost get in a fight and one repeating to the other “you’re not gangsta!”
  • Three girls checking me out.
  • Laugh at a women on the phone only talking about getting drunk, hammered, plastered. Quote: “We will get drunk Sunday, that’s what labor day is for”
  • Pinpointed where an odd noise I kept hearing was coming from to a woman practicing opera.
  • Felt soft grass.
  • Got to observe more things, people, animals, sounds, sights, etc., than I would have in my apartment.
  • On my way back, had a good conversation with the three girls. If they didn’t smoke, I would have asked one for her number. Oh well.
  • Got to feel the ground. (Went barefoot)

That list sure beats the hell out of a list of what I would have experienced if I stayed in my apartment. The same goes for your cubicle at work, your comfort zone at school, your chair in the meeting room, your spot on the bus, your way you walk to work, your seat in class, and any “square” that you feel comfortable in.

 

Stay Positive & Experience Life

Garth E. Beyer

Improv, Improv Character Building, Improv-ing Writing Skills

Garth Beyer

Jim McClearahew is not an average “Jim”. You can tell he is battling his nearly schizophrenic impulses. Or maybe he is just checking out the woman that decided to eat at Subway instead of McDonalds. For me, I have to question Jim’s motives as I retrace his line of sight back to him, I finally notice that he has a purse with him. Glancing back at the woman ordering at Subway, it’s quite clear that of all people, Jim would be the last to ever get a chance with that woman. Obviously the purse is not hers. I conclude that the purse in question, is actually a man-purse. This leads me to believe that Jim is in a deep philosophical analysis of his sexuality. It becomes clear to me that he is staring at the woman in an attempt to discover why he does not find her exceedingly attractive.

As I let him continue contemplating his life without the fear of him matching my gaze, I begin to observe his clothes and notice that his shirt is not buttoned on the top two buttons. He must be Italian. The shirt which has no Italian vibes to it must have been given to him by his recently deceased aunt who was Irish and lived in the suburbs of New York.

Continuing to observe him I notice that he is wearing Crocs. You are going to have to trust me that I would not make this up since you cannot see it in the picture. Despite my deep efforts to continue teaching you (the reader) a lesson, I can’t fathom looking at his Crocs a moment longer. I apologize if you are one who wears them, but don’t let that stop you from learning the lesson from this.

WOW

If you know anything about the show “Who’s Line Is It Anyway” than you know that it is all Improv — everything is made up on the spot. No rehearsing, no memorizing lines, purely provided to the audience the moment the idea enters the brain. Heres a definition  of improv if you are sadly unfamiliar with this incredibly hilarious show.

Now you know about Improv and whether you realized it or not, you know how to use Improv to build characters. Whether you are in an improv group like me, or love to write (also like me), then being able to create characters for your skits and written works is extremely important. Let’s jump back to Jim.

I don’t know him if you didn’t catch that. I was just enjoying some Sbarro at the food court with my journal and while I was eating I picked out a person that was sitting alone.  Did I do an alright job at building a short character background of him? Looking at the picture again, I have to point out that the little boy to his left in the red shirt is pointing and laughing at him for wearing crocs.

Next time you catch a snag in your writing or acting skills, go to a place similar to a food court where a lot of people go. It is best to go to a place that the majority of people are sitting down since you will have to study them for a little while.  Bring a notebook and a pen and start creating background stories of people. You will quickly find that with enough practice you will start creating back ground stories for people as you walk down the street, or drive past someone in a car. I have always hated asking the question “I wonder what they do for a living”. Now I love asking myself the question, because I can always make up an answer.

Stay Positive and Focus On Improv-ment

Garth E. Beyer

LOOKING FOR A WINNER

I know you have what it takes, but does everyone else? Take a picture of someone in a similar setting like the one above and create a background story of them. Send it to me and I will choose the winner. The winner will get a full on creative writing/creative acting/creative life interview with me and have their submission posted with the interview on my blog and other social media outlets.

Guidelines:

  • No longer than one page long, double-spaced.
  • Refrain from using vulgar language, readers are confronted with enough conflict on a day-to-day basis
  • Shame on you if you use real names, unless of course their name is hilarious like Jacob Tinkletime.
  • Really enjoy it, this is supposed to be a fun and creative exercise. Do NOT make it complicated for write with forced effort.

This is an ongoing process, you can submit once each month. I will be choosing a new winner at the end of each month.