Creativity Unleached!

Several yeas ago, a mentor of mine suggested one of to keys to creativity and inspiration…NOTHING! That’s right…NOTHING.

Sometimes our minds get so cluttered with the long lists of daily to do’s and stress of just keeping up with those things crowds out the creative process. We are so busy thinking, we can’t think. So the best thing to clear the brain is to give the brain a break so it can recover and think about more important things.

Imagine if I were to hand you a five pound brick and tell you to hold it straight out to your side. How long could you do it? 5 minutes? 6 minutes? The muscle fatigue would be unbearable to the point that your arm would collapse from exhaustion.

But what if you were to hold the brick straight out for 30 seconds and then set it down for 30 seconds repeatedly? How long could you do that? Perhaps indefinitely. “Recovery time,” not strength, is the key to endurance.

If you had suggested to me just five years ago that my favorite “nothing” or recovery time activity would become motorcycle riding, I would have referred you to a local psychiatrist! But that is exactly what has happened. (Not the psychiatrist part!)

A little over five years ago, Dr. Roy Hammond invited me to join the faculty of Learning Curves, dental C.E. on motorcycle adventure tours. (www.LearningCurves.net) He agreed to donate the proceeds of the ride on which I would be the dental C.E. presenter to our Smiles for Life Foundation (www.SmilesForLife.org) . I could not say “no” even though I had never ridden before.

Five years and four Miles for Life rides later, the ‘Miles for Life” ride has raised well over $300,000 and is now on its way to the half a million dollar mark. Each year, 20 Harleys are reserved by 230 riders and their co-riders if they choose for the annual Miles for Life ride which includes 4 days of spectacular riding through some of the best scenery in America: Yellowstone, Colorado Rockies, National Parks of Southern Utah etc. It has become a Smiles for Life tradition and major benefit for a great cause.

But those four days a year have not been quite enough for me and Cheryl. Week before last we escaped for four days of our own for a Harley ride through the Ozarks. The scenery was spectacular. The recovery time was invaluable. The togetherness time divine! We’ve decided that there is no other place we have found to have uninterrupted time together where we can relax, talk, and “recover.” We always return refreshed, highly creative, and ready to take on the world with new enthusiasm.

So what is your favorite “recovery” activity? If you don’t have one you love, get busy and find one. If you don’t think you could ever jump on a Harley, just do it. It will get you out of your comfort zone and open up a whole new world to you.

The next Miles for Life benefit ride will be held May 19-22, 2010. We will depart from Las Vegas, NV and ride to the Grand Canyon and onto Zion’s National Park and back. I’m excited to announce there are only 5 bikes left to be spoken for and we’re full! In past, most of the riders have signed up at the Crown Council Annual Event in February. It looks as if all the bikes will be spoken for long before then.

So before the bikes are all spoken for, I wanted to give you the chance to join me and Cheryl on what has become our favorite “recovery” activity. From the perspective of parents of 6 daughters, it is the best thing we do for our marriage, our family and our lives. You’ve got to have recovery time or “NOTHING” time to re-energize your brain, inspire your soul, and stimulate your creativity. So…Let’s RIDE!

To reserve one of the last bikes available on the Miles for Life 2010 ride, e-mail us today at Answers@TotalPatientService.com or call 1-877-399-8677. We look forward to riding with you.