August 29, 2020 - Adam Collier

How To Be More Creative

This is a post from 2014 that I think had a poor title.

Freedom is a powerful and compelling force. I define freedom as the ability to do as I please without harassment or enslavement by any individual or situation. There are assumptions inherent in this definition. I cannot do whatever I want of course since we have laws and rules that we all agree to, in order to curb crime. What I think is more important than having total freedom is having the feeling of freedom or the perception of freedom. The ability to feel free from restraint and harassment is a powerful and liberating force. Feeling free to explore interests and gifts is a major part of life. When a child grows older he/she begins to enjoy the freedom that we all are given. The feeling of freedom can be intoxicating; many children throw off parental restraints enjoying the new found freedom of adulthood. If parents went too far in the restraints often the child goes wild, sewing wild oats and making bad choices.

There are many things in my life that I’ve not felt free to pursue. Most of the not feeling free was due to lack of finances. A friend of mine once launched a successful business and became financially free. The adjustment was difficult for his child. Because she had become accustomed to being restrained financially, the new found freedom to spend felt strange. The difference is in perception. Having a perception of personal freedom frees people of mental clutter, mental busyness and imagined restraints. The family was now free but she was still stuck in the perception of lack and restraint financially. Every person should develop personal freedom to unleash untapped creative potential by taking the following five steps.

1) Determine to focus on ‘inner work’.

‘Inner work’ is just another term for personal development, looking within. Then dealing with the emotional wounds or with weaknesses and strongholds that hold one back in life.

3) Imagine Having Freedom to Create whatever you wish, without restraint.

Ask “what would it look like if I had complete freedom to create?” For example, I love to teach people, if I could study and teach all day long what would it look like? Well, it would look like this: “I would get up very early to study, I would break down the topic into smaller more manageable points, then people would come to me and I would teach them what I know. They would be receptive, I would be inspiring and life would be great.” That is one creative dream that I have.

4) Write down what hinders you.

Imagining freedom in that area of life is fun, now ask yourself what is it that restrains you? Write that down, it could be lack of discipline, it could be lack of money, it could be an addiction, it could be an unfair situation. Whatever you believe it is write it down.

5) Start creating anyway.

Now ignore what hinders you and start creating in small increments, for my example above I can teach in little bursts. I may not have a huge audience, but I can teach my kids new things, I can teach my wife the things I know. This small baby step starts an internal perception of freedom to create (for me to teach) that is liberating, it is empowering. It is encouraging and it changes my entire mindset. Soon this part of me grows, I gain confidence, I improve my skills and people now come to me to teach on certain topics

I am now free to create and to do more of what I was created to do.

This is only an overview of the process but if you feel stuck or hindered; try these steps above … they work!

Announcements:

1) I have written an e-book titled Increasing Collaboration. There is a chapter for individuals to take the reader through a process to increase collaboration. There is also a chapter for leaders to help them to increase the collaboraiton among those they lead. This book has useful collaboration models to help the reader to understand collaboration and trust. We are in the final edit of this now. Sign up for my email list by June 15^th to get a free copy before its available for sale.

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Thank you so much for reading. Please reach out with any comments or questions in the comment section or at my email collierak@me.com.

November 28, 2019 - Adam Collier

Thanksgiving, Sharing, And Healthy Screen Time

I love thanksgiving, it’s a holiday that has it all. Great food, family, friends, football, sharing, giving, and thankfulness.

This thanksgiving I’m focused on the sharing thing. Giving what I have to others. I’ve been sharing blog posts every day since mid September (2019), sharing this much content has been surprisingly easy and is extremely helpful to me.

The older I get the more I want to be around people. In the past I didn’t care much about this. My personality is introvert meaning I feel energized by being alone.

But there are things in life that go beyond personalities.

Not sharing is toxic, healthy water flows. It takes two pieces of iron to sharpen a blade. “Iron sharpens iron”, each gives up some metal to make the blade sharp.

Sharing what you have is important. Consuming-only, causes disease and toxicity. If it’s social media consuming it is well documented to cause anxiety and depression.

Many only think of money when it comes to giving and sharing. But if we don’t have extra money we can still be givers and sharers.

Without money we can give our time.

Without money we can share humor and a laugh.

Without money we can share teachings.

Without money we can share insight and wisdom.

Without money we can share compliments and appreciation.

“But Peter said, “I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!”” – Acts‬ ‭3:6‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Social media, like all other things in life needs to be a two-way flow. We give out and we also consume. If we only consume and scroll all day, everyday it becomes a bad thing in our lives. A destructive force for anger, covetousness and even depression.

It becomes a thing that we should not pay the internet company to continue.

But it doesn’t have to be that way, we can make screen time a good thing by sharing often.

Jesus once said to his followers “let your light shine before others so that they might see your good works…”

Here are 3 personal rules I suggest for social media use to begin today.

1) For every two posts that you scroll/consume share a post of your own. This takes a lot of effort at first but it gets much easier. But it will make you more helpful and it will redirect your mind to creativity rather than to anxiety-provoking scrolling and comparing. If you can’t think of things to share then get off! Quit scrolling!

2) Find a niche that you can uniquely be helpful to others. Experiences you can share, insights, struggles you’ve overcome and share on that.

3) Expand your sharing and make your social media use a tool for your own channel or site or blog.

“Give and it will be given to you.” Take only and what you have may be taken from you. We were not made to only be consumers.

May 11, 2018 - Adam Collier

Jesus Christ – The Greatest Showman, part 2

The Greatest Showman is really Jesus Christ

The movie The Greatest Showman can tell a story of Jesus Christ. If you’ve seen this movie then imagine with me that the showman is Jesus Christ himself. His show is not a dance or a song or a eloquent speeches of man’s wisdom.

The show is his bride bearing his image, trampling satanic powers and the audience is the principalities and powers, the wicked authorities in high places. Jesus Christ is putting on a show of his high and supreme glory and love , his mercy, his power as he takes back his creation. As he builds a new humanity and a new world.

Ephesians 3:10 “so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church (the congregation/ the ecclesia) to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places.”

The ecclesia, the body of Jesus Christ is the greatest show of all time put on for all history by God himself.

If you’ve not seen it I recently (2018) watched The Greatest Showman. The movie is performed mostly as a musical and there are many great songs to go along with the themes of the movie. With these posts I will uncover the story of Jesus according to a few of the songs of The Greatest Showman.

I have learned that Jesus Christ can be found in every movie, and in most songs. But every once in a while a movie is absolutely filled with him if you are willing to see him.

Jesus is hard-coded into the creativity of us all, we all are displaying him and telling his story… whether we realize it or not. To me this seems particularly true in this Greatest Showman musical with Hugh Jackman.

Never Enough

Before you watch this video forget the storyline of the actual movie and read this:

Imagine the bride of Jesus Christ, the most beautiful women to ever exist, singing of her love for the man who awoke her from the sleep of death “you set off a dream in me” Jesus gives us his real life. “Getting louder now can you hear it echoing?”.

In this video the stage is the earth, the audience is the principalities and the powers, the high rulers in wicked places and the men and women who are loyal to them.

Nothing but him is enough for her. Extreme passion and love and drive for him and only him, this is the nature and personality of real bride of Christ.

But the bride is only focused on her groom. “Towers of gold are still too little.” All the wealth and fame of the world are at her disposal, offered to her but is as nothing to her compared with him. “What good does it do us to gain the world” yet lose Jesus? She realizes this as she sings about and for her Lord, her groom.

Jesus is mesmerized with her as waits off stage waiting to join her as even his biggest critics are silenced and mesmerized at her passion and love for him.

The truth is… only the ecclesia, the called out ones, the bride of Jesus Christ is really qualified to sing this song. Now watch this video below with this in mind.

Read Part I of this post series where I share on the song A Million Dream

Eternal Testimonies Ministries

For Those in Pursuit of Jesus Christ