Chicken nugget | The Direction of Intention

Don’t Wait [on Chicken Marsala Monday]

Posted on June 18, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

We just bought chocolate covered almonds from Trader Joes. The kind with turbinado sugar and sea salt. We stood in the store and debated whether we should get them or not. We’ve been staying away from most things with sugar and neither of us has much fortitude in the face of a chocolate covered almond. We bought them.

On the way home we had a lengthy discussion about how many we could have at one sitting. Three seemed to be a puritanically reasonable number. Our reasoning was very complex and thorough. We felt absolutely superior when we arrived at our number.

At home we made coffee, set up our computers to work, and carefully portioned out six of the almonds and put them in a bowl. Three for Kerri. Three for me. We sat with our bowl to work and before taking the first sip of coffee, the bowl was empty.

“Are you sure we counted three?” I asked.

“We must have miscounted,” Kerri agreed.

Four more almonds went into the bowl. I think. They were gone before I could double check that our count was accurate. So, we had to start over. Three and three. I’m certain we imagined the first three and since we arrived at such a specific number through such thorough reasoning, it seemed only right that we follow the rule. But, then, the bowl was empty.

“Wait. Are you sure we counted three? I asked.

“Hmmm. We must have done something wrong,” Kerri said.

read Kerri’s blog post about DON’T WAIT

www.kerrianddavid.com

don’t wait ©️ 2016 david robinson & kerri sherwood

Filed under: Chicken Marsala Monday, Pattern, Uncategorized | Tagged: chicken marsala, Chicken Marsala Monday, Chicken nugget, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, don't wait, enjoyment, impulse, Kerri Sherwood, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, no impulse control, pleasure, reindeer games, society6.com/chickenmarsala, studio melange, the melange | Leave a comment »

Be A Pirate [on Chicken Marsala Monday]

Posted on June 11, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

When we were little, for our birthdays, my dad would disappear into the basement and make magical constructions from boxes. Squealing, we’d race down the stairs and jump into the airplanes and trains and mazes he created. When it was his night to cook, we feasted on fantastically shaped pancakes, the chef taking rowdy and enthusiastic requests from his diners. There were snowball fights and broken windows (“DAD DID IT!” we shouted to mom, throwing him under the bus). There were midnight raids with a squirt gun dubbed The Green Avenger.

Being a pirate came naturally to him. And, consequently, I and my brothers and sister have no doubt where our treasure is.

read Kerri’s blog post about BEING A PIRATE

www.kerrianddavid.com

sometimes you have to be a pirate ©️ 2016 david robinson & kerri sherwood

Filed under: Chicken Marsala Monday, Heroes, Love, Uncategorized | Tagged: chicken marsala, Chicken Marsala Monday, Chicken nugget, childhood, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, father's day, fatherhood, fathers, Kerri Sherwood, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, memeories, play, society6.com/chickenmarsala, studio melange, the melange | Leave a comment »

Make Life Fun [on Chicken Marsala Monday]

Posted on June 4, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

It used to make me profoundly sad when students would look at me in resistance and fear, saying the double-whammy, “I can’t! I don’t know how!” My next question always remained unvoiced: what have we done to you?

Curiosity is human nature. We are born hard-wired to sail toward scary edges, tinker with inventions, and attempt to grasp the un-graspable. It takes a lot of work to blunt a child’s curiosity. It takes a concerted effort to transform vibrant imagination into fear of reprisal/shaming.

The good news is that curiosity might be contained but it never goes away. Chicken is here to remind us to step out of the cage, pick up the brush and splash the paint just to see what happens. His invitation is to to go do it – whatever it is – precisely because you don’t know how. The path to center leads directly through I Don’t Know How.

www.kerrianddavid.com

read Kerri’s blog post about NOT KNOWING HOW

not knowing how ©️ 2016 david robinson & kerri sherwood

Filed under: Chicken Marsala Monday, Creativity, Education, Uncategorized | Tagged: chicken marsala, Chicken Marsala Monday, Chicken nugget, curiosity, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, discovery, experimentation, exploring, human nature, imagination, Kerri Sherwood, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, learning, society6.com/chickenmarsala | Leave a comment »

Face The Wind [it’s Chicken Marsala Monday]

Posted on May 28, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

Saul taught me to look beyond the obstacle and, instead, place my focus in the field of possibilities. How I experience my life is largely a matter of where I decide to focus, what I choose to see.

Life, I’ve learned (or finally accepted), never stops throwing new things at me – challenges & opportunities. And, when looking in the rear view mirror of my life , I am generally hard-pressed to distinguish between what was a challenge and what was an opportunity. The challenges became opportunities, the opportunities brought a basket of challenges.

The winds of change blow all the time. As Chicken, like Saul, reminds me on this Chicken Marsala Monday, the winds of change are never an obstacle. They are a constant force (called life) moving you, moving all of us, to learn, to grow. They are an invitation to turn our faces into the wind, look to the horizon and appreciate the ride.

SUPERHEROES gifts and products

bags and more

read Kerri’s blog post on The Wind Never Stops Blowing You

www.kerrianddavid.com

the wind never stops blowing you/designs ©️ 2016/2018 david robinson & kerri sherwood

Filed under: Chicken Marsala Monday, Creativity, Uncategorized | Tagged: chicken marsala, Chicken Marsala Monday, Chicken nugget, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, growing, Kerri Sherwood, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, learning, life, life force, obstacle, opportunity, possibility, relationship, resistance, society6.com/chickenmarsala, tai chi, we-space | Leave a comment »

Enjoy The Puddles [it’s Chicken Marsala Monday]

Posted on May 21, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

Puddle is a fun word to say. Try it. Puddle. Muddle. Fuddle. In fact, when fuddled or muddled, there is only one thing to be done and that is to find and jump gleefully into a puddle. Essentially, become puddled.

Chicken has a decidedly Buddhist side. If he had three simple rules for spiritual growth, one would certainly involve puddles and play. Speaking to we too serious adult-types, he might say: you can never control the rain, but you can most certainly control how often you play in the puddles .

On this Chicken Marsala Monday, from studio melange, leave behind your muddle and go to the puddle side of life [begin by reading this post out loud to someone you love – puddles are more fun with friends].

ENJOY THE PUDDLES gifts and cool things to remind you to play

bags, bags, bags

read Kerri’s blog post on ENJOY THE PUDDLES.

www.kerrianddavid.com

enjoy the puddles nugget & designs ©️ 2016/2018 david robinson & kerri sherwood

Filed under: Awakening, Chicken Marsala Monday, Uncategorized | Tagged: Buddhist, chicken marsala, Chicken Marsala Monday, Chicken nugget, circumstance, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, detachment, fun, Kerri Sherwood, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, play, puddles, society6.com/chickenmarsala, spiritual growth, spiritual practice, spirituality, studio melange, the melange | Leave a comment »

Find Your Poetry Tree [on Chicken Marsala Monday]

Posted on May 14, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

I stood before a school board and found myself defending daydreaming. I’d piloted an experiential learning program in the district and the board wanted to ensure my students would be “nose-to-the-grindstone” every moment of every day.

Learning (a creative process) has nothing to do with grindstones. Constant activity, rote exercises and busy-work-for-the-sake-of-busy-work may give the appearance of learning but that’s about it. People learn when in the pursuit of something real and my students were making movies, writing plays or starting businesses. Staring out of the window, I explained, was not only valuable but necessary. I wasn’t making excuses. I had brain science and learning theory to back me up.

There are very good reasons that most “aha moments” happen in the shower, while driving, or, like my students, staring out a window. Inner-space and quiet are necessary ingredients for insight. A good gaze out the window is, in actuality, an inward look, it’s a mental walkabout, a mind-stroll that allows a noisy brain to take a breath and let the logjam of thoughts to relax and flow.

Quinn used to tell me to cultivate my serendipity. He meant that I should open myself to insight, to make myself available to surprises and possibilities, to the utter magic of “where did that idea come from?” Opening yourself requires a good window or, like Chicken, a special poetry tree. On this Chicken Marsala Monday, get your nose off the grindstone, find your poetry tree, and allow the insights to find you.

POETRY TREE gifts and reminders

Read Kerri’s blog post about FIND YOUR POETRY TREE

www.kerrianddavid.com

find your poetry tree ©️ 2016 david robinson & kerri sherwood

find your poetry tree designs/products ©️ 2018 david robinson & kerri sherwood

Filed under: Chicken Marsala Monday, Creativity, Education, Uncategorized | Tagged: aha moments, chicken marsala, Chicken nugget, creativity, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, daydreaming, flow, inner peace, inner space, Kerri Sherwood, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, learning, mental noise, monkey mind, poetry, poetry tree, serendipity, society6.com/chickenmarsala, studio melange, the melange, window staring | Leave a comment »

Root In Love [on Chicken Marsala Monday]

Posted on May 7, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

from studio melange, a quiet suggestion for the start of the new week.

For me, this Chicken Nugget falls into the category of what-more-needs-to-be-said. And then I hear the chorus of voices blaring from my past work-life that would call this Nugget idealistic pie-in-the-sky blather. “We live in a dog-eat-dog world!” they cry. “It’s survival of the fittest!” To that chorus I need to say more. Dog-eat-dog is a belief system, not an inevitability. Survival of the fittest is a harsh lens and there are, in fact, other lenses available. It’s possible to learn the distinction between human nature and acculturation. Through a different lens all of life is cooperative.

The noise of our airwaves, the chatter of our day is most certainly rooted in fear. It may not seem like a choice but the fear-root is an unnatural selection. People have to work hard to hate. Sadly, I admit, division sells, so the hard work of fear is routinely justified and rabidly defended.

Human nature rises through the noise and becomes visible when disaster strikes. Love is what we see when the hurricanes hit, when the forest fires rage. People running into fire to help. People risking their lives to save others because, in those moments, the truth is out: there is no separation. The political blather drops away. The moralistic chiming rings hollow. It is human nature to reach, not reject. To help, not to hurt.

It’s obvious and all around us if we take off the fear lens and look. Root in love. What-more-needs-to-be-said.

ROOT IN LOVE gifts & reminders

read kerri’s blog post about ROOT IN LOVE

www.kerrianddavid.com

root in love ©️ 2016 david robinson & kerri sherwood

root in love designs and products ©️ 2018 david robinson & kerri sherwood

Filed under: Chicken Marsala Monday, Love, Uncategorized | Tagged: acculturation, chicken marsala, Chicken Marsala Monday, Chicken nugget, cooperation, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, human nature, Kerri Sherwood, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, love, root in love, society6.com/chickenmarsala, studio melange, the melange | Leave a comment »

Rest [It’s Chicken Marsala Monday]

Posted on April 30, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

From studio melange, Rest on Chicken Marsala Monday

Karola was old and wise. She was one of those rare people filled with laughter that spilled over into everyone around her. Go visit Karola and you’d leave refreshed and giggling. Each moment, each day for her was new and vital and a siren’s call of unknowns and adventure. She found more miracles in her backyard than most people find in their round-the-world tours. She was alive. She paid attention.

She was also one of those people who always seemed to know what you were thinking before you knew what you were thinking. We met at the pool and swam every morning before work. One morning, climbing out of the pool, she said, “You are exhausted.” It was true. I had no juice in my tank and hadn’t for many weeks. During my swim I was pondering my exhaustion and wondering how I was ever going to get everything done. I was worried I wasn’t going to be able to push through it.

“You never let your glass go empty! You fight it so hard that your cup can never refill. Stop fighting! Go empty. Rest. Allow some good space in there so new things can come in! She howled at my puzzled expression. “Rest,” she repeated. It’s the only way you will ever get everything done!”

From studio mélange on this Chicken Marsala Monday, listen to Karola and rest. Let the cup go empty. Make space for balance and into that space all good things will come.

REST gifts and reminders

read kerri’s blog post about REST

www,kerrianddavid.com

rest and good things will come ©️ 2016 david robinson & kerri sherwood

Filed under: Awakening, Chicken Marsala Monday, Uncategorized | Tagged: balance, body wisdom, chicken marsala, Chicken nugget, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, energy, Kerri Sherwood, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, rest, rest and good things will come, reverse threading, society6.com/chickenmarsala, studio melange, the melange, wisdom | Leave a comment »

Give Full Reign To Your Imagination [It’s Chicken Marsala Monday]

Posted on April 23, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

A Chicken Nugget from studio melange for the start of a new week.

Wearing her yellow flower girl dress, fresh from her triumph as flower girl at her cousin’s wedding, my niece Tory sat on my lap and told me a story. It was a deluge of imagination. A breathless tale that took me through magical meadows and soaring to great heights, like Virgil she guided me through worlds, forests, oceans and space where I met amazing creatures, tasted foods both “yummy” and “yucky” and shape-shifted to meet the necessities of the planets we visited. There was a beginning to her story but there was no end. Even after her mother came to retrieve her, Tory’s story stream gushed on, now transferred to her new audience. Her imagination, like all little humans, was boundless.

Imagination is boundless. And, it doesn’t go away. We may learn to put brakes on it or filter its color. We may fear it and drive it underground, misdirect it or malign it, but it gushes on and on. Fear the future? That’s imagination at work. Regret the past? Yep. Imagination at play. Meaning making, making meaning. The story-making-imagination is a rushing river. How often have you said or heard said, “I can’t imagine…!” Not true.

Imagining is what we humans do, regardless of age. The proof is all around you. Stand still and look. Everything you see, if it was constructed, was first imagined by someone trying to make life better. Lights, cell phones, automobiles, pencil sharpeners (pencils), purses, personal computers,…, were imagined and are, at this moment, being re-imagined. Look in the mirror. What you see is an expression of imagination. Imagination is, after all, a team sport.

Look at the cool new wall murals from society6.com

There isn’t a moment of the day that our imaginations aren’t running apace or bursting at the gate trying to get out of the doubt-corral. Give it full reign. Give it full rein and like Tory, let it take you – and me – to new and surprising worlds.

GIVE FULL REIN/REIGN TO YOUR IMAGINATION gifts & reminders

read Kerri’s blog post about GIVE FULL REIN/REIGN TO YOUR IMAGINATION

www.kerrianddavid.com

Filed under: Chicken Marsala Monday, Creativity, Possibility, Uncategorized | Tagged: boundless, chicken marsala, Chicken nugget, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, give rein to your imagination, imagination, Kerri Sherwood, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, meaning, meaning making, possibilities, society6.com/chickenmarsala, story, studio melange, the melange, unicorn | Leave a comment »

Find Your Treasures [On Chicken Marsala Monday]

Posted on April 16, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

A Chicken Nugget from studio melange to start your week.

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I adored my grandpa Chan. I carry his middle name. Because he lived in Iowa and I grew up in Colorado my time with him was rare and precious. After his death, as his sons were sorting through his possessions, they asked if I wanted anything, something he might want me to have or to keep close. Immediately I thought of one thing: an old, barely functioning nutcracker that he kept by the pool table in his basement. He let me win many games at that table. We often cracked nuts during my surprising winning streaks. I wanted it because he held it and, as treasures go, now, for me, it holds him.

I keep Chan’s nutcracker in a special box (DeMarcus’ paint box – another priceless treasure). When I am feeling blue or somehow alone in the world, I retreat to my basement and hold that nutcracker in my hand. I feel the presence of a man, my grandfather, so full of laughter and more than his share of mischief. “Do you want to shoot some pool?” I ask, feeling the alone-ness dissipate.