Thought

Thought For The Week

By Bruce "Charlie" Johnson

We tend to think of our lives as being compartmentalized. For example, we think that our performing life is separate from our personal life. That fragmented thinking carries over to our views of creativity. We tend to think that being creative in one area of our life does not mean we will be creative in other areas of our life. However, the process of creativity is the same independent of your desired goal. Being creative in your personal life will result in increased ability to be creative in your professional life. The reverse is also true.

I have discovered that any education is potentially useful in my professional life. I never know how I will apply that knowledge or what it will inspire. I was surprised to discover that things I learned as a performer have also been useful in my private life. Here are two examples:

At the 1994 Circus Fans Convention in Baraboo, WI, I attended a lecture by Peggy Williams. She demonstrated an object lesson on priorities. She started by putting three balls in an empty jar. Then she filled the rest of the jar with sand. She dumped the contents out. Next she started by putting the sand in the jar, followed by the balls. However, now the balls would not fit. She reversed the process, and again when she started with the balls, there was enough room for the sand. She concluded by saying when you put the important things first there is room in your life for all of the extras we enjoy, but if you put the extras first there is not room for the important things. I have used that object lesson in some of my clown ministry performances. (My version was published in The Cross and The Clown magazine.) I have seen other performers use it in different types of venues when talking about priorities. I have read different versions circulated on the internet, including one that used rocks, gravel, sand, and water to fill the jar.

Nathan, my two-year-old grandson, has some dinosaur toys in a variety of sizes that he loves to play with when he visits our home. We keep the dinosaurs in a bin. I noticed that some weeks it was easier to fit all of the dinosaurs in than it was other weeks. Then I remembered the object lesson that I learned from Peggy Williams. If I put the largest dinosaurs in first, and then the medium sized ones, followed by the small ones they all fit easily.

At a Pacific Northwest Fellowship of Christian Magicians Creative Ministries Conference I saw a lecturer demonstrate an object lesson. (I don’t remember for sure who the lecturer was.) He used a black magic marker to write the word sin several times on a white dry erase board. He invited somebody to use a cloth to erase the black permanent ink, but it would not come off. Then he scribbled over the black ink using a red dry erase marker. He said the red ink represented the blood of Christ. Now when he used the cloth, both the black and red ink came off. (This works because the solvent in the dry erase marker dissolves the permanent marker ink.)

Carole took our grandchildren to the beach last summer. She used a Magic Marker to write their names on bottles of water so there would be no argument about whose they were. They did not use all of the bottles. We wanted to give the unopened bottles to somebody else. Remembering the object lesson, I scribbled over their names with a dry erase marker, and was able to wipe the names off completely.

Education is one of the advantages to belonging to a local variety arts organization. I belong to the Lynnwood Ring of Fire, an International Brotherhood of Magicians affiliated club. The Ring of Fire hosts at least six lectures a year by visiting magicians. I attend as many of them as I can. The Ring also has “teach ins” or mini-workshops at some of the meetings. I will be doing two lectures hosted for two local variety arts clubs in Omaha, Nebraska the week of April 27. On Sunday, I will be doing a two-hour lecture on Creative Clowning for the Omaha Wild Clowndom, a Clowns of America International affiliate. For more information, contact Lavonne Krumel at 402-391-5796. On Monday, I will be doing a three-hour lecture on the topics of Magical Family Entertainment and There Is Creativity in The Cards hosted by the Omaha Magical Socieity, an affiliate of the Society of American Magicians. For more information, contact Greg Schuerman at 402-861-9995.

Carole and I will both be teaching at the U-WL Clown Camp the week of June 8, 2008. The day after that program concludes I will be doing a six-hour intensive titled A Day with Bruce Johnson: Magic and Creativity. I believe that the U-WL Clown Camp program is near its capacity. However, there are still openings available for my intensive. For more information, go to http://www.uwlax.edu/clowncamp/

When I teach at a conference or convention, I try to take as many classes as possible from the other instructors. I also select one conference or workshop a year that I travel to as a participant in order to continue my education. This year I selected the Magic Show Conference in Branson, MO. May 1-3. I have attended this conference before. Because the format emphasizes showmanship, I have always learned something that I have been able to use in my own performances. For more information, go to www.Dazzlingmagic.com.

I am looking forward to seeing Thought For The Week subscribers at my lectures in Omaha, and at the Magic Show Conference. Please take the time to say hello.

How can you continue your education? What classes are available to you? How can you use what you learn as an entertainer to solve problems in your personal life? How can you incorporate what you learn in your personal life into your entertainment?

Copyring 2008 by Bruce “Charlie” Johnson. All rights reserved.

www.CharlieTheJugglingClown.com

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Charlie's Comtemplations - Thoughts on Entertainment Excellence Volume One, is a compilation of the Thought Of The Week from May 21, 2001 through June 10, 2002, plus some ideas originally published in other sources.

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