Living a LearningLife

from Andy Gilats, LearningLife director

I believe that it's impossible to be human without being creative. Creativity is a defining characteristic of our species, and is related to urges like hunger and thirst. It impels us to strive, make and build, have ideas, be resourceful, make discoveries, solve problems, and craft our futures. Creativity might be repressed, it may go to sleep, but it doesn't die until we do. We are all creative from birth to death.

Creativity shows itself in infinite ways. Whether it's an especially elegant way of organizing a space, teaching someone to read, knitting a sweater that fits (my yet-unmet life goal), leading a team through a satisfying project, or baking a soufflé that "turns out," large and small creative acts are a daily part of living and integral to a fulfilling life.

From Andy Gilats, LearningLife director
Have you ever noticed that numbers seem to dominate the titles of great books? We all remember A Tale of Two Cities, Slaughterhouse 5, Catch-22, and One Hundred Years of Solitude. And of course, we can't forget The Three Musketeers, The 39 Steps, or The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins!

With all due respect to Mr. Dickens and Dr. Seuss, I believe that seven is the most storied, and frankly, the most feared, of all famous numbers, even if you throw in heavy-weights like Twelve Steps, Nine Lives, or Five Tips to Lose Stomach Fat, which was the first result I got when I googled "famous numbers."

Why seven? How about the Seven Days of the Week? Or more to the point, how about the Seven Deadly Sins: pride, anger, envy, greed, gluttony, lust, and sloth. I cannot tell a lie, so here I must admit that by the time I was 30, I was guilty as charged on all seven counts. In fact, just last night I was listening to John Fogerty singing a song called "Heaven's Just a Sin Away." If all it takes is just one, a whole bunch of us are in real trouble.