We each need to decide what actually makes us happy and then find ways to fill our lives with it, as if the need was so great that it pulsed through our veins. I’m not sure what makes you happy, but creating and helping others to create something great drives me to get out of bed on the those when its a struggle. There are so many people trying to change the world and their voices deserve a little megaphone to help spread their good news. And I am happy to hold it up for them. That’s a large part of what this Agents of Change roadtrip is about. But it’s more than that. I find when I head on the road, I am more alive, more vulnerable, more open to the magic that life has to bring. Here is a little video about why this tour is so important to me. Amazing things happen when I allow myself to dance on the edge during these roadtrips: I meet amazing people who end up being a part of my inner circle I find strength and courage within myself during times when I thought I had nothing left. I meet people [...]
February 27, 2013 – 10:35 pm
Today was the first day in about a month were I had a moment to breathe. Of course, it was pouring out. Though I love rainy days, I know that many people don’t. So, I figured I would ask what people like to do on days like this. Here’s what they had to say: Inspired by these awesome responses, I created this Rainy Day Photo Project. Here are some of my favorite things to do: How about you? What do you do on a rainy day? Send me your notes, pictures and thoughts. I’ll update this post with them. xoxoxo Related Posts The Traveler: Wine Libraries, Secret Gems, and the London Reboot The Traveler: Underground Detroit and the Rebuilding of a City
February 14, 2013 – 10:05 am
A few weeks ago, I received this lovely message from Mary Jane Shaver: I responded that I wanted some time to think about my answer, so that it would be thoughtful and something that Mary Jane could use. But of course, the more I thought about what inspires me, the less inspired I became. I spent more time over the past few weeks worrying about how to describe it to someone, that I forgot how to actually live it. So, Mary Jane & company, instead of telling you what inspires me, let me show you: Singing (photo credit: Ann Handley) Inspiration isn’t a process. Inspiration is passion. It is a spark that comes when you are doing what you love and spending time with those who bring joy to your life. The more time you spend living life on your terms and letting go of the stress and anxiety that can plague you, the more inspiration will come your way. I hope that helps. I would love to hear what inspiration is to all of you. Feel free to comment below. Love you all, Ja-Nae Related Posts The Power of Determination: Lessons a Mouse Can Teach Famous Quotes: [...]
By Ja-Naé
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Also posted in Happiness, Uncategorized
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Tagged Agents of change, creative economy, daily inspiration, detroit, great lakes coffee, how to inspire, inspiration, inspire, inspire me, inspiring words, ja-nae duane, janae, our revolution, paulie walnuts, start a revolution, valentine's day, what is inspiration
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January 8, 2013 – 8:44 pm
Adventure, baby! Bring it on! As many of you know, our last tour was life altering for me. It resulted in: 1. Meeting some amazing people who have become great friends. 2. The creation of the Our Revolution, a social good community. Which I am happy to say is a few thousand strong, as well as the How to Create a Revolution book (a guide to creating social change). 3. A chance meeting with a guy who reviewed my first book, How to Start Your Business with $100, that ended in a marriage proposal. Yeah, this awesome: And trust me, I could not have done that past tour without you guys. You are my backbone and the reason why I do these things. You show me that it is needed (and wanted). I cannot tell you what that means to me. So, I am excited to announce that we headed on the road again and embarking on The Agents of Change Tour! About the Tour Mission: To restore creativity to the soul of the world! The Agents of Change tour is a year-long tour exploring the impact of creativity and collaboration on local communities, artists, and entrepreneurs. The tour nurtures [...]
By Ja-Naé
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Also posted in Adventure, Entrepreneurship, Innovation, Marketing, Strategy, Travel, Uncategorized
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Tagged a change agent, agent change, agent of change, agent of social change, Agents of change, an agent of change, change agent, change agents, change of agent, changing agents, changing angent, how to be a Change agent, restoring creativity, social change agent, the agents of change, the change agent, the role of a change agent, what is a change agent, who is a change agent
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October 22, 2012 – 8:02 pm
It had been a year and a year since I was last in Detroit for the Our Revolution Road trip. I really wanted to see how the city had changed. But more importantly, I wanted to see the heartbeat of this amazing city: it’s people. Every adventure has to begin somewhere. Mine began in Grand Rapids where I had a meeting in a few days. I was pleasantly surprised at how beautiful it was near the airport. Beautiful or not, I was eager to get on the road. When I first arrived in the city, I immediately noticed two things. First, there were less abandoned houses. In their place was construction. But more interesting to me, were the number of blighted houses that had art on them. What was once forgotten has become someone’s canvas. Neighborhoods have become resurrected and seeds of the future of sprung. Many pieces from old structures are being refurbished and reused. My friend Dominic, found these within his attic hiding under layers of dust. With a little love, they look great and are ready to become a permanent asset to the house in its current iteration. There are bigger initiatives at work within the city [...]
By Ja-Naé
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Also posted in Our Revolution! Project, Travel, Uncategorized
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Tagged artists in detroit, arts detroit, detroit, detroit museum of art, detroit rebuild, great lakes roasting, in Detroit, in detroit michigan, modern art museum of, our revolution, rebuild detroit, reclaim detroit, restoring creativity, revolution roadtrip, tech detroit, the traveler, the writer
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August 24, 2012 – 12:19 pm
There is so much great content out there nowadays, that it can be difficult to catch everything. Here is a little taste of what has inspired me this week. I hope you enjoy! Cartoonist Raises $1 Million For Tesla Museum: Nikola Tesla, the Electric Jesus and one of my favorite game changers, has one of the few remaining laboratories within the US. The lab was called Wardenclyffe, and it was built harnessing the mighty Niagara Falls. Unfortunately, the lab has been privately owned and has been going to ruin. The cartoonist, The Oatmeal has been working with the The Tesla Science Center at Wardenclyffe to raise money to buy the property and turn it into a museum. In less than a week, the team reached their goal: over $850,000, enough to get a matching grant from the state of New York. This means they can meet the seller’s asking price. Listen to the NPR story here. Bottom Line: Tesla was a geek who did not receive the credit he deserved for his numerous contributions to modern day society. This type of crowdsourcing support shows that people recognize his genius and can use his work to help educate kids today. 2. Design [...]
By Ja-Naé
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Also posted in Innovation, Uncategorized
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Tagged attic space, d school, design thinking, electric jesus, geothe and color, grow ideas, nikola tesla, Pond Nouveau, psychological impact, repurpose attic space, Tesla Science Center, the oatmeal, Theory of Colours, Wardenclyffe
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August 22, 2012 – 11:48 am
There are times in our lives when we just meet the right person at the right time. When everything that comes out of this individuals mouth is like listening to Bernstein conduct Beethoven’s 9th: it is subtle, yet every note hits you like a ton of bricks. I had the pleasure of meeting one of those people while in Napa a few weeks ago. His name is Rajesh Setty. Raj is a brilliant, yet unassuming man who shares my passion for growing ideas and creativity. During our conversation, he spoke very highly of his mentor and how that mentor helped him get to where he is today. Most people I know pay to have a coach or have been a part of some type of mentoring support group. Neither have really appealed to me because they are not who I am. I am a conversationalist and I prefer the conversation be about the other person. So, you can see my dilemma. Since I was so taken with Raj, I asked him how he found his mentors; I asked whether or not he paid for a high profile coach or someone with a ton of connections. I received a very surprising [...]
By Ja-Naé
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Also posted in Business Tools, Entrepreneurship, Innovation, Strategy, Uncategorized
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Tagged be a mentor, be creative, creative creative, creative ideas, creative it, creative problem solving, creative writing, creatives, Creativity, how to mentor, it mentor, mentoring, rajesh setty, restoring creativity, strategic thinking, the mentor, what is creative, what is creativity, what is strategic, why be a mentor, writing class
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August 13, 2012 – 3:08 pm
Happy Birthday, Alfred Hitchcock! This directorial game changer would have been 113 years old today. In celebration of his birthday, here is a curated post of Hitchcock on Hitchcock, cameos, quotes and more: The Hitchcock Cameo: Check out this video of all the cameos that Hitchcock ever made. How the Iconic Director Changed One Boy’s Life: “Many times it takes such a spark as this to help a youngster out of his shell and on the road to confidence.” Read more, here. Hitchcock on Happiness: Here are 10 of my favorite Hitchcock quotes: – A good film is when the price of the dinner, the theatre admission and the babysitter were worth it. – A lot of movies are about life, mine are like a slice of cake. – Always make the audience suffer as much as possible. – Dialogue should simply be a sound among other sounds, just something that comes out of the mouths of people whose eyes tell the story in visual terms. – Drama is life with the dull bits cut out. – Give them pleasure – the same pleasure they have when they wake up from a nightmare. – I am to provide the public [...]
By Ja-Naé
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Also posted in Arts, Spirituality, Uncategorized
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Tagged alfred hitchcock film, alfred hitchcock films, best hitchcock, best of hitchcock, birds hitchcock, films alfred hitchcock, films by alfred hitchcock, films of alfred hitchcock, hitchcock best, hitchcock birds, hitchcock film, hitchcock hour, hitchcock movie, hitchcock on hitchcock, hitchcock presents, hitchcock the birds, hitchcock vertigo, movie hitchcock, movies hitchcock, psycho hitchcock, the birds hitchcock, the films of alfred hitchcock, the hitchcock, the hitchcock hour, vertigo hitchcock
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Nikola Tesla. Who is he? Do kids these days know how much this man contributed to science and technology? I figured I would ask. My brother is visiting me while he goes to camp to build robots and remote control cars; two things invented by Tesla. I asked my little brother today if he had ever heard of him. Looking over his bowl of coco-puffs, he shrugged and mumbled, “Nah.” It made me realize that on Telsa’s birthday, this would be a great opportunity to highlight one of my favorite geeks and game changers! Here is a list of some of Tesla’s inventions: 1. Alternating Current — Alternating currents really caused quite a stir at the 1893 World’s Expo in Chicago. At this point, a war on how electricity would be produced and distributed was on between Tesla and Edison. Yet, despite all the feuding, it is Tesla’s system that currently provides power generation and distribution to North America. 2. Light – Tesla invented how light can be harnessed and distributed. At the World’s Fair, Tesla took glass tubes and bent them into famous scientists’ names, in effect creating the first neon signs. 3. X-rays — X-rays, like so many of [...]
By Ja-Naé
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Also posted in Innovation, Strategy, Uncategorized
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Tagged edison, electric jesus, energy telsa, free telsa energy, free tesla energy, game changer, inventions of nikola telsa, nicola telsa, nikola telsa, nikola tesla, nikola tesla aerodrom, telsa auto, tesla, tesla models s, tesla nikola telsa, tesla roadster, the oatmeal, the tesla model s, thomas edison
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When you think of video game heroes, you usually think of big swords, big hair, huge attitudes, and rippling muscles. You don’t think of a middle-aged knight who has gone soft in the middle and thin on top after some 30 years of the post-quest castle good life. But for Adam Rippon, creator of the RPG fantasy game, Dragon Fantasy, his knight is not only larger than life, but drawn from deep in his heart. Our hero knight, Ogden Thomas is returning to questing after a long hiatus. Once the RPG-game equivalent of the high-school superstar, Ogden is now finding his armor fitting tighter and his shield a whole lot heavier than it was in his youth. Called out of retirement by the hijinks of the Dark Knight, he must rely on the greatness of his past and the abilities of his new band of travelers. Ogden’s adventures break from the traditional hero-arc and instead find someone later in life, way past the glory days. Settled and stagnant, he must reinvent himself by getting back out there and returning to his former gallantry, albeit with a lot less hair. Dragon Fantasy is the culmination of a lifelong dream and a [...]
By Ja-Naé
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Also posted in Arts, Uncategorized
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Tagged Adam Rippon, creative, creative drivers, creative ideas, creative labs, creative name, creative solutions, creative strategy, creative teaching, creative thinkers, creative thinking, Creativity, creativity innovation, Dragon Fantasy, fantasy game, innovation 101, restoring creativity, RPG, what is creativity
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