Travel to creativity | Elsie Andre | TEDxUniversityofMississippi

you [Music] have you ever traveled to a place that amazed you that touched you so deeply that you wanted to become a part of that community have you ever been so inspired that the place becomes a part of you or if your own creative expression I believe with people experience different cultures they are more likely to have an open mind full of new and creative ideas the images sounds and feelings that new experience for chocolate can if you let them move to your body your mind and your heart travel will enclose your actions and allow you to become more caring and creative a nuisance anyone if you travel to creativity it is well known that talent to inspire artistic expression how long can expose you to different types of music which motivate you to create your own music or style even if you do not play instrument you can deepen your understanding of music through different cultures around the world for example when the Beatles traveled to India they experimented with the sitar and were inspired by Hinduism and meditation practices you know among other things both their experiences they produced the White Album one of the most popular records ever the album covers shocked everyone because there was plain and white but this record contains what something is the most creative work all of their Indian inspired magic was inside for the Beatles it was India that influenced their path for me it was my travels in East Africa in 2013 I had the chance to go to school and live in Tanzania adventure is like watching a wildebeest migration finding a crocodile tooth while swimming is that swimming hole in fact and even falling into a pool of hippos gave me more images and ideas to put into my artwork and music I like to tell stories with my family and friends and write light-hearted songs when traveling from place to place I now play the saxophone and ukulele and recently picked up the electric guitar I mean they're like eight more instruments I would like to learn how to play but I can only learn so many at a time now only can traveling inspire creativity music but I could also inspire creative problem-solving when you travel to another place you get to see how other people live as well as solve their daily problems for me watching how communities work together to conserve the environment around Mount Kilimanjaro showed what we can do to conserve the environment here in Mississippi I've since conducted science fair projects on black bear reintroduction in the decline of bee populations in my research I found that more knowledge was related to more positive attitudes about aiding these species according to a recent study when research like this is conducted by people from different countries it could have even more impact in momentum Travel can also result in open-mindedness as Mark Twain is famously quoted travel is fatal to prejudice bigotry and narrow mindedness when I was attending the International School in Tanzania I was lucky to make friends from all over the world there are many vibrant cultures languages and religions that were celebrated among our entire school community it helped my mind open to new ideas and new relationships and gave me new words to describe my experiences such as the Swahili phrase Palais Poulet this word describes a slow-moving leisure lifestyle and atmosphere of Africa there are many things that were slow there for example waiting three hours for your food to arrive at a restaurant so basically you had to plan your lunch time in advance meetings that went on forever and even waiting for cows and zebras to cross the road when we think of the word travel we think of charting off to exotic lands however you don't have to leave the country or even travel far if you just look in your own town or community you can find surprising places to explore who would guess that in Batesville Mississippi there's a large Buddhist center called the Magnolia Grove monastery this is a place of meditation and peacefulness to feel closer to the earth you can easily go and become a part of an entirely different culture for the day even when I cannot understand the Vietnamese chants the natural beauty and calm environment give me a feeling of peace and connection you can travel to many different places even while exploring your own town or reading a book in fact you don't even have to leave your house and a study of creativity some school children were shown close objects like a pencil on a desk followed by more distant objects all the way to the Milky Way some other children were shown the pictures in Reverse and all were given a creativity test the children who has shown the pictures in expansive order had higher scores of originality in fluency most importantly I learned that travel leads to come in other words travel is not all pretty and I've become more aware a politics war and injustice in the world one of the saddest things I've seen where the memorial sites of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda this made me become more aware of the United States politics and reminded me that everyone deserves equal rights and justice in my community I have participated in different types of creative activism such as marches and demonstrations to protect the planet in human rights the famous Mississippi writer Eudora Welty has said to travel I first became aware of the outside world news through travel then I found my own introspective way of becoming a part of it like Miss Welty travel has opened my eyes to the outside and to my inner world to sum it up traveling to creativity isn't simply going from place to place or moving around the world of course our world is beautiful but not everyone can just hop on a plane to a foreign country real traveling is meeting someone new with a different culture point of view or background that challenges you to become more aware of the world around us with that said I encourage you to visit a place in your own community that represents a different culture with an open mind I guarantee that you'll be inspired by other ways of life and have new creative ideas live beyond your limits to explore the wonders and beautiful diversity of this planet I hope you too will be inspired to travel to the amazing world of creativity and compassion thank you [Applause] [Music] you [Music]

Channel: TEDx Talks

Views: 1,215

Keywords: TEDxTalks, English, Life, Empathy, Travel

Id: oRgO5p44CT8

Length: 8min 21sec (501 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 14 2018