Blog 4A

For this blog, we were instructed to read Seth Godin’s “Brainwashed” on http://changethis.com/ . Everyone should check out the article, it will make this blog make more sense. In the article, Godin talks about seven layers of reinventing yourself.  Anyways, we were also instructed to summarize two of the layers from the article, as well how those two layers connect to us and this blog we are doing, so that is what I am going to do. 

         So the first layer I am going to summarize is “Acknowledge the Lizard.” This layer is based on the idea of the lizard brain, the prehistoric brainstem that all of us contend with, and it doesn’t like being laughed at. It is about the part of the brain that fears rejection, so we shut down our art and creativity. This shutdown is called resistance, and it is what forces to keep our heads down, and simply follow instructions. In almost every aspect of our life, the resistance wins. Over time, artists have figured out that resistance is the sole barrier between them and their art. So, in order to ignore the lizard, we must acknowledge

The second layer that I looked at is “Connect.” This layer is all about social media, and the internet, and it how it connects all of us, and makes the world a smaller place. How you use social media, and the internet is ultimately up to you. If you are to focused on how many followers you have, and the little things like that, it won’t really do you much good. However, if you use it to make connections, and interact with people you normally wouldn’t, then social media can actually be incredibly helpful for you. We used to be an isolated world, but now we are connected to almost everyone, and these interactions can change everything, if we allow them to.

I think that these two layers do connect to this blog, and this class in a couple of different ways. For the obvious, the layer of “Connect” is exactly what this blog is all about. Blogger is another example of the social networking that is out there for us to use, and this blog for class allows us to interact with other people in the class that we may not normally talk to. For “Acknowledge the Lizard,” this layer connects to the blog because the blog forces us to overcome our fears of putting our art out there, and basically forces us to show it to the world. I think that these various exercises are good for us because they help expand our creativity, and make us better artists, which is really the point.