I'd like to share an inspirational presentation about creativity.  This was presented at the TED conference by Amy Tan.

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/amy_tan_on_creativity.html

Born in the US to immigrant parents from China, Amy Tan rejected her mother's expectations that she become a doctor and concert pianist. She chose to write fiction instead. Her much-loved, best-selling novels have been translated into 35 languages. She's writing a new novel and creating the libretto for The Bonesetter's Daughter, which will have its world premiere in September 2008 with the San Francisco Opera.

Tan was the creative consultant for Sagwa, the Emmy-nominated PBS series for children, and she has appeared as herself onThe Simpsons. She's the lead rhythm dominatrix, backup singer and second tambourine with the Rock Bottom Remainders, a literary garage band that has raised more than a million dollars for literacy programs.

In this video, she asks the questions,

1.  Why do things happen?

2.  How do things happen?

3.  How do I make things happen?

An interesting phrase she brought up was "moral ambuiguity."  What are your intentions? You may have good intentions, but how do you react when things do not go as planned?  Do you believe that you shouldn't be held responsible because your intentions were good?  If someone had a grease fire in his apartment and spread to the rest of the apartments, do you think that person should be held responsible or do you simply see it as an accident?  Who is at fault?

resources: www.ted.com (October 30, 2009)