I did a speech last week in Belgium and it occurred to me the night before that I was missing something. I was doing a two hour workshop on “Holistic Innovation” at CreaWAL in Belgium. I planned to make the point that the current crisis is a huge opportunity. I planned to follow with a point about the need for Innovators to “worship at the alter of perspective shift” — because I believe that’s where insight happens. Good content I thought, but lacking an emotional connection. And it came to me in a flash, innovators need a prayer. The crowd in Belgium seemed to like it, but judge it for yourself…
The Innovators Prayer
Dear Lord, please grant me the sense to know an opportunity when I see one, because I know I am blind 99% of the time.
Open my eyes.
Please let me hear my own mind when it gives me a good idea on a silver platter, because I’m usually not listening.
Let me listen.
Let me listen to myself and others, even the least of thy children, because everybody has good ideas.
For God’s sake, please let me always have a pen and a notebook with me so I can write ideas down, because I often forget the best ideas that come to me.
Let me remember.
Let me be generous, for it is in giving that I create abundance.
And Lord, please keep me supplied with the food of the spirit, a bit of good humor.
Let me keep things in perspective.
Let me have passion for the things I’m trying to make happen, because if I do, good things are bound to happen.
Let me create from my heart — with love for others I can’t go wrong.
And finally dear Lord, please let me innovate
— because it honors the creator to create,
and the mortgage payment won’t wait!
13 responses to “The Innovators Prayer”
Gregg,
This is wonderful! Pure inspiration. You are a blessing to us all!
Regards
Penny
You have no idea how much I needed this! I would only add the Courage to step out in faith for this new idea.
Thanks –
Jenn
Jenn,
Nice addition, maybe I’ll do a V2 of the prayer. Courage is key, you have to get behind an idea for it to fly.
I got another addition type comment offline which gave me a pause for thought. Basically it said, Pray for the other guy too because sometimes your innovation puts him out of business. There is some truth to that but I also believe that my innovation gives the other guy an opportunity to go one better, or go one different.
Thanks for your comment.
Gregg
I think courage is extremely important. It’s the key in being successful.
[…] The Innovator’s Prayer Gregg Fraley shares some ideas about innovation during a speech in Belgium […]
Thanks for this, Gregg.
Hi Gregg –
You’re definitely picking up on the shift happening on our planet right now moving us from our heads to our hearts.
Have you ever heard of Gregg Braden (www.greggbraden.com)? (Interesting that you both spell your names the same!) He’s a scientist and visionary that writes and travels the world talking about the cycles within cycles the planet is experiencing. Right now things are occurring to move us into our hearts, and structures that were created from our egos are falling away.
You probably are aware that Newton was wrong in saying that there is matter and invisible stuff and that humans are matter and end at their skin. Quantum physics refutes that – everything’s energy and everything’s connected.
Gregg Braden speaks about the electrical charge that the heart produces verses the brain – it’s 100x more. And the magnetic charge the heart produces is 5,000x more than the brain! So, your instincts about moving into the heart to be a more powerful creator are absolutely right on.
Gregg Braden, along with Howard Martin of Heartmath (a cool organization) will be giving a seminar in Chicago on Easter weekend. A link to sponsor, The Conference Works follows:
http://www.conferenceworks.com/speakers/braden_martin.html. It should be great!
Other people and sites that speak regularly about this planetary shift to check out are Lynn McTaggert (www.theintentionexperiment.com)and The Institute of Noetic Sciences founded by the astronaut, Edgar Mitchell (www.noetic.org). They study consciousness and have so many amazing people connected with them. For $10/month you have access to their entire archive of audio, video and text.
Also check out Dr. Bruce Lipton (www.brucelipton.com). He’s a cell biologist working in epigenetics which shows how it’s not our DNA and genes that determine our lives, but our perceptions and beliefs, which impact the epigenome, which turns the genes on and off. It’s amazing stuff! He has a new book out “Spontaneous Evolution” which talks about how Darwin’s survival of the fittest theory was just that, a theory. As a cell biologist, Dr. Lipton concludes that it’s not competition that creates survival, but cooperation. Competition is not a sustainable model for life. Cooperation, on the other hand, is, and is how our body and planet survive day to day. There’s a great recent interview on http://www.scienceforlife.net with Dr. Lipton and his co-author, Steve Bhaerman.
Cool stuff.
Great to be in the loop with everything you’re up to!
Ruth Mortensen (from LEC – just in case you forgot who I am!)
I’m not a religious person Greg but inspiring all the same. Tis indeed a good emotional connection for a large portion of your audience in the English speaking world. Keep up the good work.
Gregg – this is fantastic – okay with you if we post it on our site?
[…] list of examples on the World Creativity and Innovation Week site. The site also features the “Innovator’s Prayer†by Gregg Fraley, which is a fun and light reminder of a number of good things to keep in mind […]
Yeah let us all pray for more creativity so we can make this world a more colorfull one.
Definitely worthy of printing out, posting on my wall, and praying daily!! Very well writ…
Gregg! Love the prayer. The “voice” you refer to is what I call the right brain voice or “The Artist Within”. My book is The Artist Within, A Guide to Becoming Creatively Fit. I JUST blogged about a very similar topic to yours 30 minutes ago! Woudl love for you to read it. http://tinyurl.com/cqgpe6