It is the month of Valentines!

Where I grew up, we had a tradition that you may have had had in your school as well. Around this time of year we used to make Valentine's Day boxes and bring in valentines for everyone in the class. We signed everyone's name to a card and hurried around the room leaving letters in each other's boxes. A card from the right someone could always bring a smile, and an unexpected card sharing a true kindness could have the power to make all the difference in the world!

This isn't just a time for lovers but also a time to remind those around us that we love them. Romantic love aside, there are many people in our lives that help us to breath easier, think better, and stand straighter in our tough world because of all they do to help us and show that they care!

Whether you are in a romantic relationship or not this season, we are all in a relationship with dozens of people who make a difference to us every day. Have you told someone you love them today? Maybe you should. It will have the power to make all the difference in the world!

"The world of reality has limits; the world of imagination is boundless."
Jean-Jacques Rousseau – Philosopher, writer, and composer

In the British magazine "Nature," Psychologist Liam Hudson reports on results he got from tests based on the creativity theories of University of Chicago Psychologists Jacob W. Getzels and Philip W. Jackson. They put forward the now respected idea that a high IQ is not a reliable sign of "giftedness" but may simply indicate "convergent" thinking or mental grey-flannelism. Truly creative children, they say, are "divergent" types who tend to find IQ tests boring, do not readily accept the "right" answer as the right one. Seeking a better gauge than IQ, the Chicago team devised various tests to spot divergence. Instead of asking students to pick "right" answers, the tests ask them to make up alternate endings for fables, write stories suggested by "stimulus" pictures, supply "as many different uses as you can" for everyday objects.

Try these exercises for yourself or with someone you love! Read a Grimm Fairy Tale or Aesop's Fable that you have never read before. Stop before you reach the ending and make up your own endings to the stories. Then try to make a story of your own from a random photograph or make a huge list of all the uses for a hair brush, spoon, orange, or whatever object you see around you. Have fun!

In other news:

I am honored to be eligible for nomination for the third time in a row for awards at the World Famous Magic Castle.

"Close Up Magician of the Year" and "Lecturer of the Year"

You can now watch the entire close up act at the following link: Paul Draper in the Close Up Gallery of the Magic Castle

Your friend,
-Paul Draper
paul@mentalmysteries.com
801-541-2976

Websites:
Mental Mysteries
Mental Mystery (agent friendly site)

"Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand."
Albert Einstein

Utah Theater Association Keynote
January 21st

Quote in Classical Singer Magazine
February 1

Sleepy Hollow at ACTF
February 12th

National Meat Association
Palm Springs, CA.
February 13th

Washington D.C.
February 23rd-28th

The Pet Hospital
Las Vegas, Nevada
February 28th

Hypnotic Entertainers Success Conference
Las Vegas, Nevada
March 1st – 3rd

Tyler Kyle and Mistie: Knight Wedding
April 23rd

SUNY University
April 27th

Jeff and Joanne: Celentano Wedding
April 28th

Performance Excellence Training
West Palm Beach, Florida
May 1st – 15th

Workshop Kalispell, MT
May 17th

Graduate Party
Miles City Montana
May 23rd

The Known Universe

"The universe is wider than our views of it."
Henry David Thoreau

“The goal of life is to make your heartbeat match the beat of the universe, to match our nature with Nature.”
Joseph Campbell

The Known Universe takes viewers from the Himalayas through our atmosphere and the inky black of space to the afterglow of the Big Bang including stars, planets and galaxies. This new film, created by the American Museum of Natural History, is part of an exhibition “Visions of the Cosmos: From the Milky Ocean to an Evolving Universe”, at the Rubin Museum of Art in Manhattan. Enjoy!

The Known Universe Video

Snippet from February 2010 Classical Singer Magazine:

Valentine's Day and beyond, relationship advice from Paul Draper, a professional performer who estimates that in the last fourteen months he's spent fewer than a hundred days at his home in Las Vegas.

According to Draper, (relationships) require strong communication on both sides. "One has to keep the spice up by sending notes frequently," he adds. "Hand-making cards, sending things with the cologne or scent. Showing that wherever one is, your significant other is on your mind.

Whenever there is time together, making sure that that together time is together time. When you're present, being present."