Random Acts of Creativity

Life’s challenges have taken me away from updating this blog for a while, but I am back and will continue to update on a regular basis. I posted these challenges a while ago so I am going to let them ride for a while but I am preparing new ones.  In this series of posts, I am going to offer ideas on how to stimulate creativity that I hope you can use in your daily lives to solve problems, generate new innovative ideas for your life and tap into your native creative gifts. These are not dramatic or revolutionary constructs, simply exercises that you can use to reconnect with that innate creativity I believe you were born with that may have been neutralized or deadened by the challenges of life. Try some of these ideas and then come back to the blog and comment on any interesting or fun results from the process. Here are the first two:

The Great Wall of Crayons: I was watching a television show late one night and a mother was scolding her child for writing on their pristine, white living room wall with crayons. I understand why the mother was upset, but it also reminded me of the stark difference in the way children and adults percieve and express their creativity. To an adult, the wall represents an economic investment in a home for the family and the time and energy invested in painting and keeping the wall clean. To a child, a big white wall is a beautiful canvass just screaming for self expression. I am not advocating that anyone go and write on a living room wall, but the idea of reconnecting with your childhood perceptions of creativity and ways and opportunities to express that creativity is worth revisiting. The other thing that struck me that night was how much I remember loving crayons. There is remarkable creative power in crayons. They seem to be endowed with the power to bring out just about any kind of idea that begins to form inside your mind and heart. Crayons possess the colors of the rainbow and more, they can be used to write words or paint pictures. They are, perhaps, the most versatile writing tool ever invented…and they just look and smell really cool. So, here is the challenge: buy a box of crayons (the bigger the better) and find a canvass and just allow your mind to be free like you did as a child. You can write poetry, music, stories, illustrate or illuminate the stories, paint pictures of anything you want, use it as an idea board for your job, a message board for the family…virtually anything you want. The only limitation is your imagination and the space on your canvass. I would never ask you to write on your mother’s clean, white wall…but if you do have a wall, say in a basement, that you can write on that is even better. Find ways to be creative and see what comes out. This exercise will not necessarily solve the world’s energy problems or social problems but you might be amazed at what comes out of your mind and spirit if you allow it to be free. I used to keep crayons in my desk when I taught at the high school level and even at the college level for myself and my students. Try this exercise and tell me what comes out. I think you might be surprised at what happens.

Turn into the Torpedo: There is a scene in a movie called The Hunt For Red October where an American submarine crew is on board a Soviet sub called the Red October trying to help the Soviet crew defect to the US. Another Soviet sub is trying to sink the Red October so that the Americans don’t gain access to the Soviet technology. In the scene, the the pursuing Soviet sub fires several torpedoes to destroy the Red October. Of course, it is a tense and scary moment as the torpedoes approach and the audience is left believing that the sub is about to blown up…when suddenly the Russian commander of the Red October orders the pilot to turn into the torpedo instead of trying to get escape. The American’s think he is crazy but the torpedo is about to hit and they cannot escape so the pilot follows the order. The torpedoes hit the Red October and break apart instead of exploding. The Russian commander explains that the torpedoes have a timer that is set to explode at the point that matches the time and distance the target  from the firing sub. By turning into the torpedo, the Red October shortened the distance and the time the torpedoes traveled and therefore neutralized the bomb. A fun and CREATIVE and clever way to avoid destruction. As I watched that scene it occured to me that there are many times in life when we could use that same intellectual construct to solve problems. We become so linear in our thinking, so left brained that sometimes we do not consider possible solutions that are the opposite  of what so-called rational thinkers would consider. I believe that sometimes people describe this process as being “counterintuitive”, that is to say that sometimes the most elegant and creative solutions to problems can be found in doing the opposite of what seems logical and rational. So, the metaphor of turning into the torpedo is one that I have used many times to solve difficult problems in my life. It cannot be universally applied to every problem you face in life, but it is an exercise that is worth integrating into your problem solving paradigm. It is really simple. Next time you are trying to solve a difficult problem where the solution seems to evade you, just ask yourself what would happen if you did the opposite of what most people would do or the opposite of what seems logical. Explore all the possible consequences, all the possible unintended consequences (maybe you could write them out on the wall with your crayons!)  and you might find that doing the opposite…turning into the torpedo….may actually hold the solution to your problems. I have used this problem solving technique in my work, my personal life and it sometimes yields amazing results. Even if it does not always give you the answer and you have to move on to something else, it is another great exercise in using your mind creatively.

There you have two random acts of creativity to try. Check back in a few weeks for more…..

Brian Crouch

Creative Minds and the Human Spirit – The Goldilocks Challenge

I once had a conversation with a friend where I was trying to describe the difference between the Socratic method of teaching I prefer to use in the classroom and what I consider to be pedantic fact-based teaching methods. As the conversation progressed, my Italian genes gained complete control of my mind and I passionately described why I think teaching people (not just kids) to elevate their thinking and foster creativity and innovation is essential. I told her that I believe human beings respond better to this higher level of teaching and learning and thinking because we all have remarkable spirits and minds that are intelligent and innately creative. Indeed, it has been my experience that even the most indifferent or apathetic student will become engaged if we challenge them to think instead of just training them to memorize facts so they can pass a test. A system based on nothing more than the dissemination of information is what bores kids (and adults) to death. I believe all people are hungry to have their minds challenged and their spirits expanded. I have witnessed this with my own eyes as a teacher many times. I have seen high school students, college kids and adults come alive when you allow them to take the knowledge they are gaining and apply it to their lives and their world in some creative and meaningful way. I have witnessed kids who had poor grades, special education students, kids in gangs, kids with drug issues, average students and advanced students, adults in workshops, college students—you name it—I have seen them all come intellectually alive in this Socratic, creative process.

The Goldilocks Challenge:

To emphasize my point, here is a creative thinking challenge for you. This is a lesson our department used when I taught at the college level to help our students learn to think on a higher cognitive level. I believe it is a brilliant example of using a simple child’s story to illustrate the difference between learning facts and learning to think and be creative. Go to this link: http://www.dltk-teach.com/rhymes/goldilocks_story.htm for a very simple version of the Goldilocks story (the simpler the better) or find the story in a book. Read through the story and then answer the following questions:

1)      Who was Goldilocks?

2)      Where did she walk?

3)      What did she do when after she knocked on the door?

4)      What did she find after she entered the house?

5)      What kind of food was in the bowls?

6)      What did Goldilocks do with the bowls, chairs and the beds in the home?

7)      What happened to Goldilocks when the bears came home?

At this point you should already perceive that these are FACT BASED questions that “will be on the test!”. This is not a bad way to take a person through the story and does give you a good foundation of information but does nothing to elevate the thinking process. However, now let’s elevate the questions slightly to make it more fun, challenging, thought provoking and creative. This is an abbreviated and simplified version of the exercise because I don’t have much room here but I think you will get the point.

1) Give me 2 examples of why you think Goldilocks, or someone like her, would break into someone’s home?

Answers: often include that she was homeless and desperately hungry, or that she was a juvenile delinquent on drugs.

2) Assuming, as some of you have said that Goldilocks was very young, homeless and hungry, who is responsible for her breaking into the home, eating the Bears food, doing property damage and using their beds?

Answers: often include a discussion about her parents and their responsibility for the actions of their young daughter, or personal accountability and at what age a person should be charged as an adult in our legal system, and there is always someone who says that bears have no constitutional or legal rights so Goldilocks could not be held responsible and….there is always someone who says that Bears should not be anthropomorphized.

And now your creativity challenge: Answer one of the following questions on my blog and then those who are interested can have a dialogue with me about the implications of the answers. Be as creative as you wish but keep it clean and be intelligent and positive. After we get the dialogue going, I will share one of the most interesting answers one of my college sophomore students wrote when answering a question similar to this:

3) Rewrite the ending of the story to reflect what you think should have happened to Goldilocks and defend your position using details from the story.

4) Create a whole new ending for the story that is entertaining or adds a clever twist that you believe no one would think of. Be as creative as you want, but keep it clean and be thought provoking.

I look forward to reading the answers to 3 and 4 and engaging in a creative and stimulating dialogue about Goldilocks! And, by the way, if you want to answer 1 and 2 differently than the answers I listed above and use that as a foundation to answer 3 and 4, that would be even more creative and elevated. Good Luck and have fun.

Brian

Daydreamers and Pirates…

Greetings all you daydreamers who live other lives as pirates, space and time travelers, future presidents, ballerinas……etc.

Remember when you were a kid and you would use your imagination to play? You had no real power, no advanced education, no money, little life experience or real knowledge about the world, but you didn’t need those things because ANYTHING you wanted to be or become or do was possible in the potent and creative imagination of a child. Ordinary objects or experiences could be instantly endowed with incredible powers. A large box could become a time travel machine or space ship, a basement could become a fortress, a towel or a blanket your royal robe, a large spoon became a magic wand, a stick could be a pirates sword, a strangely shaped cloud could become a dragon or a stand of trees could be an army of monsters approaching. Your mind could perceive the real world around you and see limitless possibilities, create limitless ideas and, even solve intractable problems.

This blog, is dedicated to re-connecting all of us with that world of unlimited possibilities and helping us to renew our sense of imagination and creativity. This is like my Star Trek communicator (there’s that imagination going again) that I hope will connect me with hundreds or even thousands of people to engage in a dialogue that will help all of us unlock or renew that wonderful sense of freedom in the human spirit that can solve problems and create beautiful ideas.

Sincerely,

Brian and the creativity team……

And, as someone once said to me…keep usin’ your noggin….