Creative Thinking

"Read, every day, something no one else is reading. Think, every day, something no one else is thinking. Do, every day, something no one else would be silly enough to do. It is bad for the mind to continually be part of unanimity" - Christopher Morley

Often, when people refer to creative thinking, they call it thinking “outside the box”. The idea is that lateral thinkers tend to think outside the framework of convention, the ‘known’  approach.

It may be useful, however, to use the ‘box’ as a starting point, and the first question we might ask is “What’s in the box?”

Determining what exists within our own conventions assists us to define what it is that constitutes ‘normal’ or “the way we’ve always done things”. Finding a new way to approach a given subject or situation could involve asking questions about those conventions, questions like “How do we know that?”, “Why does it have to be that way?” and “How else could it be?”.

The ‘Box’ often contains preconceptions we have adopted along the way; ideas we have about our own abilities and weaknesses; value and belief systems that drive us to behave in certain ways; and definitions of meaning that we have established from our own experience of life.

The creative process  may involve stepping outside the boundaries of our known world. It’s really a process in which we unravel our safe little universe and subject it to scrutiny, being merciless in our interrogation of our reality model. It is an adventurous exercise, for we must step outside our comfort zones and leave our anchors and safety nets behind.

In asking the questions, other questions may occur to us: “Where did I get that from?”, “Do I still believe that?”, “Is this useful to me?”.  Some of the answers may be surprising…

For example, we may have adopted an idea because an authority figure or family member told us it was so; there exists a need, if we are to establish our own identities rather than be a clone, to revisit these ideas and examine them. If they survive this examination, then they are part of us – if not, they should be discarded since they no longer form part of our reality model.

In many cases, these 'parasite' ideas, that have latched onto us, seemingly of their own accord, are the prison that restrict our creative ability, because we think that the world must conform to the way in which we have always thought about it. Once we are released, we become conscious of the many possibilities that exist rather than the limited options available from our personal history.

Creativity requires freedom, not addiction to restrictive world views. Get out of the Box by removing the barriers to creative thought, and you will be surprised how creative you actually are...

Start investigating your own reality model today!

D (just call me D)

justd@justd.ws

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