de Bono Rules! (no not that Bono!)

One of the most powerful problem solving techniques to aid creativity is compare. We use the verb compare all the time to make decisions. Is this better than that? Why? When faced with the purchase of a new car or house or or or... we often narrow our choices down to two or three possibilities and then it's time for the lists to come out. On a piece of paper list the choices across the top. Down the left side of the paper we now need to list all the options that are available to us such as price, colour options, availability and anything else that will have a bearing on our decision. Once you have listed all your options and choices and filled in all the spaces, you can much more easily see how everything compares and you will have a much greater chance of making the best decision.
One factor that is very important relates back to an earlier post. The Explorer. The more time you have spent exploring the world, the better the chance you will have of adding more interesting choices.
Edward de Bono, one of the Gods of gifted education, has developed a number of thinking skills and techniques. One of the most useful is known as PMI. Positive, minus, interesting. Much more on de Bono later but for those who would like to explore him..

http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTED_05.htm

"Go to the mirror boy."

Back to "The Thinker's Toolbox" and empathy which is the next verb. Without empathy, you can never hope to really make something appealing to others. As a teacher, one needs to understand what your students want and need, if you want them to get involved and learn. One phrase that meant much to me as a teacher was, "significant other." My job was to become a significant other to each and every student. When you become significant to that student, and only when you become significant, can you hope to reach and motivate them. How does one learn to have empathy? This leads to today's fun homework assignment. To quote The Who... "Go to the mirror boy." Stand in front of the mirror and (if it hasn't broken) feel an emotion. Think a happy thought and watch your face. Look for the subtle and not so subtle expressions which pass by your face. Try bored. Have you seen that look on the faces of someone you have been speaking to? Try every emotion and see what you see. This is a beginning step to start to feel what others are feeling. Have fun!

Genius means little more than the faculty of perceiving in an unhabitual way.
William James


A painter told me that nobody could draw a tree without in some sort becoming a tree; or draw a child by studying the outlines of its form merely . . . but by watching for a time his motions and plays, the painter enters into his nature and can then draw him at every attitude.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Nurture Your Inner Disney

"The creative process is the lifeblood of the Disney Company. If it is to thrive, we must do everything possible to establish an environment in which it can once again flourish.

Creativity is a funny thing -- difficult to quantify, but obvious when it's missing. It's a living, breathing force with a life of its own, and it tends to flower among individuals or small groups. It doesn't always show up on demand ... or at convenient times or places. And it often gets killed by committees or by something called strategic planning. So we need to always be on the lookout for ways to nurture it, and not let it be trampled by a lowest-common-denominator mentality."

This is an excerpt from a speech delivered by Roy Disney in a speech from 2004. Disney Corporation has obviously had some ups and downs but they are trying to redefine their roots. reativity and Walt Disney obviously run together.

What do you do for yourself to give yourself the nurturing that you need to be creative. The best situation for me is simply a walk, best in the woods, where I can just let my thoughts flow. I find that the first half hour or so is the time it usually takes to let my conscious mind go quiet and then the thoughts start to flow.

Share with us your tips and techniques.

Exaggerate Your Creativity!!

Creativity works in strange and mysterious ways. Sometimes to see the essence of something we need to exaggerate what we do know, which can enlighten us to what is really there. Now that sounds deep!
Comedians have used exaggerate and cartoonists have learned to take a feature and make it larger than life. For today's treat, boys and girls, I offer one of the best exaggerations I have ever seen.
Enjoy!