When I was a child there were not many electronic toys to challenge us. Girls had hard body baby dolls that always seem to need their diapers changed; the dolls hair also needed to be combed and cloths changed. In order to play Cowboys and Indians we boys had to turn willow limbs and chord sting into bow and arrows with only our imagination as our guide. Arrows were made of various limbs and bushes with coke bottle tops on the ends for weight and carry. We became proficient at turning sticks into baseball bats, rocks into hard balls and truck tires into roller coaster bucket seats.
We were forced to be instinctive enough to sense danger when a snake was near or to discern a friend from a bully while walking to and from school. We didn’t have to do character assessment from a laptop of who our friends were or search Facebook for common “likes.” We didn’t realize it then, but those simple circumstances were in fact the test beds that gave our instincts a workout. The timbers behind our home turned into a jungle. Our front yard, neighborhood and toys had all the thrills of a Disneyland designed and created by a child who some would have said had a wild imagination.
As I look back on those days with improved clarity it was the void of not having enough that spawned the creativity to see the invisible, as I learned how to play in what I dreamed and not in what I had. Today I am most grateful for the clarity of thought and the nimbleness of mind to spark creativity, even though it originated in what sounds like adversity today.
Imagination was a coping mechanism through which we were allowed – no, encouraged – to see an inanimate object not just for what it was but what it could be. This ability to see the invisible was a great stimulus for instinctive reasoning.
Quote of the week: “So many times, people told me I can’t do this or can’t do that. My nature is that I don’t listen very well. I’m very determined, and I believe in myself. My parents brought me up that way. Thank God for that. I don’t let anything stand in my way.” Chantal Sutherland
Word of the week: Mechanism – the agency or means by which an effect is produced or a purpose is accomplished.
Ask yourself: What things increase or decrease your creativity? Why is creativity important to significant outcomes in your life? Have creativity increased or decreased over years? Why?
Speaking With a Purpose: “I help you bridge the gap between … Where you are verses where you want to be.” My ultimate goal – help you become a better you!
Until next time,
Houston out!
