The JEDO Way - The Joy of Creation! Part 5

Want to have some creative fun? Let's play around with ideas for a few minutes...

Try this... Think of two things that are totally unrelated and then we will imagine what they might be... for example:
Elephant - - - Physics
Inkwell - - - Partridge
Jellyfish - - - Database
Sandwich - - - Explorer

First, make up your own list. Develop a list of at least 5-10 pairs. The more unrelated the better.

Done? OK, the next step is to figure out how to connect them somehow. Our minds are geared toward finding connections. For example, looking at the list above, I might imagine that we learned how to understand elephant language, and that they were in fact primarily theoretical physicists with some brilliant new ways of looking at the universe that changed our perspective forever. For the next pair, I might imagine a bird shaped inkwell, or I might imagine a bird that could shoot ink as a self defense mechanism, like an octopus. For the next one, I could consider the genetic structure of a jellyfish as being a molecular scale database (which it is), or I could envision a new type of database that is transparent and amorphous, rather than rigid and highly structured.,,, etc. etc.

Ready? Now try it on your own! Make a game of it. Try to come up with at least 3-4 alternate meanings for each word pair. Don't just read this and say, "ya, whatever"... Do it! I am not going anywhere. It's fun! It really is. Hmmmm.... maybe we can make a board game out of this... not today. We'll save that for another day. OK, ready..... GO!

Done? Don't be lazy! Stop now and try it out (would it help if I say 'please'?). It's fun! I promise!

I can't check on you, so I am going to have to trust you. I can trust you, right? Done? Cool. Then read on...

Now you may be wondering, why did I ask you go to through that exercise? It is the most basic and simple example of how we can create by bringing two or more things together and making connections to form something new.

Want to be more creative? You need to relax your preconceptions and ideas about the way things 'should be', and try something new. The idea is to figure out how to look at something from a different perspective, and/or think of things that nobody else has thought of. You could combine two unrelated words in your field of interest, and develop some new ideas that may even be practical as well as fresh and new. Want to stretch a little more? Take one word from your field of interest and ten words that are as unrelated as possible, then combine them and see what you come up with. Alternately, take your list of unrelated words you just developed and combine them with a third set of words from your area of interest. Play, play, play, and you will be surprised at how much fun it can be coming up with new ideas!

Remember: You are a creative genius. You just forgot how to be who you are.... but it is starting to come back to you now!

Happy playing!

The JEDO Way - The Joy of Creation! Part 4

Hi there! Thanks for stopping by!

Now you may be wondering about why I call this the JEDO Way. What JEDO stands for (in case you missed it) is Joy through Exploration, Discovery and Optimization. When we first started learning, this is how we learned everything... and we had a lot to learn! Given what we had to work with, we learned amazingly well. You have seen pictures of babies swimming underwater, and perhaps you or someone you know learned two different languages fluently and without an accent (I learned German and English) by the time you where three or four. I have even heard about "Your Baby can Read" programs that teach toddlers to read at an extraordinarily young age. Walking on two feet is something only the most advanced robotics have been able to do in the last few years, but you were doing it like a champ at two. The most advanced artificial intelligence computers are now able to carry on a limited conversation... but can they make up a joke? You were cracking them up at three years old! We were creative, intuitive, energetic, joyful, inquisitive, spontaneous, imaginative, and playful... something no machine will ever be.... and we can be again! We've done it before, we can do it again, only now with added qualities (such as maturity, responsibility, integrity, understanding and wisdom, spiritual insight, and so forth).

So where do we start? A good place to start is to learn to play again. That's right, play... and I don't mean video games, Trivial Pursuit, or football. While those are all fun and have their place, they are not playing like a child plays. A child plays with all kinds of different elements; colors outside of the lines on purpose, uses a stick as a rifle, a tricycle for a car, etc., etc., etc. That which 'is' can be something else if we want it to be. We can put together this and that and imagine that is is something completely different. Play is a matter of exploring the world around you with open eyes and an open mind, latching on to things that intrigue you, and then looking at them in different ways, mixing them up with other things, and discovering a whole new perspective on what it is and what it can do. Suddenly there is something new in your world... and maybe it is pretty good, but not great, so you play around with it some more. You try a bunch of different things until, Bingo! Perfect! It makes you laugh and you play with it and show it off.

You know what? That is exactly how invention works. I work in new products... I invent for a living, and that is what I do when I need to come up with a new invention. Think about cooking... this is also how new food creations come into being. Art. Floral arrangements. Scrapbooks. New toys. Crazy web videos. New magazines. The best stuff comes out of being free to play with lots of different elements, discovering something that works, and making it the best that it can be.... JEDO. It can work for marriages, starting new businesses, developing new hobbies, learning new skills, you name it. JEDO is a way of approaching any aspect of your life, and making it the best that it can be.

I challenge you to spend the rest of the day living 'the JEDO Way'. Take time to play, and have fun! Try to find a way of looking at something that is brand new! Put things together in new and different ways. Mix it up. Laugh! Find the humor in things! Enjoy! Your new life is beginning to unfold!!! Who knows what you'll discover!

The JEDO Way - The Joy of Creation! Part 3

G'Day!

Hope this day finds you well and hungry for insight. With any luck, you may find something on the menu that appeals to you!

Creativity... why is it important? Creation is the act of putting two or more things together in a way that is new to you (that is one definition of it, anyway). Why is that important? For one thing, learning is a process of putting the pieces together, so learning is a creative process (if it is learning by exploration, discovery and optimization, not rote memorization and data dumping). Remember when you went to a class that downloaded reams of data into your brain?... you remembered it just long enough to pass the test. Within a short time, the info was less than a memory. On the other hand, do you remember discovering something new by exploring something that you were interested in? Here is an example... In high school, I was asked to do a paper in math class. I chose the subject of pi. I liked geometry and started playing around with circles, squares and triangles. Before long, I discovered an equation for pi (one that I have never heard of before or since). It is "the limit of [4X sin (45/X)] as "X" approaches infinity". The larger the number you put in for "X", the closer to pi the number will be (try it out if you don't believe me). I still remember that formula today because I discovered it by playing with shapes. When we were little children, our lives were filled with discovery. We were expert learners. Now? Not so much....

Do you know what will make life more fulfilling? For one thing, becoming a good learner again... maybe even a great learner. As we increase in (useful) knowledge, our horizons expand, and we are able to achieve more. When we achieve more, we will become enriched as we gain more mastery over our circumstances (now that may be financial, but it could be enrichment in other areas such as a better marriage, happier and more well adjusted children, better relationships with your co-workers and/or friends, a better prayer life, etc.). When you are more enriched, then you will have more to give to others. As you give selflessly, you will find even deeper rewards flow into your life. Sounds kinda cool, doesn't it?

Another thing... the act of creation is a natural source of joy. When was the last time you did something creative that you were kind of proud of... solved a problem, came up with an idea, did something artistic, discovered a new way of doing something, etc. Take a minute to think of something.(pause while brain cells go on a search and rescue mission.... ) OK. Now remember how it felt... how you felt a sense of joy and happiness in figuring this out. Kinda cool, wasn't it? And you know what else? I bet you went back to check it out again more than once... maybe shared it with someone else. You know why? Because that felt good too. When you do something creative, it is fun at the time, and the joy repeats for several times that you review the creation in your mind and/or share it with someone who gets it and likes it. It is the gift that you give to yourself (at least) that keeps on giving (for a while anyway...). When the glow runs out, you are motivated to do something else that is creative, and so forth.

Combine acts of creation with acts of love, and you have a dynamic duo! Put it all together with some other traits such as spirituality, integrity, and a desire to learn, and you have one powerful thang going on! What right thinking person wouldn't want more of that it their life?

You are welcome to stop by anytime at http://fullcreativelife.blogger.com !

The JEDO Way - The Joy of Creation! Part 2

Hello again! Welcome back (or just 'Welcome!' if this is your first visit)

Who are you? No really, who are you? Who is the real you? Living in the physical world has so many driving and sometimes conflicting influences... it can force us to behave in ways that we wouldn't if we had our druthers. Do that long enough, and you can kind of get lost in the shuffle. You wake up one day and wonder how you got to this place in your life and wonder where you are going, and if that is really where you want to end up. It happens to the best of us from time to time... but it doesn't have to be that way.

The challenge is first to find out who we are, and then to act accordingly.

So who are you? As I mentioned in my last post, you are a creative genius with a moderate to serious case of the stifles. All illness (even the stifles) can be affected (if not outright cured) by modifying your perspective. Ask any Christian Scientist (the real ones at least)... healing becomes self evident when you take on a right perspective. Now I am not a Christian Scientist... more of a Christian Engineer, but from what I have seen, the principal works... but I digress.

The point is that you will be, to a large extent, who you see yourself to be. Do you see yourself as unfortunate? You will be. As powerless? You will be. As trapped? You'll stay that way as long as you think that way. But... what if you saw yourself as creative, spontaneous, humorous, self motivated, interesting, influential, innovative, prosperous, spiritual, confident, ethical, and courageous. Do you think you might act a little differently? Of course you would. Do you think your life might take a turn for the better? (please take a moment to consider how it would!)

Guess what? You are all of those things and more! You know how I know this? Because you were once a 4 year old, and as such, to a greater or lesser extent, those were all characteristics that you embodied. God made you (sorry atheists, no offense, but I know he is real... just trust me on this one for now) a complex, creative, funny, imaginative, vibrant young child. Before all this conformist pressure came crashing down on your head for years, you were who you are. No pretenses, no bull.

Now am I saying we should all act like 4 year olds? Welllllll, yes and no. We want to be 'child-like' but not 'childish'. Childish is the dark side of 'the force'... selfish, arrogant, uncaring, immature, etc. Child-like is, well, Christ-like. Wise as serpents and harmless as doves. No pretenses. Relaxed, fun loving, confident, strong, ethical, spiritually aware, in tune with the transient nature of the physical and the eternal (and therefore more real) nature of the unseen. As adults, we can still play 'Army', but in the battlefield of the mind and soul. We can be warriors for justice, officers in defense of the truth, snipers aiming to destroy evil and corruption and error. We can also play, by having a playful and fun attitude, cheering up those around us in creative and fresh ways.

What I am saying is that you can be yourself, but in order to do that, it will take a process of re-discovery. That is where the JEDO Way comes in. We get joy through exploration (in this case, exploring who we are, I mean really are, as a person), discovery (every time we find a piece of our true original nature that has been lost, it is a great discovery!), and optimization (making that which 'is' as good as it can possibly be... in this case that means you!). I am challenging you to live life the JEDO Way, not for my sake, but for yours. I want you to find your inner original pure, kind, loving, wonderful self, and then be!

The JEDO Way - The Joy of Creation! Part 1

Greetings Earthlings! Welcome to a different way. Welcome to a new way. Welcome to truth, as I see it.

I call the 'The JEDO Way', because, if it is capitalized, it must be an acronym, and it is! It stands for "Joy through Exploration, Discovery, and Optimization". The root of this is based in years of study in the subject of Creativity. Over 30 years ago, I went to a unique and excellent technical college called WPI (Worcester Polytechnic Institute) where I had my minor in "Creativity and Creative Problem Solving". Have you ever heard of such a minor? Probably not, probably never will. WPI had a great system called "The Plan" that permitted you to make up your own major and minor, as long as you could justify it by courses and projects. As part of my minor, I taught a 3 day course to 18 students on "Creativity and Creative Problem Solving" (want to learn something really well? Try teaching it to someone else!!!). I also wrote a chapter in the "Freshperson's Guide to WPI" entitled, "The Case for Creativity in Technical Education". I later repeated the Creativity course as an adult education course at a local church.

Now all this would not mean much, if nothing came of it. Well, I now have over 75 patents or patents pending with my name on them... so there must have been something in what I learned... and there was!

Creativity is one of the most underestimated and misunderstood aspects of our culture today. People think of artists and musicians as being creative, but the fact is, anyone from garbage men to scientists to teenagers to elephant trainers can be creative... in short, anyone!

Why would you care? Let me offer some suggestions. First, YOU are creative. You may not think so, but you are. You were born creative. Up until the age of 5 you were practically a creative genius! When you got to school, the "sit down and shut up, there is only one right answer to every question, and if you don't agree you are going to detention" attitude drove it underground, but it is still there, crying to be re-awakened!

Have you ever sat back in wonder at the joy, excitement, laughter, fun, imagination, excitement and spontaneity of little children? Do you think they were worried about being politically correct or fitting in with the norm or dressing for success? Duh. They are just themselves, who cares.

Guess what? That is one of the biggest keys to being happy, being creative, being loving, having integrity, having openness to deep spiritual truth, and achieving a wisdom about life. One of... not the only, but a BIG one. So spend some time with children (your own if you have some), and pay attention. You might just learn what it means to be alive!!!