The ability to use ones Imagination to think and reason is more important than memorizing facts and figures. Knowledge is important, but children who are taught only to recall information are ill equipped to tackle change in the outside world.
A leader is born as a child is given the chance, to break out from the mold of learning, and develop the use of their imagination.
Vince Lombardi, NFL Hall of Fame Coach made this statement,
“The joy is in creating, not maintaining.”
Hmmm, the joy is in creating…..I ask myself, “what does that really mean?”
When I think of the word creative, or creating, my mind rolls out a list of individuals such as, Michelangelo, Leonardo De Vinci, the band Chicago, and so on. But, is creativity only expressed through the arts?
Is Creativity reserved only for the Arts?
No!
- Creativity is the process we each go through to formulate our thoughts, to use our mind as we plan our day.
- Creativity is the use of developing ideas for interpreting a situation.
- Creativity is the process of translating the world through our perceptual lenses.
Creativity is how we Respond to challenge
Facing a challenge produces many responses, but the natural response for most people, is to complain. They lack the ability to see past the situation and use their imagination to create a fixable solution. The skill of taking a challenge, and creating a positive change comes from a level of excellence, and training of the mind to focus on creating a solution, rather then becoming fixated with the problem.
Vince Lombardi knew his players needed to not be satisfied with a level of excellence that they had achieved, and simply maintain that level. His players needed to be creative in their ability to up-level their skills, and to consistently seek improvement within themselves.
John C. Maxwell said, “When team members come to me with a problem, I insist that they also supply three possible ways to solve it. Anyone can point out a problem; only people who think well can present possible solutions. Good thinkers come up with the best answers. They create back-up plans that provide them with alternatives. They enjoy freedom that others do not possess. and they will influence and lead others.”
To think of solutions is a form of creativity. Like Maxwell said, “anyone can point out a problem…”; but finding a solution takes the use of imagination, which propels one to a whole different level of thinking.
A Thought, like a sound wave, resonates out as a frequency
When I want to listen to music, I turn on the radio, and tune into a desired station. Every station is given a numerical frequency to set it apart, and distinguish it from another.
With this in mind, think of time when you were standing by someone, and you began to get a sense of what they were thinking. You tuned into a wave of emotion. This emotion was resonating from thoughts that were circulating through their mind. Their exact thought was not made known to you, but you were receiving a general idea of how they felt. You were feeling the emotional wave frequency that was resonating from these thoughts.
Often an emotion is felt, but the thought behind that emotion is unclear. Unclear thought originates from old perceptions that have been stored away in the subconscious mind. Your thought, which has been buried, will surface to the conscious mind when triggered by an outside reminder. Each time the thought is triggered, an automatic response is being formulated.
Once an automatic response is created, breaking that response, takes concentrated effort. The process usually begins with
- the awareness of what actions and attitudes are being produced by the thought. (are they creating a positive result? Or negative?)
- A solid decision of what type of outcome you really want, and
- The imagination to design and create a plan of thought, that is energetically stronger then the old script. A new thought pattern that when focused on, will break the automatic cycle.
What does my thought and a Radio have in common?
Similar to the radio station, thoughts, which are a combination of words, can be given their own numerical value. A numerical value that represents a frequency, to set apart one group of words, from another.
Like the radio, you tune into the thought that is most comfortable at a particular time. These thoughts carry the ability to stimulate action, or block the energy needed to take action. Why? Because each thought has the capability to produce, or deplete, the level of excitement and enthusiasm, which is needed to stimulate an action.
Strong thought builds and encourages positive energy for creative thinking, and production. On the other hand, fear and confusion will block, and stop the creative energy needed, to imagine and think of helpful solutions.
I have heard people say, “If you don’t like doing something, simply change the way you think of it.” What they are saying is, give the task a new definition to the role, a new meaning, as to why you are doing it.
Use Your imagination and create a strong, healthy solution.
Check out my personal process for creating a strong direction of thought Cre8 Reminders©