Imagination and Creativity Pt. 2

So technology and education are teaming up to crush all of your creative passion and to derail your imagination (Read Imagination & Creativity). So what (not to be cruel). But that’s life. Life’s gonna punch you in the junk. You gotta get up, dust yourself off, and find a way to fight back. Because if you don't, if you just sit around and whine about it, this world will tear your spirit limb from limb.

You have to imagine it first – whatever it is that inspires you. Then fight for it. Fight for it every day, because every day is worth it.

Ok. So here are a few things I think you and I can pursue that might help us in this fight….

(1)

Don’t be afraid to “fail” or get rejected. Fear of failure is rampant in our culture. Ambitious and/or driven people chase after praise and are typically motivated by external stimuli like money, authority, respect, etc. I think that’s pretty sad, because those things are hollow and unfulfilling and largely beyond our control. But our education system conditions children to respond this way from a very young age. A student’s grade helps them define their identity. A good grade makes them feel superior. A bad grade tells them they’re deficient. So the student with a bad grade begins to feel as if they’re no good, and out of fear, they start to hide their “deficiencies” from their teacher, their parents, and their friends as much as possible in order to protect their own feelings and to bolster not only their grade but other people’s perception of them as well. Because of this fear, students quickly learn what they need to do to earn the grade they want from each teacher and that’s what they pursue on every assignment. So the grade and their teacher’s/parent’s/friend’s perception of them becomes more important than learning. That’s really sad. Students need to learn that a grade isn’t worth a layer of elephant dung on your shoe. If they learn that, then the fear of failure can begin to crumble and they can actually learn with confidence. They can focus on what matters.

Failure is an important part of life. Everyone needs to learn to cope with failure and not just cope with it but love it. We need to cherish our failures, because they make us better, stronger, more adaptable. When I was studying to be a teacher, one of my mentors told me that I was putting too much pressure on myself to generate learning experiences for my students. What I needed to do was to find better ways to teach students to generate their own learning experiences. That was sort of an epiphany for me. That might be the single most important thing anyone can teach a student. But I quickly realized that none of my co-teachers were doing that – at least not in the way I understood it. What we were unconsciously doing instead was teaching students how to generate the grades they wanted. And it’s all built around the student’s fear of failure or rejection by their teachers, parents, or friends. Not a desire to learn and grow and become better. You will never be creative if you build your thought patterns around fear instead of growth and honesty.

(2)

Observe. There are lots of ways and reasons to observe. If you’re a spy or a sniper, then you have to be observant to survive and complete your mission. You have to be hyper-aware of details, changes, misplaced items, causes and effects. If you’re a hockey goalie or an NFL quarterback, then you have to observe formations, tendencies, body language. If you’re an interviewer, then you have to observe word choice, tone, inflection, body language, etc. And I believe that all of these types of observation can help you become more imaginative and creative. The more in the moment and tuned in you are, the more engaged your mind will be, the more imaginative you can become -- James Wright, the late, great American poet, wrote an entire poem about stepping over a puddle. We need to also learn to observe for inspiration. So it’s important to be keenly aware of our own thoughts, feelings, and emotions. I once made a New Year’s resolution to be more aware of how I feel every time I walk into a room. That lasted about 3 days. It’s hard, because life is busting with distractions. But the more observant you are, the more connections you’ll start to make between things and ideas that other people just don’t see.

(3)

Empathize. We have to invest in other people. We have to be willing to make meaningful connections. Make a real effort to understand what life is like for others. Listen. Ask questions. Try to feel their emotions. Empathy is a word that’s been twisted and co-opted and diluted so that it barely means anything anymore. But I think it means that you understand glimpses and flashes of another person’s humanity. I know that’s kind of abstract, but if you can describe what another person is thinking and feeling at any given time using words similar to what they would use, then I believe you’ve successfully empathized with that person. Each human is beautifully unique, but we’re also all very much the same on some level. Try discovering connections with people, and I promise you, you’re imagination and creativity will bubble over. You’ll start to see things from different perspectives and gain fresh insights. You’ll gain a deeper understanding of your own emotions. And you’ll broaden your perspective of the world around you.

(4)

Put down your freaking phone. Go do something. Break away from your normal routine. Be spontaneous. Live life. Screw Facebook and Twitter and Instagram. Break free of that swirling, sucking black hole and float around in your own space for a while. Unplug. Everything inside this tech-bubble of ours is just a distraction from your life. Don’t watch your own life through a screen.

The world wants you to be a robot. I challenge all of us to be better than what the world wants us to be. I challenge us all to stand up for ourselves and discover our true passions. I challenge us all to fight for every day, because every day is worth it.