Imagination

IMAGINATION

 

Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, I think everyone has an amazing imagination but maybe a few people get it stuck in neutral. I just taught a creative thinking workshop. I started out with this silly little poem I wrote in the Sinai.  Rocks and Stars; I asked the rocks how many stars, I asked the stars how many rocks, I didn't get an answer so I asked the camel, The camel just laughed so I started to count the rocks in the sky and the stars on the ground.

 

What I enjoy most about the poem is to ask others what they perceive the meaning to be.  I find that people come up with the really coolest interpretations--usually better than what I intended the poem to mean.  I do another exercise where they look out the window and tell me what they see (it's in Memorial Union so they overlook Lowry Mall). Then I tell them to close their eyes and tell me about their campus in Korea, They all tell me different things. Bingo-- Isn't that imagination and creativity, I ask them. They have different replies but each one comes from them.

 

These students are almost always Korean and are joining programs at the Asian Affair Center on campus. Their education at home is based much more on memorization and rote learning then ours.

Boice says you can exercise your imagination so I think you can.  Also, I liked the part about reading and taking notes. If when we read and we keep a record of how the texts relates to us personally then I think we are building blocks for creativity and imagination. Lastly, keeping in the conversation and reading are helpful just because we can get exposure to so many ideas.