Discover creativity. The late Maya Angelou so aptly put, "You can't use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have." Discover creativity in your life. If I could choose the one thing that I encouraged most for my students, it was the opportunity for creativity. The mind is a marvelous thing and given a chance it really thrives on being creative. Know though, that creativity can be manifested in a host of ways. Don't be so quick to judge yourself as not being creative. Discover in your life that creativity is not all about writing a novel or painting a masterpiece. Rather, it is found in all the everyday ways that you solve your problems. When you substitute an ingredient in a recipe, or make do using what you have on hand, or come up with a quick fix for something that is broken, these are all ways to utilize your creativity. Start asking yourself what you can do about something instead of what you cannot do. Start brainstorming as many ideas as you can. You will be surprised at how your creativity shines through. Discover the excitement that creativity brings to your life, and how once you get started it really does produce more and more.
Challenge: Choose a minor dilemma that has been hanging over your head for a while. Use your Discovery Journal to brainstorm a few ideas. How can you solve your problem using what you already have? What small tweaks could you make that might make all the difference? List 5 ways to solve your problem. Then challenge yourself to come up with 5 more. Keep going until you have 25. Allow some of them to be outrageous. Before you know it you might have the answer to your problem right there before your eyes.
Problem solving is a major creative pursuit. The world runs on creative problem solvers.
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