Creativity

Discover creativity.

Find solutions to your problems.

Overcome obstacles.

A formular of advancement.

Creativity, a complete method presented here: solve your problems; overcome obstacles; obtain your dreams!

What's creativity got to do with happiness? Well, it can stop us getting stuck in a rut, solve our problems, and when you think about it - creativity can be a way of life. When we discover ways to overcome the obstacles to our aspirations, not only do we increase the possibilities in life but, more importantly, our belief in possibilities. Freeing ourselves from what bogs us down, widens our web of experience - and so, again, possibility. We all have problems sometimes, and when faced with adverse circumstances, there are two things you can do: accept them or change them.

I'll readily admit that the following isn't my own idea, but then again, nothing is truly original because all knowledge is a continuum. As we're all pursuing happiness we should network together and distribute any method that works.

To explain methods of creativity, let's take the earlier example of the dog, and pretend it's you with this problem; every day you return from work and is bitten by a neighbor's dog. A bit silly I know, but it explains the system - and then you can use it for whatever you need to solve that is blocking your fulfillment.

The first thing to do is to explore the problem, to identify exactly what is wrong and ways in which it might be solved. This is done by asking who, when, where, what, why and how.

I'll present this now as an example, then repeat the blank questions at the end, which you can copy, paste - and experiment.

Let's see how this works by asking the questions and answering them with the dog example (answers in italics)

WHO?

might help solve the problem?

The owner? Dog-handler? Police? Humane society?

else has had this experience?

Does it bite anyone else? Would they band together and help?

is most affected?

Is it just you, does the animal ever bite its owner? Do you get wound-up and shout at your spouse so it affects him more?

stands to lose?

What if it went too far and someone got injured, would the owner be scared of a lawsuit? If you complained, would the dog be put down? Could this be used as a threat?

knows something we don't?

Could an expert in animal behaviour retrain it, even without the owner's consent?

is causing it?

Is it vicious by nature, or is it not fed properly? Does the owner encourage its aggressiveness?

WHEN?

did it begin?

When the neighbour moved in, or did something happen to the animal that turned it bad?

is it worse?

Returning from work, or the bad mood it inspires all evening?

did you become aware of it?

The first bite, or the first time you complained to the owner and realised that they didn't care?

is it best/worse?

When you're away from the neighborhood? When the owner is?

does it occur?

Returning home, or whenever you pass it.

has it been solved before?

Perhaps if someone had a similar problem and has already solved it, would that solution work for you? Where would you find out about such a person?

does it impinge?

All evening because it causes a lasting bad mood, is there something you could do in the evening that would improve your mood regardless of the animal?

WHERE?

does it occour?

Outside the neighbour's garden. Is there a separate way into the house?

is it worse?

Does this happen in the same location or is the animal calmer elsewhere?

has solved it before?

Is there an organisation or professional who deals with this problem for a living that you could pay to solve it? Have lawyers resolved this kind of problem before?

does it impinge?

Have you lost the use of your garden? Is it affecting your social life because people are scared to come round now?

is the real heart of the problem?

The dog? The owner? Is it simply a bad, uncaring neighborhood? Maybe the dog's been trained to because vicious because the owner's scared of crime and would restrain it if they had a burglar alarm or a neighborhood watch scheme.

WHAT?

is really going on in detail?

Is there really a deeper animosity between the owner and the victim. Does the owner have a power-complex, or maybe the animal's behaviour worsened when the owner's marriage started going wrong and he paid it less attention.

is specifically wrong?

Is it the physical pain, the blasé owner or both that cause the annoyance?

factors cause or worsen it?

Is it wound up by the noise of the car, or aggravated when it's not been fed? What would happen if you threw food at it?

factors are in synergy?

Can the dog sense the animosity between the owner and yourself, and that's why it only bites you?

factors restrain it?

Why does it never bite another neighbour who shouts at it? Could you be more forceful or take a self-assertiveness class?

is the chain of cause and effect?

Does it carry on to leave you in a permanent bad mood the entire evening?

will happen if it's not solved?

Is a huge fight with the owner brewing?

would you do if you had a magic wand?

Make the dog disappear, the owner - or yourself? Or maybe just make the dog into a friendly one?

sometimes makes it worse?

Does your radio stress it? Does it hate noise?

WHY?

must it be solved?

Are your evening bad moods affecting family life?

is it hurting?

Is it the end to an already bad day because you're unhappy at work?

does it happen?

The owner of the dog, or you?

Is it important?

It makes you feel violated? You've started limping?

can't it be solved quickly?

Would the owner take revenge if you simply reported it to the police?

HOW?

does it affect you?

Is it the physical pain, the anticipation before or the mental vexation after the event? Does it impinge in other non-related areas of your life?

can others solve it?

Neighbours? A petition? Landlord?

did it begin?

What caused the very first fight that you had with the owner? Could this be patched up so you can then talk about things reasonably?

bad is it?

Does it genuinely bite you, or only gesture and growl. Does it really only want to play but you get all stressed because you don't like the job you've just come home from and hate dogs too?

can we get rid of it?

Is there a commercial product that frightens dogs? Would it be distracted if you threw a toy for it?

does it grow?

Is it winding you up a little more each time it happens? Why do others seem to cope better with the same problem.

Contraction.

So, with this first stage , we've fully explored the problem inside and out; often a solution can come from this alone. If not, then the next stage is called contraction. This means that we will take a sentence that describes what is wrong, and then use a method that is similar to the dream interpretation method elsewhere in this site, to drill down to its essence. For example,

The dog keeps biting me and puts me in a foul mood.
WHY?
Everything annoys me because I'm in a constant bad mood.
WHY?
I come home upset.
WHY?
I hate my job.
WHY?
I'm bored there; nothing interesting ever happens.
WHY?
I made a bad career choice.
WHY?
I wanted to be a pilot but I went for something safer.
WHY?
I dunno.

And, just as with the dream sentence, it's this 'I dunno' that we're looking for, because the question preceding it is the essence. Within the above contracting, your entire perspective on the problem has changed. Possibly even new problems have emerged, at least you will have redefined it. Once you discover the essence, it could be that the problem is solved here, if not, it's onto the next stage. In this example, you could become a pilot, or maybe there are more problems - or at least new ones. Perhaps you're 'too old' to switch jobs, therefore it's a new problem and so you would go back and redo the whole thing from the beginning of stage one, exploration of the new problem (challenge/coming solution) : I want to be a pilot but am too old.

Or perhaps, after all this, the problem is the same but now you have its essence. Whatever the case, it's now time to go onto the third stage. You should end up with a statement from the essence that sums up what you're now trying to do.

In what ways might I: achieve a solution.
e.g.
In what ways might I: stop the dog biting me?
In what ways might I: become a pilot?

EXPANSION.

In stage two, contraction, you constructed a sentence by drilling down to the essence achieved by repeatedly asking why. In this next stage, expansion, the point is to construct a second sentence, another type of essence but of a different kind. From these two 'essence statements' we shall find a solution. For an example of expansion we begin with the sentence we earlier constructed.

In what ways might I stop the dog biting me?
Why is that important?
It puts me in a bad mood all night.
Why is that important?
It makes me even unhappier in a job I already don't like.
Why is that important?
I really want to be a pilot.
Why is that important? TO
It's more exciting. I feel better in myself when there's an element of risk or danger around me.
Why is that important?
I dunno.

So there's a new, or expanded, essence now. It isn't just flying in itself, there's a general hatred of the mundane and monotony. Would some kind of risk other than flying satiate? Maybe staying in the same business but switching to something less mundane. Perhaps someone in the accounts and billing department of a bank could switch to currency futures and be a recreational pilot in their spare time - that way age wouldn't come into it.

So you see, in the first contraction we only asked why and got the essence of the outer problem itself. In the following expansion we asked why is this important, to discover what it is we really want, at heart, this then becomes the second sentence, beginning with TO:

How might I: become a pilot.
To: avoid mundane things I don't like.
or
To: embrace an element of danger in life.

SOLUTIONS

If it's not spontaneously solved by now, we must go onto the actual methods of solving the essence of the problem, which you have just distilled.

SYNETICS

This means finding something abstractly similar to the problem. Say, for example, that you worked for a company that made canned tuna and you were asked to design a new can that could be opened without a opener. The problem is:

To open the can without a opener.

So, you visualise a can, then see the whole mental picture of the can grow fuzzy, it's lines blur as you're thinking about the problem: a can that opens without a opener; a can that opens without a opener; a can that opens without a opener -- you wait until an abstract similar arises in your mind. What else opens without an opener ? ... A banana! Why can a banana open without an opener? Because it has brittle seams! Maybe there's some way to make a can with brittle seams? Having brittle seams is the unique activity of a banana that allows it to be opened without an opener. It's the unique activity that you're looking for because the eventual solution could have the same unique activity.

Let's take our dog example. Visualise the dog biting you. The goal is to find a way to get home without being bitten. Visualise it biting you, chasing etc. and let the lines go fuzzy and blurred...think To escape home from something that's trying to attack you... and eventually you might... think... of..... divers and sharks! How do divers study sharks and then get back safely to the boat? They stay in a shark cage! What is the unique activity of a shark cage - being enclosed in something that's stronger than the attacker. So a possible solution to the dog problem would be to have a drive built that goes right the way up to a new remote controlled garage. That way you could drive all the way into the garage, only leaving the car when the doors closed and then you could enter your house through an internal door. You solved this by finding an analogy and then extracting the unique principle of the car - a cage stronger than the attacker.

PARALLELISM

Find a parallel situation. So avoiding a dog biting you might be like avoiding mosquitoes biting you. How do you stop mosquitoes from biting you? Repellent, a mosquito net? maybe one of those flytraps where it's a long thick tape, like packing tape, and it's got a scent that attracts insects, but when they land on it they get stuck on a special glue. So another possible solution would be to somehow 'stick' the dog to its garden. Perhaps if you gifted the owner a lady dog, then the problem animal would be too busy to bite you anymore.

RANDOM INPUT

Pick a random word from the dictionary and they think of keywords about it. Say, at random, you chose the word glass, think of keywords about glass and how that might help.

Transparent - You can see through glass - maybe if you were invisible - i.e. stayed out of sight and used a back entrance. Reflective - you can see yourself in a glass. Maybe if you had your own dog it could protect you?

Also, you could look for a proverb or quote that could help you:

A dog never bites the hand that feeds it.
Let sleeping dogs lie.
Never trouble trouble 'till trouble troubles you.

Pick them from random from a proverbs dictionary and then try to make them relate to the problem.

ADAPTATION.

Look at your problem statements. So one might be:

The dog keeps biting me.

So, firstly try a reversal of this statement.

I keep biting the dog.

So the reversed statement suggests a 'pre-emptive strike'. How could you do something first to stop it biting you.

Then take the statements and try and exaggeration on it.

I should glue the dog's mouth up.

The exaggerated statement could suggest some kind of muzzle or restraining device. How do police catch vicious dogs? If there was some kind of special equipment they used, could you get it and perhaps if you caught and over-powered the dog each day, it would get tired and stop attacking you?

IDEA DISSECTION.

Eventually, you'll end up with a number of possible solutions. You need to dissect each one to its essence to see if it could be branched out into a variety of other, new solutions. To do this you must take each possible solution you now have and draw a concept from it. For example, say your possible solution is:

See a lawyer and ask them to send a warning, letter threatening legal action. What is the concept of a lawyer's letter?
Lawyers letter = threatening/intimidating communication.

OK, with that concept of intimidating communication what other possible solution would have the same concept.

• Speaking to a journalist and getting an article about the dog published.
• You could shout at the animal to leave you alone through a megaphone every evening to make a sarcastic point.
• Speak to the owner's spouse/parents/church or anyone else that might have more influence than you do.

Think up your solutions, take a concept and link it to the statement: in which ways might I? to expand the single solution to many. In this case:

In which ways might I: communicate my wishes.

And that is essentially it. Here, I'm going to include all of the exploration questions on their own so you can print them out. I'm trying to work on an on-line form at the minute so anyone who wants help on a problem would be able to describe their problem, answer all of the questions and then post it here on the site, that way loads of people could add their input - that way we'd all be solving each other problems. However, I'm still trying to work out what a CGI script does and how I shall make it work. Watch this space, I'll probably get it sooner or later.

WHO?

might help solve the problem?

has had this experience?

is most affected?

stands to lose?

knows something we don't?

is causing it?

WHEN?

did it begin?

is it worse?

did you become aware of it?

is it best/worse?

does it occur?

has it been solved before?

does it impinge?

WHERE?

does it occur?

is it worse?

has solved it before?

does it impinge?

is the real heart of the problem?

WHAT?

is really going on in detail?

is specifically wrong?

factors cause or worsen it?

factors are in synergy?

factors restrain it?

is the chain of cause and effect?

will happen if it's not solved?

would you do if you had a magic wand?

sometimes makes it worse?

WHY?

must it be solved?

is it hurting?

does it happen?

Is it important?

can't it be solved quickly?

HOW?

does it affect you?

can others solve it?

did it begin?

bad is it?

can we get rid of it?

does it grow?

Well, that's about it, but stay tuned. I've just worked out how to write on-line forms, when I'm done, the above will be a form for people to fill in with details of their problems, then I'll post each persons response here on the site, and everyone who visits can leave their ideas on possible solutions. This way we'd all solve each others problem; drop by, leave your problem and solve somebody else's!... However, although forms are easy to write... CGI scripts needed to deal with them are not. I'll work it out sooner or later, however, if you want to try this now, you could simply cut and paste the blank questions above into your word processor, answer them with a breif description of what you are trying to solve, and then e-mail me it for posting. Everyone could send answers and I'll post them below. Don't send anything urgent as I can't always get on-line as much as I want; I'll do my best. Oh, and if anyone knows anything about CGI scripts...

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