Curiosity is a trait that has been connected to creativity, creative thinking and creative people for many decades by psychologists and teachers. Often our lives cause us to stop being so curious. The more we know the less curious we tend to be. The more we know the less we use our imaginations to look at the familiar and see it strange.

W.J.J. Gordon co-founder of Synectics, Inc. with George Prince (1950s to present), a creative thinking and problem solving consulting firm has written often about the strength of "Making the Familiar Strange" and "Making the Strange Familiar" through his education-oriented creative thinking company, SES Systems in Cambridge.

This week work on strengthening your curiosity muscles through doing both of these.

Each day pick an object, thing, machine, something from nature.
i.e.: clock, radio, cd player, copy machine, a piece of sculpture, a carving, a leaf, an animal. Then imagine how it was made or manufactured.

Stretch your imagination by imagining yourself as having a specific profession or occupation and imagine how that person might make or manufacture what you have chosen.

i.e.: choose a clock and attempt to be a carpenter, a teacher, a painter, a poet, a brick mason, a bowling pin manufacturer, etc. and imagine how they would make, manufacture a clock. Think about how differently their various clocks might look.

The world is filled with creativity and so are you.

Have a wonderful week.