the challenge
My day started with a lot of things on my mind. The minute I woke up I found myself thinking about several things in parallel. It literally gave me a headache. Not an optimal starting point for the day.
I picked a random creative challenge from the Master Your Creativity channel and got the Exploration Prism we are already familiar with and the Unbox Seed. This is somewhat of a cryptic Seed when you first see it. When I saw it this morning my first thought was “what was I thinking???”
More than an hour later I realized that instead of keeping the Seed in mind and looking exploring my surroundings mindfully, I was still stuck in my infinite loop of thoughts. At that point I decided to force myself to switch that part of my brain off for some time and actively let it do something else. I thought of the Unbox Seed and went for a short walk.
my insight
The first Insight I came across was pretty straightforward: a pile of cardboard boxes. Luckily they were all open so they fit nicely to the immediate interpretation of the Unbox Seed.
The unorganized pile created by the boxes was visually appealing. I love such random structures that from a certain angle make perfect sense. From above these boxes created a futuristic canyon-like landscape.
No more than two minutes later, I found this planter decorating the balcony of a cafe. That it was designed as (or even made of) a wooden box was just perfect. It was once a box, and now it is used to host a small tree representing anything but something which can be confined in a box.
I thought that was enough for this challenge, but my brain thought otherwise. My brain just kept looking for something associated with the Unbox Seed, and strangely enough it has found this transparent box I use to store my Nespresso capsules.
I use this box several times a day, but only then I realized I can call it “an unbox” instead of a box — designed as a transparent box it seems to be longing to be anything but a box. It just begs to be without boundaries. And from certain angles it almost achieves that.
reflection
One of the best side effects of playing with seempli is that long after you think you are done playing, your brain is still hooked on the game — it keeps improving its flexibility and it keeps making non-trivial connections.
The transparent box Insight is a perfect example. I didn’t mean to capture this third Insight. I wasn’t knowingly looking for it. And yet, something deep in my mind was still trying to play with this challenge.
This background mode is great for developing your creativity, but you can also use it to solve real challenges you are facing. If you try to push what’s bother you to the background and free your mind to do something else, there’s a good chance your brain will not really put the problem on hold. If it happens to come across something relevant, your brain will bring the original problem to the front and make you aware of the connection. Training your brain to make this non-trivial connections is what we are focusing on with seempli.
And on slightly different note, the headache I got from juggling my thoughts aimlessly in the morning just disappeared when I forced myself to focus on something else — something which is playful and not work related. When I got back to the main tasks, I was calmer and more focused on what I had to do.
mental notes
- Putting things on hold lets your brain do some background work on them.
- Putting things on hold increase the probability of making non-trivial connections and coming up with a creative solution.
- Doing something playful and letting your mind take a break from what’s occupying you is a creativity and productivity booster.
now it is your turn… be creative!