the challenge
The challenge for today is based on the Traffic Light Prism — a Prism adding a constraint we must address when searching for or creating an Insight.
So today I am looking for three Insights — each of them with one traffic light color playing a significant role. And all Insights should be inspired by the Pause Seed.
my insight
I kept the constraint in mind, without looking for Insights in any particular order. I found the first Insight early in the morning as soon as I got out of my house. The second and third Insights were captured later, on my way back.
The red flower is a mural of flowers I found in the middle of a busy street. Seeing it was like taking a pause from rushing from one place to another. I associated the yellow bus stop sign with taking a forced pause — something that stops you, like having to wait for a bus. And the green Insight was taking in a gas station’s coffee shop.
reflection
The more Insights you capture when playing with one Seed, the more perspectives you will end up with about the Seed. However, sometimes we are stuck with one interpretation in mind, and it is hard to break free from it and gain a new perspective.
Strangely, the constraint I worked with today helped me achieve exactly that. The three-colors constraint has nothing to do with different interpretations. I could have theoretically addressed this constraint while thinking on the same interpretation of the Pause Seed. Yet, my mind was busy focusing on the color aspect, at least in part. And somehow, this helped it ignore the default interpretation I had for the Seed.
So, I ended up with one Insight representing a physical pause derived from external reasons — waiting for a bus, one which is more on the spiritual side — the flowers, and one inspired by a coffee break. Now that I see all three Insights in front of me, I am thinking about the possible connections between them. Can I use a forced pause such as waiting for a pause as a chance for a spiritual one? Is a coffee break in some sense a forced pause (as in “need for coffee”)?
These questions which in turn can be the trigger for new ideas and insights are direct results of having multiples points of view on the same concept. And having multiples points of view became possible thanks to an arbitrary constraint added to the game today.
The same idea can be applied to any real-world challenge you face: gain more than one perspective and consider the different perspectives in light of each other.
mental notes
- Use arbitrary constraints to reveal new perspectives.
- Use different perspectives and connections between them to get new Insight on the concept you are exploring.
now it is your turn… be creative!