the challenge
Today we are playing In Reverse — an open invitation to look around us and capture anything that we find interesting. Then, we will use the Insight we capture to come up with a new Seed — one we can play with in the future.
Here’s what I came up with.
my insight
I had a day off, so my wife and I decided to spend the day in Jerusalem. It’s been quite a while since we visited Jerusalem, and in a sense, it was like traveling abroad. The sights, the smells, and the sounds were ones we are not accustomed to, so we had plenty of opportunities to experience and observe.
And, so we found ourselves under these famous colorful umbrellas in a beautiful little street in the center of the city. I couldn’t resist taking a photo, and about one hour later I was glad that I had. In a completely different location, I found a small stand outside of an old shop selling colorful Jewish Kippas. They reminded me of the umbrellas in color and shape, but what was even more important is that both of them are used to cover the person using them in some sense. Which got me to think about an idea for a Seed…
reflection
Thinking about someone who will play with the Under Cover Seed in the future (whether it is me or someone who doesn’t know the “back story”), it is safe to assume that the Seed will get an entirely different meaning. When read aloud, the phrase Under Cover receives a new meaning, which is hard to ignore. And that is where magic can happen.
Such a chain of associations is very typical to creative flows. Or, I should say, it is one of the pillars of creative flows.
Sometimes such rolling associations happen by themselves. But we can benefit from proactively stimulating them. The exercise we’ve done today is one way to do that or practice this muscle. Especially if we take it one step further and capture an Insight based on the new Seed.
mental notes
- Promote the creation of association chains
now it is your turn… be creative!