Wondering and Wandering

Photo Credit: Richard Chicoine iCopyright 2009

Are We Losing It?

"I was just wondering..."

"Well, no, no destination in mind, I'm just wandering around..."

How important is imagination these days? The corollory question is, does time rule our thinking? What's happening to the way we see the world, and how the world sees us?

This philosophical inquiry started as we were wandering along the 10 kilometers of one of the world's best walking beaches in Cuba. I happened to notice a deep set footprint, like no other I'd seen before. It's toes carved caves in the sand, it's heel broke the surface like an earthquake, and it left an imprint so unique that it could be identified by a 2 year old.

It's as if the universe had laid an egg in my mind through this stranger's walking pattern. After a few days of incubation, my own set of word play twins were born. One is named "wonder" and the other "wander". How does wander intersect with wonder, and in the long run, are we losing our respect for imagination?

Research!

In his recent book, The Medici Effect, author Frans Johansson states that word play is a way to reduce "associative barriers", which in turn enables the creative process.

Consider the following exercise: What words do you think of when you read the word, "Foot"? The most common response by far, is the word "shoe", followed by "hand, toe, leg".

By wandering, and wondering - using your relaxed mind to increase your capacity to imagine - and removing time limits, to do lists and direction from your wandering, you can increase your creative potential.

Simply stated, you don't have to walk the beach in Ensenachos to free your mind of preconceived ideas or to problem solve. Look for images, symbols, everyday patterns for the clues to spark your thinking as you walk aimlessly for an unlimited amount of time. Pay attention to the little things in nature. Stop.

Do you know this foot?

Whoever the footprint belongs to, thank you! Chances are your feet are usually on Canadian soil...you are male...you flew into Santa Clara Cuba recently...and you love the energy of a sunrise as much as we do!

Happy wandering and wondering. Let's nurture the power of imagination with our children. Let's not lose it!

See you next week, with more Imaginative research and random thoughts.

- Maggie

2 Notes from Mother Nature

Nature’s Leverage Lessons

“Botanists say that trees need the powerful March winds to flex their trunks and main branches, so the sap is drawn up to nourish the budding leaves. Perhaps we need the gales of life in the same way, though we dislike enduring them.” - Jane Truax



Sage advice. Been through any gales lately? Are you itching for longer days and warmer air? Me too!

1. What we know:

Nature is a system, one that has highs and lows, cycles and seasons. We do too. You have your days of calm - even though it's sunny, it's also calm and cold. The storms that blow in usually have a warning notice; are you paying attention to what's happening around you?

One of my favourite quotes is, “What’s most obvious is most invisible.”

Nature’s ways of dealing with growth, stress, frustration and flexibility could guide us in figuring out our problems…but the advice is often invisible. We just don’t stop long enough to “wander and wonder”, listen to our intuition, challenge our own ingenuity, or let go of our “I” ego.

Read that again…it’s important!

2. What Mother Nature Knows & We Need to Learn:

Mother Nature knows about her "operating system". She knows what it takes to blow down some trees in your personal "yard of thinking". She knows how much fertilizer to spread to start up in the spring... let's just say that we all need to have some poop in our lives to get on a roll. That's not such a bad thing! Especially when you know how to use it to your advantage!

What stalls you? What excites you? What's holding you back? What's got you?

#1 TIP TO DO:

I suggest that you draw your "weather map", your personal list of what ticks you off and what moves your ideas forward. You'll see some trends there - some climate changes. Yes, these are metaphors. And using metaphors takes you from what you already know, to what you don't know consciously.

#2 Tip To Do

Keep checking in, because:

Next week, you’ll see another MAG OH ZINE post about “Intersections”, the crossroads of thinking that will emerge as breakthroughs for you. But first you have to write your lists, draw your weather map, get it out of your head and onto a big sheet of paper.

Next Leverage Tuesday, I will serve you some bright thinking on a silver cloud, based on The Medici Effect. It’s all about finding those places where the odd and the obvious intersect. That’s what I help you to do as a Coach on Call, but you can learn to do it all by yourself. Kind of like seeing the moon and the stars, and then noticing a satellite whizzing past the little dipper.

# 3 Tip To Do

What you need to do NOW:

Subscribe to this Mag Oh! Zine (look in the right hand column) and you will receive a complimentary, no strings attached copy of Frans Johansson’s book, The Medici Effect. I literally inhaled it the other day – it’s not often that the whole day whips by reading a business strategy book!

Only if you subscribe, will I send you the link! I urge you to do it now.

Post your comment and let me know what nature’s telling you?

Maggie

Your Coach on Call - no strings attached