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Organizing Your
Mind
Think Creatively --- and Climb Out of All Your Ruts "Imagination or creative thinking is one ingredient success cannot do without." You may think that you don't have much imagination and you will leave the creativity to the creative people. Well as far as Harry Lorayne is concerned you were born with imagination and the only reason you don't feel imaginative or creative is because you quit using it. He says you have to practise creative thinking. It is just one more thing you need to do to fulfil your desire to succeed. If you practice kindness you will be kinder, if you practice courage, you will become more courageous. So, Harry believes that if you practice creative thinking, you will find yourself using your imagination more and more. Just think about all the ways that people had to use their imagination and be creative when there wasn't all the technology that we have today. Just look at the iron (I know you would rather look at it than use it) but back when most material was cotton the clothes had to be ironed or you went around looking wrinkled. Some people nowadays think that is a cool look, not me, I always feel like an unmade bed if my clothes are wrinkled. (When I first wrote this that is how it appeared to be with young people, now I don't notice it so much.) But back to the iron, at one time you couldn't just plug it into a electrical plug. Someone came up with the idea of putting a handle on a piece of iron and then heating it on the wood stove. This was how they ironed their clothes, after they had hung them on the line to dry for a while. You didn't wait til they were completely dry so that the wrinkles came out easier. Now they have steam irons, which you don't really have to use if you take your clothes out of the dryer before they are completely dry. Just think of the imagination that went into making that dryer, and many other appliances that most of us take for granted now. So really anything can be accomplished if you use your imagination! Who would ever have thought that people could fly or could talk to one another from different countries. So many inventions have come about in the last fifty or sixty years that would amaze our ancesters and it all started because some people used their imagination. There is a saying, "Necessity is the mother of invention." Lorayne mentions that people think, "there is nothing new under the sun" (actually a quote from the Bible), which to me is true when it comes to what man will do to man. As far as discovering new things is concerned then the last fifty or sixty years have shown that there is plenty "new under the sun". Henry J Taylor - economist, journalist, author and ambassador - stated that, "Imagination lit every lamp in this country, produced every article we use, built every church, made every discovery, performed every act of kindness and progress, created more and better things for more people. It is the priceless ingredient for a better day." Harry Lorayne would like us to, 'Strengthen our Creative Powers'. One means of doing that he says is by correlation. His contention is that, "correlating one thing or thought to or with another is the basic beginning of all new ideas." Plus a good exercise. "To correlate one object with another, you must use words which either sound alike, mean the same, are exact opposites, or are brought to mind by some association or other." "For example: to correlate pencil to light bulb, you might think this way: pencil -- lead -- heavy -- light --bulb." Or a different way, "stamp with fish, --- stamp - lick - lack --lake --fish" ( I remember doing that when I was younger, wasn't that good at it!) Many of us will think, "who cares?". This is boring, I have better things to do with my life. The thing is to become a success takes time, patience and a lot of boring repetitive work. If you are determined to become a success in what ever way you deem success, then most of the time it will be boring. Do you think being a detective and catching bad guys is exciting? They will tell you that most of the work to catch those bad guys is boring. How about being a model, would that be exciting to you? Well I would imagine that the model would tell you of the sore feet and aching back and boring repetition that they go through to get just the right shoot! The thing is, they will believe that it is worth the aches and pains and boredom for the final result. Life is not a 'bowl full of cherries', it is mostly full of thorns as you strive for the rose of life. Creative Activity Increases Creative Ability Lorayne believes and I will agree with him, that; "Asking yourself a question about anything, and then searching for the answer, will start your creative imagination working. Don't be ashamed because you think some of the questions are silly; it doesn't matter. The silliest question may lead to the brightest ideas. 'He who asks a question is a fool for five minutes; he who does not ask a question remains a fool forever.' (author unknown to me) Ask many many questions, for 'quantity, sooner or later, will breed quality! The one thing you must always do when you start on some creative effort, is to FINISH IT! Whether it is a success or not, you must finish it. It gets you into the habit and then, 'your failures will be stepping stones to your future successes.' I will finish with this wonderful example of using your imagination and understanding that you must always be thinking: A man owned a clothing store, with a competitor on each side of him. The store on his left had a large sign which read, "Closing Out Sale." The one on his right had a sign saying, "Big Fire Sale." So our man in the middle put up his own sign, which read simply; "Main Entrance!" ( LOVE IT!) Patricia Downing |
