Blue skies: Happy days are here again. Put on a happy face. It’s time to let loose and see what happens. Be footloose and fancy-free. Go on and let go. Allow the ideas to flow and grow. Build on them. Create highways to the skies and then float back down. Light as a feather in your cap. Tip the waiter and smile, smile, smile, all the while thinking of what might be. Set your mind free and free-associate.
Everything you read in the previous paragraph is based on free association. I started with the words “blue skies” and let loose. I had no idea where my thoughts would take me. I tried to think in the general area of idea generation, but I avoided any preconceived thoughts.
The paragraph may not be logical, but it is creative, and it contains many stimuli. That’s the idea. I was able to create many thoughts and perspectives from the initial stimulus of “blue skies.” Each sentence in the paragraph has the potential to stimulate additional thoughts. Even the most cliché-ridden sentence has that potential.
Stimuli trigger associations, which trigger ideas. That’s how the human mind works. We flit from one concept to another. Think about it. It’s not that difficult. We can think of anything we want. That’s a lot of power packed into one convoluted mass of gray matter. And it’s ours. All we have to do is harness it.
Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity
