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Feel-Touch-Smell-Taste-Hear-See

Creativity Challenge 2002 #14

"Poets (like children, like primitive tribes people, like all of us when we dream) naturally think in images. 'I no sooner have an idea, than it turns into an image'
--Goethe (German writer).

So John Frederick Nims says and quotes in his book, WESTERN WIND: An Introduction to Poetry in chapter One, Senses.

Recently while visiting my local library I decided in addition to the books I went there to borrow decided to search for a basic book on poetry. The young employee at the counter, a recent English graduate from the University of Georgia here in Athens, suggested Nims' book, Western Wind.

The Goethe quote and Nims' general discussion in his introduction about how poets are more focused on the senses then people who are not poets sparked this Creativity Challenge.

This week I am suggesting you let the reverse of Goethe's observation work for you in helping you stretch your creative thinking muscles and skills. First by purely experiencing through your senses then allowing ideas to just happen in your mind.

So to prepare gather a collection of stuff, things.

  1. a wide variety of visual things
  2. a wide variety of tactile things
  3. things that make a wide variety of different sounds
  4. things that have or give off a wide variety of scents
  5. things that possess a wide variety of tastes (sweet, sour, tart, spicy, bland, etc.)
Then each day set yourself up somewhere for 15 to 30 minutes to just focus on one sense at a time as much as you can. While you are focusing on the chosen sense of the day be prepared to write any ideas or thoughts that appear in your mind.

MONDAY - FOCUS ON SIGHT

TUESDAY - FOCUS ON SOUND

WEDNESDAY - FOCUS ON TOUCH

THURSDAY - FOCUS ON SMELL

FRIDAY - FOCUS ON TASTE

You might even try this with a particular challenge or problem on your mind. Years ago at one of the first CPSI - Creative Problem Solving Institutes I attended one speaker talked about us using our 5 senses to examine problems. What does the problem taste like? smell like? sound like? Mike Vance, one of the first independent creative thinking consultants I became aware of in the 1970's, talks about how Walt Disney would have his creative people do this when they were working on a project. In my weekly Murder Mystery Writer's class/support group we often talk about improving our writing through including as many of the senses as we can in our writing.

Be sensory focused this week. Choose to be more creative.



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