What? You think you could do better? Well, that wouldn’t be terribly hard to do, so don’t go patting yourself on the back just yet!

Being more creative is something many of us want to do. The first thing to point out is that being creative doesn’t require any special skills. You don’t have to be able to draw. You don’t even have to be able to write well. If necessary, you can be the idea person and someone else can draw or write your ideas. (That’s called outsourcing, you know.) But, any skills you have can assist you in being more creative and, the more skills you have, the greater your opportunities for creativity.

A good imagination is also very, very important. It is perhaps the most important thing of all. Hopefully, your schooling and/or career haven’t completely killed your imagination. And, if it has, don’t worry. Imagination can never be completely killed, so you can regain it if it has been lost.

One way of being more creative is simply doing different things. If you drive to work, take an alternative route. That gets your brain shaken up a bit, in that you really have to think about what you’re doing and where you’re going. You’re not just robotically repeating your normal drive to work. There are new places to turn, new things to see, new potholes to be aware of. Likewise, if you walk or ride a bike to work, you can also go a different way. That kind of thing gets your brain going, which helps overall. Plus, you’ll have new visual sensations. You may see a tree you wouldn’t normally see. You might think, hey, that tree looks like hands reaching up to touch the sky. Or, perhaps you’ll see a new billboard and think, wouldn’t it be funny if…

Part of being creative is making connections that people normally wouldn’t or seeing something more in things that others overlook. For example, many people would see an Assassin Bug and simply think (or say), eek, a bug! But, when I saw one, I thought of what you can learn from the assassin bug.

Some people would listen to Chamillionaire’s “Ridin’” and think, hey, that’s a good song. But, Weird Al listened to the song and thought, hey, white and nerdy!

Similarly, another way to be more creative is simply by thinking about alternative ways of doing things. For example, if you just finished reading a book, and it wasn’t that good, think about how you could have done it better. Many people will just stop at the “this book is no good” point and hope the next book is better. So, taking the next step and actually considering how it could have been better puts you a step ahead of the crowd. While eating dinner, consider how you would eat if you didn’t have a fork (or chopsticks). Would you eat with your hands? Would you eat with your knife? And, why? If you weren’t concerned about appearances, you might just grab your food in your hands and eat it. But, if you view eating with your hands as something akin to living like a wild animal, you might consider an approach that is more “civilized.” In that case, you might eat with your knife in an attempt to preserve some modicum of “civilized” behavior.

Now, if you’re a fiction writer, thinking of those things in this last exercise can help you develop authentic characters with real motivations behind their actions. But, if you’re not a fiction writer, you might be thinking about how such an exercise would be useful to you. If you’re in advertising and selling silverware, you might be able to use such a characterization in your ads. If you’re not using XYZ Silverware, you might as well be eating with your hands! You could try to give the impression that your product is so much better than anyone else’s that, if people use anyone else’s, they might as well just grab and tear their food with their hands and teeth!

And, even if you’re neither of those things, just the exercise of thinking in different ways will get your brain thinking of different ways in other activities as well, and that will be of benefit to you in whatever your line of work.

Finally, another way to be more creative is to go outside. Whether you live in the city, the suburbs or a rural area, there is almost always something going on outside. From construction work to wild animals playing, there is something happening. You may need to look closer, at the world of insects, or farther away, at the bustle of the city streets. Seeing people, animals and other forms of life going about their lives can almost always shed some insight or provide some spark of an idea that can lead to an increase in your creativity.

And, it’s not always a specific thing that will light the creative spark. It may just be the act of letting your brain wander (and wonder!) that leads to creative imaginings that may have little to do with your current surroundings!

So, get out there and do different things and see if that doesn’t fire up a creative spark for you!

Mind you, these are just a few of the ways that you can be more creative. You’ll find more in my forthcoming “How to Train Your Mind” course. Visit the site to sign up for my mailing list and be notified when it’s available.

Last year, I posed the question “Are You Salt or Sodium?” As you recall, sodium is what you really want to be.

But, being sodium can be difficult. It requires some degree of creativity in order to create the circumstances that allow you to create that Big Bang! Sometimes you just don’t feel you have that creative energy. You feel too burdened with stress and the pressures of life to be in anyway creative. How do you bring out that creative gold from your inner mind when you feel more like lead?

First, you need to find a way to relax. One way is with exercise. Another is with an activity that takes your mind off your troubles, like a hobby that’s unrelated to your job.

You need to get rid of that lead weight that’s keeping your brain from firing those creative sparks!

It may help too to talk to somebody. These days, many people feel isolated from others. You may be alone in your office, separated by a cubicle or even work at home, largely alone. Just finding some kind of outlet, whether it’s online or in the real world with a group of friends, can do wonders to spark your creativity.

Most people can’t force creativity. It has to be inspired in some way. Usually, it comes as a result of the mixing of ideas. For example, you might have some ideas floating around in the back of your mind, but something someone says in a conversation will spark another idea that ties them all together in some coherent fashion.

The best way to overcome a creativity block is just to stop stressing over it and let your mind relax a bit so the ideas can get flowing again. Take a walk. Play a video game. Hang out with some friends. Just do something that’ll let your mind loosen up a bit!

Haven’t done a Brain Power post in a while, so here’s one for you.

Start at the green square. Next, find the shortest path to the red square. I’ve shaded the squares to make them easier to count.

What is the shortest path from the green square to the red square?

Leave your answer in the comments.

As I mentioned on Saturday, Revellian Dot Com touched on this earlier last week in his post “The Secret - Exposing the The Truth and How It was Conceived.”

A lot of the focus (and criticism) on the Secret is visualization. Visualization is in Wallace Wattles’ book as well (see Saturday’s post for the links). It’s also in a number of other similar works.

It’s pretty easy to criticize and, because of that, people are quick to dismiss the whole idea. Lots of people daydream, but few people ever realize those dreams. School children daydream during classes, but rare is the kid that grows up and accomplishes those dreams. At work, plenty of adults daydream too, but few of them ever realize their goals either. Even those that daydream consistently, and really hope for those dreams to come true, never realize those dreams.

All in all, visualization is pretty much busted, no?

Don’t Be So Quick to Dismiss Visualization!

Visualization is not exactly like daydreaming, so it should not be dismissed so easily.

First, take a look here. The video shown is different than what is described in the post, and different from the original video. The original video was better, and was a clip from a TV program, so was probably yanked for copyright infringement. But, the point is still good.

Did you watch the video yet? Don’t read further until you have.

I’ll wait…

Okay. Now there is a scientific reason for visualization. We see what we are looking for. So, if we focus on bad things, we will notice them and dwell on them more often. If we focus on good things, we will notice them and dwell on them more often.

Forgetting about the Law of Attraction for the moment, we can choose the things we want out of life. We can choose to find the good opportunities awaiting us simply by focusing our minds on such things. Likewise, if we are negative, it is the negatives we will see.

When we focus on the positive, we will see less of the negative. And vice versa.

Now, that doesn’t mean that bad things won’t happen, but, if we focus on the positive, we will see the silver lining. Of course, that’s not to say bad things won’t happen that have no silver linings. Bad things will always happen. Death, for example. We haven’t yet found a way to prevent it, so we will all lose people we know and care about to it.

Positive thinking doesn’t turn the world into a happy, magical place where everyone is happy and no one ever dies and every day is a sun shiny happy day and there’s never a cloud in the sky except for those white puffy ones that look like dragons and castles.

Some people get stuck on that point. Something bad happens, and they give up on any type of positive thinking or visualization. You can’t stop bad things from happening, but there’s no reason you cannot be a happier person in between bad things.

For example, if you just mope around and are miserable all the time because you just know bad things are going to happen, what good does that do anyone? You can argue that you are just accepting the inevitable, but really you are just denying yourself happiness. You will one day lose a loved one. That’s a bad thing. It would be an even worse thing if you have no happy memories of that loved one because you were too busy being all melancholy because you knew one day they would die.

Get it? Positive thinking doesn’t prevent bad things from happening, it just creates more opportunities for good things to happen. Got it?

I’ll assume you have…

The Metaphysical

Now, I am going to wax metaphysical for a moment. I’ve just given you the rational and scientific explanation for positive thinking and visualization. Now, let’s get into the metaphysical, the not-so-scientific.

I don’t want to spend too much time on this area, because it’s not so easy to prove. I cannot offer you evidence or scientific reasoning. But, I don’t think anyone should be too quick to dismiss the more metaphysical aspects of visualization, the idea that like attracts like, the concept that your thoughts become manifest.

I know. It’s a bit weird.

But, before the realities of adult life set in and discourage you from such things as daydreaming, I noticed that things just sort of used to go my way. I had dreams and goals and daydreams and hopes for the future, with a (mostly) positive outlook. And, during those times (the positive ones), I noticed that things just seemed to go my way.

It went deeper than finding the silver lining in things. Things just happened in such a way that they pushed me closer to those dreams.

Perhaps you’ve experienced that as well? In any case, that is why I am not too quick to dismiss the law of attraction concept.

The Secret Behind Visualization

This is the bit you’ve been waiting for, right? The part that, on Saturday, I promised I would give to you today. And, no, you’re not going to have to download an eBook. Not even a free one.

What is the secret? Well, Lewis Empire touched upon it last week too. It was something he was having some problems with.

The most difficult part behind visualization is–are you ready for this?–knowing what you want.

Yes. That’s it. That’s the big secret behind the secret.

Knowing What You Want

The hardest part of visualization is knowing what you want. This is, I think, the biggest reason most people don’t achieve the results they want with visualization.

You see, you need to have a clear vision of what you want. This is something that Wallace Wattles recognized.

Again, this goes to the more rational explanation of why visualization works too. If you have a clear goal in mind, if you focus on achieving that goal, you will be far more likely to achieve that goal than if you have something more nebulous and less defined in mind.

But, knowing what you want is the hardest part. Yes, it’s easy to imagine having a million dollars, but what else is in that vision of your future? A nice house? A fancy car? Sure, it’s easy to picture those things, but you still haven’t visualized your future.

How will you get a million dollars? That’s the part many people leave unanswered. They picture having a million dollars, but have foggy image in their mind as to how they will get it.

In 1977, in Sidney Harris’ book What’s so Funny About Science?, there is a cartoon showing a math problem. On the left side is the beginning of the problem and calculations. On the right side is further calculations and the solution. In the middle, the calculation is “Then a miracle occurs.” See the image here.

That illustrates how most people try to use visualization. People want the million dollars, but they hope for a miracle to occur in order to get it. But, that is not visualization. That is daydreaming!

Believe. Act. Achieve!

Don’t you love the way I managed to squeeze that in?

As I’ve said before, first you have to believe, then you act, and only then can you achieve. Visualization can be part of your believe portion of the task. You have to know what you want. You have to picture it. You have to feel that it’s yours just waiting for you to grab it. Then, you have to also act on your dreams.

If your act portion of the task is “then a miracle occurs,” how can you act on it? More visualization? More hoping and dreaming isn’t going to get you there. You might get lucky and win the lottery, but if your act part of the task is buying lottery tickets, odds are you’re not going to have fun because you’re not going to get to where you want to be!

I Have to Have a Plan?

People want to skip this part. They don’t want to have to figure out a plan. That’s too much like work! They just want to daydream and hope the million dollars appears.

Yes, it’s there. It’s waiting for you. But you have to build a bridge to get there.

Maybe your bridge is a restaurant. Maybe it’s an online store. Maybe it’s a blog.

But, you have to have a plan. You have to have a more defined goal than “I want a million dollars!”

Most businesses fail, because many of them never had a business plan.

Most people fail at visualization, because they never had a plan either.

There’s no easy way out. You can achieve, but you have to both believe and also act!

If I Have a Plan, Why Do I Need to Visualize?

You need the visualization to maintain your focus on the goal, to see what you’re working for, to know that it’s waiting for you to come and get it. And, as I mentioned before, you shouldn’t be too quick to dismiss the metaphysical aspects of it.

Can you succeed with a plan alone? Without visualization? Visualization is not a guarantee of success. But, a lack of a plan, a lack of a defined goal, a lack of a clear vision of what you are trying to achieve is a guarantee of failure.

Ah, but I haven’t answered the questions…

• Can you succeed with just a plan?
  You have to have a plan to act upon! Otherwise, you’re just doing things aimlessly, hoping something will come of it.
• Can you succeed without visualization?
  Now, there’s the rub! You see, having a plan is part and parcel of visualization. Part of any type of planning is visualization. And, part of visualization is having the plan! It’s a Catch-22. You cannot have one without the other! Visualization without a plan is just daydreaming!

That’s also why visualization is valuable. It has both the concrete (forcing you to develop an actual plan and clear goals) and the metaphysical (like attracts like). Even if you don’t believe in the latter, that doesn’t negate the former.

If you’ve been visualizing things without having a plan, you’ve just been daydreaming! Give it another try, but this time do it properly.

As always,
Believe. Act. Achieve!

Do you want to know a secret?

Revellian Dot Com touched on this early this week in his post “The Secret - Exposing the The Truth and How It was Conceived.” (By the way, if you want to read Wallace Wattles‘ “The Science of Getting Rich,” you can get a PDF copy here or read it in HTML here.)

I am going to disagree with Bobby a little bit here. While you “can be happy and make money by working hard and believing in yourself,” it may not be enough. There are a lot of people that work hard and believe in themselves, but still don’t get ahead in life. They don’t reach the positions they want to be in, nor are they able to get what they want out of life.

While a variety of factors come into play for everyone, I don’t think we can so easily dismiss the power of visualization. As I’ve said before, you have to both believe and act in order to achieve! Daydreaming alone will not get you where you want to be. And hard work alone may not get you where you want to be.

While I wouldn’t blame a lack of visualization for anyone’s misfortunes, I do think it can be a hindrance for being successful.

And, that’s because there’s a little secret behind visualization. It’s something that gets overlooked or under-noticed because it just doesn’t have that “Wow!” factor that inspires the imagination and builds up your hopes as something promoted as “The Secret” does.

In fact, it’s something you probably already know. Or even learned in school.

It’s also something you were already told about visualization, but probably didn’t pay attention to it because you were so interested in getting started and dreaming about your future fortunes.

It’s also the toughest part about visualization for most people.

So, what is this other secret? I’m going to tell you and, no, I’m not going to ask you to buy an eBook to find out.

But, I am going to ask you to wait until Monday.

Go to your junk drawer. Take out the pair of scissors and the one pen that actually works. Now, take everything else and toss it in the trash. Finally, put the scissors and pen back in the drawer.

Right there, in a nutshell, is what constitutes “getting organized” on every organization television show I have seen. For the most part, these “professional organizers” are nothing more than glorified garbagemen. Clutter? Just throw it away. Instant organization!

While they correctly identify a major disorganizational problem of having too much stuff, their solution is largely to get rid of the stuff. While “stuff reduction” may be in order, simply getting rid of stuff is not a solution. Imagine if public libraries were to organize by dumping shelves of books in the trash. Scarcity may lead to better organization, but better organization does not require less stuff–it requires better organization!

In my opinion, if you have a “professional organizer” come in and say, “well, you just need to throw all that away,” fire them and find someone else. Unless you’re a chronic hoarder, you don’t need someone telling you to throw stuff out. You probably already know that. What you want is someone to show you how to better organize the stuff you have and want!

Let’s say you collect records. You enjoy listening to them. Or maybe you just collect them because you like the cover art. Whatever the reason, it’s something that you value and enjoy.

But, you have a problem organizing them. You have an assorted mess because organization is not one of your better skills. What you need is someone to help you organize them. You need someone that will come in and show you a way to organize your collection in a way that makes individual records easily accessible and that makes sense to you so that you will be able to maintain it.

Now, if they come in and suggest getting rid of half your collection, that’s not organization, is it? Mind you, if you have duplicates in your collection, you may want to get rid of those, but you need to be organized first in order to find those duplicates, right? In my opinion, a professional organizer should show you how to organize what you have. They should be able to work in whatever margins you have set, including having what they view as “too much stuff.” That’s their opinion, and they’re entitled to their opinion, but if you’re paying them, it’s your opinion that matters.

The only person that should determine if you have “too much stuff” is you!

That being said, lots of us have difficulties determining what we should o shouldn’t keep. In some cases, we can and should consult professionals. For example, for what financial records you need to keep and for how long, you should defer to your accountant or some financial professional. The same for medical records, payment records, etc. that you have.

But, for most people, those kinds of things aren’t the problem. It’s the “stuff” we accumulate over the years. In that case, this is where “Dream Organization” can fit in. And, this is also a great mental exercise, which is my excuse for categorizing this post under “Brain Power.”

What is Dream Organization?

If you have a lot of clutter, excepting the aforementioned documents for which you should consult a professional and also excepting useful and necessary things like scissors and tools, an easier way to sort through it is by referencing your dreams and goals. When determining whether to keep a particular item, ask yourself these questions:

1) Will this help me achieve my dreams or goals?

2) Is this part of my dreams or goals?

If having a large record collection is part of your dream or goal, you would answer “yes” to one or both of those questions. If your goal is a large collection of jazz records, then you might consider getting rid of non-jazz records, as they don’t meet your goal.

Now, there may be a non-jazz record that you enjoy. Maybe there’s a seasonal album your family enjoys listening to at Christmas-time. Hopefully, spending time with your family is also one of your goals, and if your family enjoys listening to it, then obviously you want to keep that record. Even though it may not fit in your jazz record collection, it’s still something that’s a part of another dream or goal.

On the other hand, if it’s something only your son enjoys, maybe you might want to give him that record (or, if he’s young, save it for when he’s older and mature enough to take care of it himself) instead of keeping it in your own collection.

Maybe you have an old record player that needs to be restored. If that’s part of your dream, if that fits in with your jazz record collection–collecting and listening–you might want to keep it. On the other hand, if you don’t play guitar anymore (or well) or plan to, you might want to get rid of it.

Do you follow? I’m not just talking about what may be your primary goal, but any of your goals and dreams that you are pursuing. That could mean a career in a particular field plus spending more time with your family plus having a nice jazz record collection.

If you sort through your stuff this way, you’ll probably be able to clear out a lot of stuff that just doesn’t fit your life or intended lifestyle anymore. And, you may find that you don’t need to hire a “professional organizer” to get the job done! But, even if you do, you would enter into it knowing what you do and don’t want to keep!

As always,
Believe. Act. Achieve!

Yesterday, before leaving work, I checked the back doors to make sure they were locked.

Four times.

OCD? you ask.

No. After the first three times, I couldn’t remember if the doors were locked or not. I could have assumed that, had they been unlocked, I would certainly have locked them. But, as I could not remember, I couldn’t be sure that I hadn’t missed noticing they were unlocked.

They were locked, by the way.

I couldn’t remember whether or not the doors were locked because I wasn’t paying attention the first three times. I made sure to pay close attention the fourth time!

When you have a task that is easy and/or repetitive, you tend to put yourself in autopilot. Sure, I looked at the doors the first three times, but I was running on autopilot. I wasn’t focusing on whether the doors were locked, I was focusing on my last blog post!*

When we are faced with easy or repetitive tasks, we think we are being more efficient by multitasking. We neglect to focus on the task at hand, believing such myths as “I could do this in my sleep,” and instead focus on other things.

As you can tell by my four trips to check the locks, performing simple tasks on autopilot does not increase efficiency!

When you’re not focused on the task at hand, you may miss things. You may overlook things. You may even forget things.

It may provide an illusion of efficiency, but it will not provide true efficiency.

Imagine an inspector checking machine parts before they are installed in equipment. (Yes, a lot of that is computerized these days, but bear with me.) If he’s running on autopilot, he might check the parts faster, which may seem efficient. But, if a defective part slips his attention, eventually that will mean the equipment will have to be returned for repair or replacement. Not efficient!

Sometimes, he may run into a situation where he’s realized he cannot remember if he thoroughly checked the previous piece. He examined it, yes, but his mind was elsewhere. So, he goes back and checks, slowing the line down.

With concentration on the task at hand, you can better ensure you get the job done right the first time. You will also better remember that you did the job and not second-guess yourself, forcing a re-check of what you just did.

Efficiency comes from a willful concentration on the task you are currently performing.

Autopilot may make you feel more efficient, but the odds are it is hurting your efficiency more than you realize.

If you want to learn to increase your brain power, be sure to watch for the eBook I’m editing, How to Train Your Mind.

*True story.

In many stories of the early days of mankind, people onced lived in an earthly paradise. Yet, this paradise was lost to us. Adam and Eve disobeyed God, eating from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, and were cast out of Eden. Lao Tse said that paradise lasted until “Tao ceased to be observed.” In these, and other cases, paradise was lost to our ancestors by their own choices.

Nowadays, people get so wrapped up in the creationism versus evolution debate that they overlook one of the messages of the story: The world that we live in is determined by our own choices.

Some may scoff at that idea, arguing that one cannot choose to live in the world we want. You cannot simply choose to live in a world where John Kerry is President. You cannot choose to live in a world where there is no crime. You cannot choose to live in a world where unicorns roam free in the woods behind your home.

And, that’s true. You cannot do away with the free will of others to choose, just as they cannot do away with yours. You cannot undo the physical laws of the universe simply because you wish it to be so.

But, think on a smaller, more personal scale. Can you choose whether to be rich or poor? Yes!

That is not to say that, simply by choosing to be rich, that you will suddenly receive a big check in the mail or win the lottery. Nor is it a guarantee. There may be circumstances that just don’t make it possible, or make it extremely difficult at the very least, for you to become rich.

For the large part, we can choose our destinies. But, we have two problems in making that choice.

The first is that we may not recognize we have a choice. We blame God for our misfortune. We blame others for our misfortune. But, very rarely do we blame ourselves. And, very often, it is us that is keeping us down–not God, not the universe, not the people around us. It is almost always our own choices that put us where we are today. Did we spend money when we should have saved it? Did we “invest” in get rich quick schemes instead of long term growth opportunities?

Which brings us to our second problem which is that we have been largely conditioned to look for short term goals, rather than long term goals. Take one day at a time, we are told. That is good advice, but not for all circumstances! It is certainly not the best advice for financial planning. Some things need a long term focus, but all too often we apply all our focus to the short term and very little for the long term, sometimes conceding that’s something for “future me” to deal with. So, the future you can squarely blame current you for really bungling you over, eh?

It is the long term most of us need to spend more time dealing with. Is having the right attitude important? Is having a positive outlook important? Of course they are. Lots of us try, for a while. But, then we allow ourselves to get off track. If positive thinking doesn’t produce overnight results, we give up. If something bad happens, we give up.

Here’s the thing. Positive thinking is not going to make you rich today. It is not going to make you rich tomorrow. And, perhaps it will never make you rich. (Remember, thought must be followed by action!) Positive thinking is not going to prevent all accidents. Positive thinking is not going to stop death and disease. Positive thinking is not going to change the laws of the universe.

But, it can make your life more enjoyable. Certainly, it is better to be upbeat and poor than to be depressed and poor, is it not? Maybe you cannot change your financial status overnight, but you can change your attitude. It takes time and practice to maintain a new attitude, but you can start right now.

And there is our little piece of paradise. There is the beginning of fulfilling our own dreams. Change your mind, and the rest can follow. And, even if the rest does not follow, at least you can live more contentedly.

To sum things up for those that want a quick read:

Start with the right attitude. Claim your own little piece of paradise within your inner mind.

Recognize that you do have a choice. Even if you have to work hard to find it or overcome obstacles in your way, you do have choices.

Plan for the future. The world didn’t end in 2000, despite many people living (and planning!) as though it would (just look at our current “credit crisis!”). It probably won’t end tomorrow either. People in almost every time had experiences that made them think the end was near. But, we’re still around. Live for today, but plan for the future!!!

Believe. Act. Achieve!

Back from his trip to Hong Kong and China, Terence Chang has sexy on his mind. Joanne of The Laidback Buddhist, a.k.a. the Super High Resolution Buddhist, has, ahem, sex on her mind. And, it’s never too far away in Doug’s mind.

With all this hanky-panky in the blogosphere, maybe it’s time to sex things up. And, what is sexier than a beautiful mind?

The terms “open mind” and “closed mind” have become political fodder these days. Someone is agreeable to your ideas, well, they’re open-minded. Someone disagrees, and they’re closed-minded. Closed-minded has become the more negative accusation, being hurled at anyone that isn’t entirely open to every nut-brained idea under the sun.

But, let’s cast away those notions. Forget politics and politicians and political bloggers and all that hullabaloo! Let’s talk about genuine ideas and not the latest fad or wacky behavior.

Imagine an old woman who’s lived her whole life in the city. Never seen a wild animal other than pigeons or rats; hardly seen any animals except for cats and dogs and what ever pets friends may have had through the years. Her school years are far behind her, and she’s never seen anything more exotic than a snake, a cow or a horse.

Imagine showing her a photograph of a platypus. Would she even believe such a creature exists? You can easily imagine her arguing there was no such creature, that it was nothing more than a wolperdinger or a jackalope, that it was some fake creature cobbled together with bits and parts of other animals. You may never be able to convince her it was real.

The old woman has a closed mind.

We are all presented with ideas throughout our lives. When we think, we associate ideas with other ideas. How many times have you seen some new gadget or technology and said to yourself, Why didn’t I think of that? Often, there are old ideas put to use in a new way. Once we see them in action, it is so obvious and deviously simple that we kick ourselves for not associating the ideas first, and cashing in!

Minds that continue to freely associate ideas are open minds.

Some ideas pair off better than others. Because of that, we sometimes miss out on creating those aforementioned ideas because the pairing in our minds wasn’t so strong. We never seriously thought that these two (or more) particular ideas belonged together. But, someone else did!

Sometimes the bond between two ideas may be so strong that they are virtually inseparable. But, in an open mind, you must allow the ideas to separate so that they may more easily attach to other ideas. That doesn’t mean the original bonding isn’t still a good idea, only that the original bond should not be held at the exclusion of all others.

The old woman can’t imagine a mammal with a duck’s bill. She associates fur and hair with cats and dogs and rats and other furry animals. A beak or bill belongs on a duck or a pigeon or a goose and other feathered animals. She cannot imagine something that “belongs” on a duck being on a mammal. Therefore, her mind tells her that an animal like that cannot exist. It must be fake.

While this may be an extreme case–the platypus is certainly an unusual animal!–you can imagine it happening to lesser degrees. Sometimes we get used to things being as they have always been that we cannot imagine them otherwise. Who would want a computer in their home? What would you do with it? Computers belong in big companies. Why would a person need or want one of their own? Such was the attitude just a few decades ago. People couldn’t break the associations they had with computers. Fortunately, some people could and now you’re reading this today because of them!

Paired ideas in our minds should have open marriages. They may freely commit adultery, while still remaining committed to their idea-mate. Sexy, eh?

Let your ideas, married or not, get out there and mingle!

But, while doing so, be reminded that it’s also okay to maintain a closed mind. As I said before, forget the political mumbo-jumbo. Having a closed mind isn’t a bad thing.

Some idea-marriages are best left alone. Some ideas should not cheat on each other. They should stick with their idea-mate! For example, it would probably be a bad idea to have a TV screen in the middle of a car’s steering wheel. A truly open mind would say, Why not? A closed mind would recognize this pairing of ideas as a bad marriage that no amount of counseling would ever be able to fix.

You have to have the right balance between an open mind and a closed mind! Too open, and you come up with wacky ideas that are patently stupid. Too closed, and you’ll never make those associations between ideas that generate new ideas.

So, forget about those silly notions that a closed mind is bad and an open mind is good. The truth is that a balanced mind is best!

Assuming that you are sitting at your computer reading this, stand up. Seriously. Stand up, right now.

Okay, now, walk around the room. Go ahead. I’ll wait…

You found your way back, eh? Wait… Don’t sit down yet.

Now, do it again, but with your eyes closed (don’t do this if this might be dangerous to your particular situation–like if your on a rooftop with your laptop). How far can you get before you bump into something?

If you were blind, you could probably find your way around your room, no problem. The only difference between you (assuming you are not blind) and a blind person is the absence of one–just one–sense, the sense of sight.

How is it that a blind person, not able to see the room, can find his way through, but you cannot, though you have the same other senses that he has?

Familiarity with the room? you argue.

But, don’t you have that same familiarity with your room?

The answer is, of course, that the blind person has refined his other senses in order to compensate for his lack of sight.

However, you do not need to lose a sense in order to strengthen the others!

All it takes is some practice.

Most people have already practiced such refinement with their hearing. Many people are adept at shutting out the noise and conversations around them in order to eavesdrop on a particular conversation.

Mechanics and other people that work with machinery can tune out different sounds in order to identify and troubleshoot a particular sound. To the average person, the machine makes noise. But, to the skilled operator, the machine makes a certain series of sounds when it is running properly and a different series of sounds when it is not.

Whether you want to refine your sense of sight, smell, hearing, taste, or touch, you can do so with practice.

Spend just five minutes a day practicing, and you’ll soon see how much you can improve your senses!

For your sight, look around you. What things are you looking at everyday, but not seeing? I have seen people come to a place of business, pull on the locked door, and walk away in bewilderment, while never seeing the sign on the door that says the concern moved a couple doors down.

For your hearing, you can sit in your home or office, or even outside if you wish. Listen to the sounds around you and practice honing in on particular sounds. Maybe you hear the clock ticking. Focus on it. Despite the fact that the ticking does not growing louder, it will seem so as your focus turns to it and away from the other sounds in the room. People talk of tunnel vision, but few realize that this type of narrow-focus can be applied to the other senses as well.

For your sense of taste, try different foods. Try to determine the ingredient or the spices that seasoned the meal. Try to pick out individual flavors. Start with ones that are bold and noticeable, then work your way up to identifying the more subtle taste sensations.

For your sense of smell, notice the smells around you in the room. You can smell foods in the kitchen. Maybe the perfumes and colognes of your last guests in the living room. Try to separate the different smells, and focus on one in particular. Then, move to the next.

For your sense of touch, examine different textures. Feel paper. Notice the smoothness or maybe the texture of the sheet. Feel the different textures of your clothing. Close your eyes and try to identify things simply by touching them. The aid of a trusted partner can be helpful in this instance.

With practice and focus, you can improve all of your senses. There is a boundless world of discovery around you that you probably never even notice. Explore it!