Have you ever made an elephant appear out of white puffy cloud? Or see Mickey Mouse float on by? I have, and I am not alone.
One of my favorite games to play since I was a child is “What do you see?” As I lay back in the grass, or sometimes just glance into the sky my imagination takes flight. Clouds become animals, figures and well sometimes, they are just white puffy clouds.
To this day, my friends and I will play this game and when we see the image suggested by another appear, it is like we have discovered something together! And we have, the ability to think creatively versus the structure we face in so many areas of our life.
This led me to wonder, what else do I or could I look at differently and uncover something new? If a cloud is not always a cloud, what else is not as it first appears?
The first thing that comes to mind as I sit at my desk is my tissue box. Yes, it is a box filled with tissues, but it also often serves as a laptop stand when I’m on video calls. When I first needed to elevate my computer it was the first thing I saw as a solution. It continues to serve the multiple purposes quite well.
Using your creative side, and yes everyone has one if you let it come forward, can uncover some inspired, fun and innovative discoveries.
Just be aware that not everything should serve every purpose, or the purpose that one dreams up. I was once invited to someone’s’ house for dinner with friends. As we sat around the table with the host in the kitchen getting dinner ready we heard a loud, “Oh no!” Quickly the door to the kitchen was filled with guests wanted to know what happened and how to help. Soon we all had our eyebrows raised and thoughts in our heads of, “What were you thinking?”
Dinner was intended to be spaghetti. The host, not being the proud owner of a strainer thought he would get creative. What did he have that he believed was similar to a strainer, a tennis racquet.
Thankfully the strings were too wide for the pasta to be strained otherwise we may have all been eating pasta knowingly finding yellow tennis ball fur as an added ingredient.
Using your best judgement is important, but letting the imagination go can be a wondrous thing. Share what you have seen in the clouds or how you have given a new purpose to an ordinary item.