Creative Thinking & Problem Solving

     Ok truthfully speaking I had absolutely no idea who Mahmoud El Esseily is, admittedly, I’m not much of a music person. However, I am glad to have met this inspiring person.

     Mahmoud has contributed a lot to the betterment of our understanding of the topic, the fact that we had a real life example outside of the class that has talked freely with such resemblance to what we learned in class proves to us that this theoretical module is indeed an important aspect of what we need in life. He was a great enhancement to all our understanding and an important real life model to nail in the idea of creative thinking as part of our daily lives for a hopefully successful future. to see how this theory is applied to the life of a successful persevering man has provided us with a basis on which we can build our decisions and apply what we have learned so far. 

     On the other hand, the part where he was talking about how despite people would tell him off and claim that he is wrong or not on the right track he would stick to what he does or knows anyways, greatly disagrees with what we learned from the video on “Being Wrong”. in other words the video shows us who deceiving our confidence in ourselves can be and how many think that they are on the right track but they are actually walking in thin air beyond a cliff without even realizing it. So I wonder how many times Mahmoud has stuck to what he was doing and turned out he was actually beyond the cliff in mid air?

     A more personal aspect of this class was his talk about team work and the authoritative figure in a team. This has been something i have always suffered from in team work as i would always like to take everything under my control not for the love of being the authority but for the good intention of delivering the best i can in what ever project it can be. But as Mahmoud pointed it this emanates from the mistrust of others which i find a bit extreme but somewhat true. I have tried to adjust this problem of mine in this last group project where we each had a role and we each did it however communication has been kind of stifled, i just hope i was fair towards my team :)

Through creative confidence we can create ourselves.

(cough) (cough) (cough)

Can you please take time to clean this top shelf once in a while?

  “Mom, I can’t find it.”

  There you go again, walking to and fro, living your life in this odd place without even remembering Harry or…ME! Huh.

  “It was right there on the top shelf dear, look again.”

  What could she be looking for on the top shelf here with me? Not like there is anything here that’s worth looking for. There’s only that loud, black, plastic thing that cries out every once in a while.

  “Sabaah, did you see a shell around here somewhere?”

  What? She’s looking for me? That can’t be. She must mean another shell. I'm sure she forgot about me a long time ago.

  “Which shell do you mean, sweetie?”

“That pretty swirly shell that the small crab used to live in.”

  Pretty? Flattery will get you nowhere…

Wait a minute. That’s me! She is actually looking for me! Finally she remembers this neglected poor excuse of a shell.

What’s happening? Why am I excited? I'm so confused. I don’t know what to think anymore. I…I don’t know what I need anymore.

No, I don’t need her. I'm sure it’s just like last time. At that time she used these weird tools and that strange liquid to copy my image somehow on a peculiar thing. I remember when she held me at that moment a long while back; I felt happy, I felt useful. I needed a purpose after loosing Harry, and I thought I found it at that time. She would constantly study me, scrutinize my features, caress me with her hands and speak to me without hearing a reply. I felt whole again I was needed, cared for, constantly surrounded by people. It was an amazing period of time that filled me with glee.

Sooner or later I was placed in this exact same shelf again, but at the front at that time. Now I'm thrown away in the dark, dusty, desolate, depressing corner of the top shelf. In a corner where I cannot see and cannot be seen, in a corner were I felt my importance deteriorating, in a corner where I have no one, in a corner where I have no purpose.

  “Yes, last I saw it was on the top shelf in the living room.”

              It?… I'm just a mere it to them. Something that resembles nothing, except a long forgotten memory. A memory that is only recalled every once in a long while. Recalled when they happen to gaze upon me or when they happen to be talking about something related. What am I to them but the remains of someone they used to love? I was never loved in my own existence; I was loved as a part of him. But I was happy being a part of him.

  “But I already looked over there and couldn’t find it. ”

  I remember the first time I felt useful. It was probably the happiest day of my life, and probably the happiest moment of Harry’s life as well.

On a hot summer day, the brilliant sun made me glimmer and shine decorating the monochromatic vast sand. My gleam attracted the attention of a long awaited guest. The scrawny creature crawled over to my side and stared for a while examining my credentials as a good candidate for his new home. Setting its gaze on me, I awaited the moment he would make me his home. I knew I was finally embedded in a circle of usefulness since once he rows out of me I will be passed on to the next small crab as its home never forgetting the first crab I met. I would have realized my true efficacy.

But all was to be changed by the fateful day one of these humans picked me and Harry up and placed us in the bag with a lot of other commonplace purposeless shells. We were never to grasp sight of the beach and our companions again. We were placed in a new environment, a different situation, a dangerous journey and I was there to comfort Harry all the way. The burst of pride and joy I felt despite the conditions were indescribable to say the least. I felt that I was more than worthwhile for this lucky creature. I was his safe haven, his protective shelter, and his dependable source of comfort. I was everything to him at the time… and I was jubilant.

I blame no one but myself for this unfortunate incident; if I was not such an intriguing artifact to gaze at in amazement, we would never have been picked up back at the beach and our lives would have continued on their normal courses. I do admit Harry has enjoyed his time here after we were given a warm welcome by these abnormal creatures. But I, on the other hand have not gained much recognition beyond the fact that I am a part of him. I was ignored and neglected a while after his parting. I have lost sense of joy and life.

  “Ok, I’ll look again. Maybe it’s far back.”

  No! Stay back. Please keep me here. I don’t want to go through this again, the feeling of functionality crushed. The same when he died, the same when you finished that… that image. I don’t want all hope being sucked out of me again in an instant when my worth ends.

  “Oh there you are, who put you in this corner away from your initial place of honor?”

Sign me up for the next snake phobia therapy with Dr. Bandura!

Seriously through this ted talk has gotten me excited (despite the somewhat monotonous approach of david Kelly) about creative confidence and it somehow gave me a boost of creative confidence now (I can finally start writing the creative story assignment, don't tell Dr. Melanie I didn't start yet :P)

Back to the main point, Doug Dietz's story pulled on my heart strings since the idea of using creativity to enhance the happiness and experience of people around you has always been a dream of mine. My goal is that i would use every ounce of creative insight i have to make something worthwhile that pleases everyone else. I have always tried to be creative however only in things that i would think require creativity. Through this new idea of creative confidence i realize that creativity is not just for certain fields or aspects but it should be applied at any moment to anything anywhere. I have always trapped myself in rigid, structured, well planned out and well thought out outlines for almost everything i have done. I would even plan out and organize my creative thoughts and creative processes fearing that i would go astray (probably like i am doing now). I would set time limits, agendas, priorities formats which i have always thought hindered my creativity outlet. With David Kelly's creative confidence idea i might just finally get the courage to go outside my structured habitat and experience creativity in its true nature. 

Ok so im not sure what this is but i found it when highlighting the huge blank space at the bottom of one of doctor Hoda's emails the one titled FINAL BLOG POST:

The answer to the question would be 197.93 in other words he saw an average of about 198 plays a year.

we had recycling trash shoots that are linked to a major recycling source, that way we would save time, money, energy and prevent more environmental problems that arise from transportation  and managing of waste. 

we had some sort of efficient, fun, safe, inexpensive, and solar powered public transportation method. Something like a monorail with solar panels instead of windows and energy saving compartments to store energy for after dark times.

instead of a typical roof of a house or building, the roof was composed of solar panels or solar batteries that can provide and store enough electricity for the daily household processes.

instead of using cars we can fly to where ever we want to go (a bit too far fetched I know but one can dream)

First off one has to give a round of applause for the boys genius. :)

now that truly is creativity, the solution of a problem in a simple and novel way.

My New Definition of Creativity:

Creativity is to fly above all worries, routine, and norm, and seek a simple solution in the stars of the night and the clouds of the day and use these heavenly elements to create a bold new perspective that surpasses today’s thinking.

I’ll start first with how this video relates to me. I would like to comment on the heading of the video, "a lesson for flying outside the box" it’s a nice twist on the usual saying to think outside the box. I like this expression more because it is linked more to freedom, in other words the idea of flying, (a constant long awaited and heart felt dream/wish of mine) is related to happy feelings of lighthearted joy and freedom were the "sky is the limit" and there is nothing that can ground your thoughts.  If I were to rephrase my definition of creativity it would be:

To fly above all worries, routine, and norm, and seek a simple solution in the stars of the night and the clouds of the day and use these heavenly elements to create a bold new perspective that surpasses today's thinking.

I have always tried to search for the easy way out of many things even if I had to make one up. It was always a habit of mine, be it good or bad, that I applied to almost every aspect of my daily life. From mathematics to how to get dressed in less time with less effort. I guess I’m similar to Geoff at this point were he has come up with the easiest way to win the contest, this may not be the best solution but it was the most creative.

Secondly, this video relates to Egypt’s future where we can see that Egyptians have been told for so long to think inside the box and to follow the rigid unfair guidelines of many authority figures. this has lead Egyptians to lose their own willingness to imagine and create a future on their own. What I mean is that the Egyptian society has gotten used to someone forcibly taking away their rights and driving them to the set ideology of the government. The Egyptians being stripped of their freedom of thought and imagination are now indirectly waiting for someone else to lead them as they have done before instead of taking the stand and doing the effort themselves. How many times have we heard the sayings "we were better off before the revolution" and "this society can not be handled except by brute force". Its exactly this kind of backwards pessimistic thinking that will never allow the Egyptian citizens to create and mold their own future but they are now too busy with selfishly trying to find a primitive way to gain their greedy needs and blame the others for not getting to what they want. In a nut shell Egypt’s future will only become better if we take the ideology and the morals of the revolution to a step further and "fly" outside of the mundane Egyptian stereotype and become a productive and active society instead of passively blaming everyone and waiting for some other thing to build our country for us.

My definition of creativity

Creativity is a mode of self-expression in a unique, original, and simple way; it allows a person to solve problems and come up with new ideas through thinking outside of the norm and challenging the ties a person has with logic and routine. Creativity can be haphazard or well thought out and strategized depending on the situation and the need, however curiosity is needed at any case.