The following was taken from an electronic newsletter published by Dr. Firestien, on March 25, 2002.Welcome to Insights From The Road, the e-newsletter of creativity from "The Gold Standard of Creativity Training," Roger L. Firestien, Ph.D. Enjoy!
Sweating It Out
Whew! It's hot in here. I mean hot. Very, very hot. No, I'm not speaking figuratively. I'm not describing a group that's brainstorming so fast they set the Post-It® notes on fire. Although, right now, I wish I were talking about one of my groups. But, no. I'm really hot because I'm in a Native American sweat lodge.
What's a sweat lodge? I didn't know about this ancient purification ritual until a good friend of mine suggested I try it. I won't go into all the details of the ceremony - I can't begin to do it justice. Basically, it involves a small, igloo-shaped hut, 36 steaming hot rocks, and a whole lot of prayer. Oh yeah, did I mention it's hot?
So, what's a creativity guy like me doing in here? Surely it's not to be more creative. I can hardly breathe right now, much less come up with new ideas. I'm uncomfortable. I don't even think I could utter a word. But when this is all over, I'll sit out on the cool grass and enjoy the relief and peace of being out of here. And, I will have had a new experience that I can remember for years to come.
The creativity lesson here is to do different things. Recently, I found myself doing the same things over and over. Get on an airplane, do a program, come back, go out to dinner with friends - the scene never changed. So when my friend offered the experience of a sweat lodge, I took it. Why? Because I'd never done it before.
You have to be open to new experiences. You can always use new input. Now the sweat lodge will become part of the storehouse of experiences I can draw on next time I get stuck on a problem. Remember, the essence of creativity is to take something from one world, combine it with another world and come up with a new idea or concept. The sweat lodge experience was another world for me.
This experience also reinforced my own need to be open to new ideas. The idea of sweating a Sunday afternoon away didn't appear to be my idea of fun at first. And it wasn't what I would call fun, but it was a meaningful experience that I would do again.
So next time you find yourself getting stuck, look - I mean really look - for some different experiences to try. They don't have to be as extreme as a sweat lodge, but they should be something different for you. And, be open when those experiences present themselves to you.
Who knows? You might get a breakthrough!
Sincerely,
Roger
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