Definition: Using the power of the mind and abstract perception of the world in order to inspire one’s ideas and to originate new solutions.

 

Criteria: 

• Freeing the mind in order to see things – not how they are, but rather, how they could be.

• Exploring the perimeters beyond ones safe zone and not being afraid to venture away from familiarity.

• Listening to the ideas of others in order to gain inspiration and to challenge your mind to see things in a way other than your own.

• Place yourself in someone else’s shoes to visualize how they see the world, which helps give one purpose. 

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Evaluation of Artifact:

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        The fall semester of my junior year, I was at a complete loss as to how to decorate my walls, which were practically bare. Everyday, I walked into my bedroom and saw beige walls with no life and no inspiration – and that bothered me. I searched for paintings online or artwork that would bring joy and the feeling that I craved into my personal space. However, nothing I saw seemed right and as picky as it sounds, it seemed as though nothing could bring me joy or inspired meaning for me. 

            So, one day after class I came home and sat on my bed and looked around the room again. I saw what I always saw every day, but this time around, my mind visualized differently. My ordinary stack of fashion magazines was sitting on my dresser just as it always was, except now I saw it as inspiration. I jumped up and ran to Hobby Lobby before it closed, and bought a glue stick, scissors, and poster board. As soon as I returned home, I immediately grabbed my magazines and started cutting them up. I almost threw them away, since they were old, but now they had a much more vital purpose. I created collages to put on my wall, that were inspired by things that make me happy, that made me think, made me confused, made me laugh, made me sigh, and everything in between. I found a way to use something ordinary and common and make it into something original and beautiful.

          The experience of becoming inspired by something I never knew was there taught me to not place labels on anything, even a common magazine, because it can be so much more. One year later, and the collages are still on my wall and people ask me about them and why I chose the clippings that I chose. It’s fun to share my ideas and thoughts about the world through something as basic as a collage on my wall. Although, I also know that creativity stretches far beyond the bounds of my walls and even further beyond what I currently know of the world. My mission from the present on, is to find inspiration in unlikely places and to never lose my sense of wonder. My thirst to discover grows every day, which motivates me to find solutions, to help fuel the world, and perhaps most eminently, I wish to inspire others to free their minds as well.