During this time of year when family and friends come together to celebrate, they often play games to connect and bond. One of the favorite games is scrabble where players get random letters that they use to create words. The longer the word, the more points assigned to that player. Obviously, the player with the most points at the end of the game wins.
In a sense, the game of scrabble resembles the current chaotic state that we find ourselves in. Once again, Christmas Eve cancelled flights, delayed deliveries, hospitals and health-care workers overwhelmed, differing opinions of what needs to be done, and now, Omicron. Rather than focusing on what can’t be done, sort of like scrabble, rather than focusing on what can’t be spelled, we can choose to redirect to our attention on to what we can do or what we can spell. “Chaos in the world brings uneasiness, but it allows the opportunity for creativity and growth,” Tom Barrett.
As we look around, we can see the unexpected changes that have impacted all of us during the 2020 and 2021 years. Innovations in delivery systems, amazing increases in virtual medicine, virtual office work, virtual education and even, virtual pet care. And that is not all. Additional permanent changes are, cocktails to go, making cannabis essential, mRNA vaccines, optional college standardized testing, and the use of QR codes, to name a few.
Now, as we turn our attention from the past to face the year 2022, just like the Roman god Janus, we look at the new opportunities that lay before us. Just like scrabble, we all receive random pieces of letters/life that can help us form the year 2022.
Let’s review creative ways of thinking so that we can create the future that we want.
Don’t Be Afraid to Take Action … Quickly.
Embrace Your “Bad” Ideas.
Diverge with Ideas Before you Converge the Ideas.
Trashcan Useless Jargon such as, “Out of the Box Thinking”
Find your Inspired Environment and Work From it.
Key Takeaways
We all get random letters.
Chaos offers opportunity.
“…life is like a box of chocolates; you never know what you’re gonna get.” Forest Gump (1994)
Best Practices
Practice creative thinking.
Don’t fear your creativity.
Ask yourself daily, “What did you learn new about yourself today and what did you learn new about the world.”
Things to Limit
Staying in the past.
Harmful behaviors that limit you.
Continually diverging and not converging.
Quote of the Week
“What man actually needs is not a tensionless state but rather the striving and struggling for some goal worthy of him. What he needs is not the discharge of tension at any cost, but the call of a potential meaning waiting to be fulfilled by him.”
~Viktor Frankl
Allowing yourself to creatively think, in the midst of the storm, takes time, patience and practice. Like so many things that we do to take better care of ourselves and those around us, we need to be purposeful and international on our healthy path.
As we all enter 2022, please keep in mind that we will continue to send you our weekly blog to assist you with reaching for your vision of your life’s work. Please let us know how we can better assist you.
Our best to you and your loved ones for a creative and fulfilling 2022.
Be well,
The paraDocs
Check our Welcome Greeting on YouTube
The paraDocs are Dr. Francis L. Battisti, PhD, Psychotherapist, Distinguished Psychology Professor and former Executive V.P and Chief Academic Officer and Dr. Helen E. Battisti PhD, RDN, CDN, Chief Nutrition Officer, at SpNOD, Health Promotion Specialist, Research and Clinical Registered Dietitian Nutritionist and former Assistant Professor.
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