Use All Your Senses

To boost your creativity, pay attention to wide variety of different information.

If you're visually oriented, focus on the "sound" or the "smell" of a situation.

If you're analytically oriented, focus on how something feels.

If you're intuitive, concentrate on the logic.

What other senses can you use?

What is the smell of your current situation? What are the "below the surface" sounds? What are the subtlest colors? What other senses can you use to develop your idea?

What associations do the following spark in your mind that might be useful to your issue:

• The sound of fingernails scratching a blackboard
• The terrified howl of a man tormented by his inner demons
• The feeling of a dentist drilling in your teeth
• The taste of salt in your tea when you thought you had put in sugar
• The smell of fresh paint
• The smell of a shirt that has been worn for thirty days in a row
• The smell of sweet incense
• The feel of silk in your fingers
• The smell of mist from a large fountain
• The smell of fresh-brewed coffee
• The feeling of a tennis ball hitting the heart of your racket
• The feeling of the floor rolling beneath you during an earthquake
• The smell of rotten fish
• The sound of loud thunder crashing near you
• The taste of a fresh strawberry
• The smell of gasoline
• The feel of diving into a swimming pool on a hot day
• The sound of an air raid siren going off
• The smell of burning leaves
• The feeling of the warm sun through a glass window on a cold winter's day
• The taste and sound of biting into a crunchy apple
• The feeling of melancholy
• The sound and feeling of a very large crowd cheering at an athletic event
• The smell of day-old vomit
• The smell of an airport restroom that hasn't been cleaned in twelve hours
• The feeling of pushing yourself hard in an athletic event.

What specific sounds, smells, feelings, and tastes stimulate you?

Comments

[Sarah Brush]

Is it just me or does it say taste twice and not touch?

[Roger von Oech]

You're right! Can't do too much tasting. Should say "Smell" (in the illustration) as well. Since corrected.

[Peter]

That's very inspiring.

I started creating my own questinos.

Cheers

Peter.

[Jim Ley]

When I smell diesel I am returned to memories of walking the streets and riding the buses of Dickoya, Sri Lanka. I was an AFS exchange student there in the summer of 1976.

I have vivid memories of backpacking in Desolation Wilderness in 1977. I have fond memories of swimming in its chilly mountain lakes.

I have not so fond memories of diving into my apartment swimming pool one spring. I was hoping to have a refreshing swim, but what I remember was how shocked my body was plunging into the coldest water I had ever entered. I learned they don't always heat the pool.