Find A Pattern

Let's suppose that you have problem you're trying to solve or an issue you're exploring, and you want some inspiration. Let's further suppose that you reach for the Creative Whack Pack, and randomly select card #10 which is Find A Pattern, and it reads:

Poet Alexander Pope: "Order is heav'n's first law." Much of what is called "intelligence" is our ability to recognize this order in the form of patterns. We recognize cycles (plankton yields conform to a strict four year boom-and-bust cycle), sequences (the order in which you put on your clothes), tendencies (cracks in dried mud usually form 120º angles), shapes (the stars that make up the constellation Leo), similarities (stellar galaxies and water emptying in a bath tub spiral in the same way), behaviors (etiquette on a crowded bus), and probabilities (the likelihood of throwing a "seven" at a crap table). What patterns do you detect in your issue?

 

How do some of the following patterns relate to your problem? Do they trigger any ideas in your situation?

• There is a tendency for a group, individual, or team to go soft after it has been successful.
• The amount a person uses his imagination is inversely proportional to the amount of punishment he'll receive for using it.
• If a swimming pool is comfortable when you dive into it, then it is too warm to do a serious workout in.
• When a school of fish changes direction, a new fish becomes the leader.
• Good things tend to happen in pairs.
• Bad things tend to happen in threes.
• If you drop a glass on the floor, the largest piece will fly the farthest from point of impact.
• For maximum lift at takeoff, an airplane flies into the wind.
• Rewarding a specific behavior encourages it; punishing a specific behavior discourages it.
• A storm clears the air.
• If a tree doesn't get its roots deeply into the soil, it will be blown over in a storm.
• When there is no moon, you can see more stars.
• If you exercise a muscle, it strengthens; if you don't, the muscle atrophies. "
• Warm air rises and cool air sinks.
  
• The closer an ice skater's arms are to her body, the faster she's able to rotate.
• If you smile at another person, they'll probably smile back at you.
• A river with power will create a straight path; a weak river will meander.
• People remember their first love.
• The squeeky wheel gets oiled.
• The nails that sticks up gets hammered down.
• Even cold water feels warm when your hands are freezing.
• People tend to treat other people the way they were treated as children.
• Telephone operators receive most of their crank calls during the full moon.
• Long wide brush strokes make restful landscapes.

Comments

[Jimmy Doo]

Here's another one: Pet a dog where he can't scratch and he'll always be your friend.