Creative Exploration

Creative exploration sounds like a lot of fun to me.  Dan Siegel, PhD and author of Brainstorm: The Power and Purpose of the Teenage Brain  assures us that not only is it fun it is a major source of innovation.  He talks about creative exploration, or CE as he calls it, when discussing the adolescent’s brain.

According to Siegel the CE of the teenager is something the world sorely needs and that we, as adults, need to tap into and to adapt to our own lives.  I never thought I would be given permission to think like a teenager again!

Basically, CE is what allows the teen to rebel or to say “I don’t think this is how it should be done.”   For a parent of a teen this can cause considerable consternation and lay the groundwork for many a battle as our teens push back against the status quo.

This CE is what drives them and hopefully us to say “I’m not going to think about this the same way anymore.”  Business has been urging its employees to think out of the box for years but it gets harder and harder the older we get.  It comes natural to the adolescent brain.  In fact, it is hardwired to do just this.

So to all my busy, stressed out readers who feel like they are on a hamster wheel each day and think that the rat race is the only game in town, what are the things in your life that you do without much thought at all that bring you stress or you wish you could change?  These are the things that you need to apply creative exploration to.  Rebel against the way you are doing it.  Think like your teenage self would think and explore more creative ways to change your current MO.

Too entrenched in your ways to be able to do this for yourself?  Perhaps it is time to sit down with your teenager or a teenager and pick their brain as to how they would do your life commitments differently.

It may just be the breakthrough you need to find more time for yourself and to feel less stressed out.

Nancy