Reflecting on Creativity and Innovation

Now having been in Sólheimar for just about 3 weeks now, I feel that I have become Iceland myself.  I have been absorbing the people, eating the food, breathing the freshest air, showering in the sulfurous hot water and walking on the moss carpeted lava fields.  Since being here, I have done an incredible amount of thinking.  Or less thinking, depending on the context.  I am surrounded by thoughtful people who want to analyze their actions and connect with the world around us, just as I do.

One of my favorite experiences so far was meeting with writer and activist Andri Snær Magnason.  We met in his office, a coal plant turned think-tank building, full of creative minds and active members of society.  Sitting and listening to him talk, I felt inspired.  He is a thinker.  To write his novels or stories, he had to carefully think about what kind of worlds he wants to create and what he is trying to portray through his writing.  We had the pleasure to listen to him explain the plots of the books and his process of thinking.  His work always directly related to something going on in his society, as to raise awareness about particular issues but present them in a way that makes people see it in a new context.

This kind of creativity is what more people need.  I found my mind racing with ideas about my world perspective currently and how I would like to see it in the future, while listening to him explain his life experiences and how he interprets them into writing.  Especially after watching a short video clip with our group the other day about our education systems today, I found myself reflecting on how we are taught from a young age to follow the dictated and prescribed plans, pass standardized tests and if you don’t answer the question first or adhere to the “proper” formula for your essays, you are labeled as less smart than the rest.  We are not surrounded by things that shift our paradigms on the daily basis or by people or subjects that inspire us, nor are we supported to think creatively.   Even if we do have the chance to reflect on how these systems affect our learning, there is little we can do to break out of it. 

Through participating in CELL, I have been able to reflect on every action in my life: past present, and future.  I have been able to open my mind to the possibilities that life can offer, the experiences that can present themselves if you let them in, and the world that we can create with some deep creative thinking and cooperation.  These changes may start small, like in communities like Sólheimar and with people like myself, but when their message catches on, it deepens its roots and recreates our society from the ground, up. 

~Emily~