Recently I've been reading about the contexts of coaching and realised that the idea of context also applies to my writing practice and creative life. Think of context as the environment you move through, like a fish in water. The fish probably doesn't notice the water but it certainly supports everything about being a fish.

Curiosity, commitment, listening and self-awareness are all contexts of being a creative human being. Let's examine the context of curiosity because without that itch how will you ever get started? 

We begin life as teeming bundles of curiosity. After 'No' the next word a child usually learns is 'Why' until the adults start telling them to be quiet. Our curiosity feels a little scary because it irritates our caregivers and we turn down the volume. 

As we grow up and get used to the world around us our brain develops shortcuts to help us get on with our lives. After all, if we had to figure out how to put on our socks every morning some of us would never get out of the house! But when we rely on these assumptions to experience our world we lose our sense of wonder and curiosity.

It's time to become fascinated again by the world around you. It's critical to you r creativity. Your curiosity is still bubbling away below the surface. It may take practice and commitment on your part but it's there, waiting to be used.

Here in Canada, Bicks Pickles has a great series of commercials. A little green alien is observing Earthlings, sending news reports back to his planet about their cruel treatment of Pickles. To this little alien, we keep the Pickles in captivity, practice strange barbaric rites and then, horrors! we eat those poor defenseless Pickles, laughing the whole time in triumph.

Take a lesson from Bicks and try this perspective for yourself. You've just arrived from Mars. Look around and see the world through your own alien eyes. Let questions bubble up. Challenge your assumptions. Look for alternate explanations. Report what you discover.

Like a kid, any question that begins with 'why' is a good starting point because it invites you to look closer. Never settle for the easy yes/no solution. Not if you're curious. Or a creative alien.