Embracing sandcastles: rekindling Imagination

Picture: Vishal Shah: Castles in the Sky Imagination, the engine of my creativity Ian Van Dahl’s millennium classic ‘Castles in the Sky’ conjures strong memories of my youth. Interpreting the lyrics as dreams of visionary projects or the impossible, few can deny the deep neural connections between music and imagination (Kaufman, 2000; Fries, 2009) or …

100th blog from Emergent Thinkers.com!

Type image: Cliff Johnson A milestone for Emergent Thinkers.com - one hundred pieces published. It feels both special and surprising today, as I succumb to brain strain and cabin fever in my nth lockdown. 'WFH whilst homeschooling' back in play, raising stress levels somewhat. Enforced isolation more akin to an ‘institutional lock-in’ with the loudest …

I spy with my little eye…something to do with ‘being’

Image: Sarah Trummer I'm used to falling down rabbit holes in my doctoral research, and do so quite deliberately, enjoying and valuing the adventure. The process satisfies 'wonder' through access to the new, the forgotten, the unnoticed or uncharted. Challenging thinking and cultivating insight, it can produce or trigger deliciously rich memorabilia [data] and new …

My 12 ’emergent’ themes for yuletide

Beginning with the Winter Solstice celebration this Sunday, then enveloping Christmas, Yuletide starts with a celebration of the lengthening amount of light we experience in the day. This provides a welcome moment to reflect on the first four seasons of ‘Emergent Thinkers.com’. A chance to illuminate the themes that have emerged over the year. Rebellion …

WCOL2019: the power of voice and story unveiled [repost]

An abridged re-post from earlier in the summer when I marked one year to the day I last held my father’s [an Irish-man] hand. Reflections on loss that triggered a deeper reflexive insight, on being, life perspective, and identity, including that of a ‘researcher’. Feelings resurfaced, as I make an emotional return journey to Ireland. …

Embracing sandcastles: rekindling Imagination

Picture: Vishal Shah: Castles in the Sky Imagination, the engine of my creativity Ian Van Dahl’s millennium classic ‘Castles in the Sky’ conjures strong memories of my youth. Interpreting the lyrics as dreams of visionary projects or the impossible, few can deny the deep neural connections between music and imagination (Kaufman, 2000; Fries, 2009) or …