Did something novel surprise you?

Below are a few questions that may prompt the disruption of conditioned thinking and the re-wilding of thought; all for the sake of win-win innovation and novelty… I’ll explain… Late this morning I designated time for clean-up and office organization so something new could come into the space… 

The piles were high yet I felt the sorting flow until…my hand touched the third pile and landed on a small plastic ziplock bag. Looking at it closer revealed there was money inside, so I took an organizational pause to examine the bag’s contents. One by one I pulled out both paper and coin currency, and smiled. Some of it was real and some was fake. I had used the money during certain Speakology (public speaking, 2011-2018) classes in which we had a dialogue around the history of money. During class it was fascinating to see and feel pieces of paper and small metal discs that were used for the exchange of goods and services at some earlier time in human history, e.g., Shilling notes from the 14th century. Dialogue followed around these questions: What makes something real or fake? What gives something value? Is it our agreements that make it so? What are we agreeing to daily, weekly…over a lifetime; do we know? Is it important to take such an “agreement” inventory?

Inquiry could be the foundation of innovation. When reviewing the questions does conditioned thinking arise (repeated, familiar thought patterns), or did something novel surprise you?