- Edgar Allan Poe, poet and short-story writer 1809-1849

A dear friend, Martin, sent me this quote today and I couldn’t help but grin upon reading it. But as I went to put it online for you to experience the same joy this image popped into my mind:

Go on, giggle. I did.

For those unfamiliar, this is "Mr. Daydream" of Mr. Men fame (by the ever wonderful late Roger Hargreaves).

Not sure if Poe would be as excited by this connection as I am but  Mr. Men are too delightful not to share!

As I went to post this ‘little’ entry has turned into a longer one - while building links for this entry I found myself reading the history of the Mr. Men series.

Do you know how the series started? With a question from a child:

"What does a tickle look like?"

Roger’s son, Adam, asked his father one day over breakfast…and with a flash of hand, an orange drawing emerged: 

Mr. Tickle was born.

This leads me back to a conversation last night (and a general belief of mine): in our pursuit and reverence for rational, logical thought we are locking out not only the joy and delight, but also the relevance and importance of dreams and imagination and stories and ’silly’ and ‘accident’  - the things that most often lead to a logical rational concept emerging. 

Our imagination, inspiration and idea do not come out in neatly digested theories and equations. This ’rational’ element comes later. 

As Reb Nachman cautioned, "When we dream, we dream in stories, not theories".

So next time you are trying to get to a logical and rational outcome, why not throw some (day)dream and silly into the mix?

You might be surprised with what you get - there are some pretty famous, crucial and profitable ’accidents’ out there. Apple on Newton’s head anyone? Chewing gum? Paper clip?

And in the least you will have fun and play! Which as adults we need as much (if not more) than children. 

As part of my commitment to ensuring people can act on my sometimes ‘unsual’ or ‘obvious’ ideas here is something to help you start: Some ‘rules’: 

- just have a go

- when in idea generation phase nothing is too silly or stupid…don’t question it at all just yet. Just let the ideas that come, enter and stay for a while. There will be a time for you to ‘get to know’ - examine them in detail - later.

- don’t judge (a HUGE challenge for me - but I have found one can interrupt this pattern/natural inclination by voicing it - saying it out loud ie making it visible and saying ‘I just judged that…sorry’)

Much light and silly sparks to you all. And happy dreaming - day and night!

PS There is also a Little Miss collection in case you are concerned about gender equity.