Isn’t it awesome how playing with a found favorite toy can put you right back into the mindset you had when you last played with it? It’s like a cheap time machine, a warp back to a simpler time–something like the Wayback Machine does for the Internet.
In some cases, however, reminiscing over old favorite toys can bring you back into contact with other forgotten pastimes, too…like I found out a couple of weeks ago.
Found: One Jacob’s Ladder Toy
Recently, the cleaning bug struck me while I was wading through the junk piles in my room, and in a fit of productivity, I actually managed to get some things sorted and put away (gasp!!). But, in the process of this archaelogical-scale “dig” in my room, I discovered a few pieces of my childhood, buried in the rubble.
Mostly they were errant Legos and Barbie clothes, the detritus of a little girl’s life. But there was, I discovered, an old Jacob’s Ladder toy, which is simply slabs of wood connected by ribbons in a cunning way so that it can be configured into lots of cool shapes and do neat effects. It looks like this:
In the middle of my cleaning spree, I sat down and started to play with it again, idly, almost like seeing if I remembered how to ride a bicycle after many years of not riding. My hands moved the toy through its various forms; even though I didn’t have the instruction manual anymore, I still remembered, because I had played with the toy so often. All over again, though, I was rediscovering how to work the simple toy, remembering along the way how long I had toyed with it as a child.
Also Found: Spark of Creativity
Playing with this old favorite toy reminded me of childhood, but it also reminded me of a lot of favorite things I no longer had time for; after all, this toy had been buried in my room for God knows how long. What other stuff had been buried in the mess of my adult life? Fun video games, TV shows, things I haven’t allowed myself to indulge in because I’m so “busy” all the time.
Though it was a moment of idleness, a moment, perhaps, of returning too keenly to childhood, it provided a shock of realization: I used to play the piano a lot more than I do now, too. The piano was an old favorite toy much like the Jacob’s Ladder toy, and in the business of adult life, I had laid both aside.
Suddenly, I had a brain spark: didn’t I have a piece of music I had been trying to write for some time? Didn’t I have some free time–well, as soon as I finished cleaning–to go downstairs and use the digital keyboard?
Out of my reminiscences came a sudden, urgent drive to go and play the piano like I used to, treat it like an old favorite toy. So I did…and in so doing, I formed up the basis of a new piece, right on the spot. It’s not finished, it might not go anywhere, but at least I touched those musical keys for the first time in months! And I believe that what helped me to do so was allowing myself to remember how much fun I had playing the piano, allowing myself to fall back into that older mindset…and becoming freshly motivated to try it again.
Finding Your Own “Forgotten Favorite Toy”
If you’re currently in a creativity rut right now, you might want to try this. You might not have a physical favorite toy right where you can lay a hand on it, but think about playing with it. Or, think about a favorite childhood pastime or group of people who positively influenced you. Anything that conjures up a positive memory and puts you in an earlier mindset will work.
Now, think: what is so compelling about that memory? What makes it so happy? If it’s something you did back then that you could easily do now, why don’t you try it, just for a few minutes, and see what starts coming to mind. Who knows, you could end up like I did, one minute cleaning and the next writing a new piano solo!