“As of yet, almost no one in either the worldwide creativity movement or the worldwide accelerated-learning movement is aware that every technique for solving problems or for evoking creativity, can also serve brilliantly in another capacity. Each such creativity-related method is also a profoundly effective method for improving and accelerating learning, especially learning-with-understanding”. (Win Wenger, more on the subject here).

“Everyone has a ‘risk muscle.’ You keep it in shape by trying new things. If you don’t, it atrophies. Make a point of using it at least once a day.” (Roger von Oech)

“Master the most important skill of all, the metaskill that consists in being able to turn any activity into an occasion of flow”. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

“Try to surprise at least one person every day”. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

“Creative individuals delight in the strange and the unknown. And because there is no end to the unknown, their delight is also endless”. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Сatena is an entertaining word game that helps develop creative thinking. Catena trains a free, associative style of thinking, and assists in observing both dominant patterns and vertical thinking. In also has many other uses.

I initially thought that I invented that game in 1990 when I served in Soviet Army, but it rather looks like I adapted it from some unknown source and gradually developed its rules. I took the name from philosophy — the term «Catena Mundi» was used by Descartes for describing a mystical chain that connects everything.

Here are some catenas:

• market, mist:
  market — forecast — mist,
  market — morning — mist
• mather, atom:
  mother — nature — physics — atom,
  mother — warmth — energy — atom
• Prague, stool:
  Prague — bar — stool
• euro, eternity:
  euro — coin — circle — eternity
• ticket, thought:
  ticket — road — crossword — thought

Give it a try — your feedback would be greatly appreciated!

“The real story of creativity is more difficult and strange than many overly optimistic accounts have claimed”. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

“For better or for worse, our future is now closely tied to human creativity”. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

“The unconscious contains contents which would mean an immesurable increase of knowledge if made conscious” (Jung). This is what Win Wenger is trying to do with Image Streaming, Over the Wall and other techniques.