Monday’s… (oops… I mean Tuesday’s!) Tweak: The Mouse’s Tale

I’ve been so busy *not* writing about enlightenment, that I nearly forgot this week’s tweak. So I quickly whipped together a rather fun exercise, if I say so myself.

See the cute little mousie over there in the corner? Quiet little thing. Doesn’t have much to say, apparently. But everyone has a story to tell, so we’re going to help him tell his, by giving him words.

Ok, now… stop looking at me like I’m crazy. It’s just a simple word association game for gawd’s sake!

Now that we’ve settled the question of my sanity, you’ll need to print a copy of our victim’s little mousie self. There’s a full size version here (or you can just click on the image, that’ll work too).

Now pick up your pen, pick a spot on the mouse, and start writing words. “Mouse” is a good one to start with, but so is “This is a really lame excuse for a tweak”

It doesn’t matter what the words are, just write; anything that pops into your mind will do. Let one word lead into another, your thoughts following the lines of the mouse. Keep the pen moving the best you can, don’t worry about neatness. No self censorship, and no fretting over if it makes sense.

Keep writing until you run out of mouse.

It’s an exercise in word-association, creative flow, and engaging both verbal and visual circuits of the brain.

A few suggestions to start you mousing more tweakishly:

• Try rhyming each word with the next
• Do a total stream of consciousness, baby!
• Use only words associated with “mouse”
• Write a letter to the mouse
• Write from the mouse’s perspective

I filled in about four of these little squeakers, testing the concept. One in particular turned up quite amusing results - but I’ll save it for later so as not to influence you

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MindTweak: “The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese” - Jon Hammond
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