I Don’t Really Have Brain Freeze

Six Word Photo Story Challenge: Freestyle

I am just a lateral thinker!

I met the snowman at a family reunion during the holidays. I set him back on his feet a couple of times, but he kept keeling over. That’s when I figured he wasn’t falling down, really; he was just a lateral thinker.

We’ve all heard of the phrase, think ‘outside the box’. First termed by Edward de Bono, this process is called lateral thinking.

Lateral thinking is the solving of problems by an indirect and creative approach, typically through viewing the problem in a new and unusual light — as defined by the Oxford Languages Dictionary

Here are two “classic” lateral thinking exercises:

1. A man and his son are in a car accident. The father dies on the scene, but the child is rushed to the hospital. When he arrives, the surgeon says, “I can’t operate on this boy; he is my son!” How can this be?
2. A man is wearing black. Black shoes, socks, trousers, lumper, gloves and balaclava. He is walking down a black street with all the street lamps off. A black car is coming towards him with its light off but somehow manages to stop in time. How did the driver see the man?

If you can answer the riddles, you might be pretty terrific (or at least better than I am) at lateral thinking. The answers are easily searchable on Google.

Good luck! 🍀

Thanks for visiting! 🌻🌼

Mary Chang Story Writer, Thank you for publishing my story! 🌷

Do check out these superb photos and six-word stories by our talented fellow writers Ian Hanson, Bruce Coulter, P T Adams.