I woke up today and saw that Josephine Forsberg has passed away. Jo was the founder of Players Workshop of Second City in Chciago. Bill Murray went there — along with many other comic luminaries. She will be missed. She gave the world a gift, and, it’s a gift you can receive.

If you are an innovator, or even someone simply seeking more creativity in all you do — take an improv class. You will not regret it.

Why? The simple reason is it will improve your access to spontaneous thought. Many of us are plagued with an overactive conscious mind, the analytical-logical type of thinking. Sometimes what you really want is a spontaneous idea. The trouble is that faucet is turned off, or rusty, due to being unused. Improv teaches you to “not think” and it allows spontaneous ideas to pop into your consciousness.

This doesn’t happen overnight unless you are special. For me, really, it took three years to turn that faucet back on. It could have been faster, but I resisted it. It takes practice to trust yourself to “let it go.” Once it’s back on it’s pretty hard to shut off — and you can use this super power for the good of mankind. And womankind.

So, take an improv class and turn your faucet on.

RIP Josephine.