“We all live best in our own imaginations.” I read that this morning in a novel.
I wondered how often I live there — in my imagination. While I’m driving, or in the shower, or out on the exercise trail. And is it a good thing?
- I imagine brilliant conversations with others — in my mind, by myself. (In my imagination, I can talk to anyone.)
- I work through challenging situations, imagining various courses of action and their outcomes.
- I take a thought — maybe from a book — and just ponder…
- I ask questions like: What if I… or How could I… or I wonder if…
- I can build a thought or work of art from nothing more than seeing the sun sparkle through an icicle on a tree branch, melting it some, sending tiny droplets to the pavement. Or hearing the music of a soft wave lapping stones and hardened sand on the cold Lake Erie shore just before summer.
- I mentally draw something, or paint it, and prepare it for a show. My own.
- I write poetry and short essays, and submit them for publication.
- I can relive difficult events — see better how things could have gone, maybe should have gone, had I handled them with more perspective.
I consider all these good things. They stimulate my brain and energize me physically. And maybe most significant of all, in my imagination, I am always successful in my accomplishments.
But am I really? If I don’t act on the imagined, what have I achieved?
What happens if I leave life in my imagination, unattended and untried? Surely if I can think it through, I can do it through…
What do you think? Do you have stuff caught in your imagination, unattended? What if you do it? Today? This week?
The photo is me, at my laptop… halfway between pondering and doing.
A Tweet in Twitter inspired this post. The question was asked, What book has inspired you to activity? For me, it’s not always the book, but the Ah-Ha’s of characters in the midst of story. Such is the case here.
The coffee’s fresh — grab a mug and enjoy. I’m so glad you came by. I’d like to hear what you’re imagining……………………..
Barb
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I read your post and decided to hook up the dog and go for a walk to see what my imagination was up to today. I found myself writing a blog post, trying out some ideas and words I could use. Best of all, the 10 other things I was thinking about while I was still in the house didn’t intrude and I was able to make some thought progress on one issue.
Yes! Thank you so much for sharing that, Karol — I’m off to read what you were inspired to write.
I do think it’s easier to let go of the extraneous when you’re out in the fresh air. You don’t feel pressured to think about all of it at once, trying to decide which to pursue.
Barb
“We learn to ski in the summer and to swim in the winter.”
So said that wise old therapist Milton Erickson.
I don’t know much about sports training, but I believe some trainers encourage mental practice – imagining say a tennis serve to practise it even when not on the court.
Myself I write many a blog post after the alarm rings while I’m summoning up my resolve to get out of bed – which can take quite a while!! I just draw the duvet up to my chin (it’s still cold here!!) and write away in my head.
Hi Valerie — yes, I’ve read too that mental visualization, as well as videos made to edit for the “perfectly executed moves” in both tennis and golf have helped athletes achieve that perfection. By watching over and over and over… then visualizing themselves performing perfectly.
I like your method — morning hours are best for my mental clarity as well, and often the posts write themselves by the time I get to the computer. Thanks for sharing that…
I know as a youngster, I was terrified of putting my head under water, (my mom was terrified of water period!) but I wanted to swim so desperately. All my friends did…
I learned at night, after going to bed… it’s what I did just before going to sleep. I figured out how I could survive it, floated on my face in my mind for several nights in a row, and then to the pool. No problems after that. It was a very valuable lesson that I learned all by myself.
I still use the technique, especially before speaking to groups. I write my intro remarks on the wall above the audience, to the left, middle, and right of their heads, in my mind!
My dad always said it’s okay to use notes, if I must, but I had to memorize the intro to keep my mind from going blank. It works.
Didn’t Einstein say, “Imagination is more important than knowledge.”
I find that I live in my imagination most of the time so I can never finish all that I conjure up. That weighs on me a lot. But I do make the effort. In fact, now that I write this, most everything for me starts in my imagination. It’s fun.
I believe you, Adele… I’ve read your blog and can see how well your imagination serves you. I think art (of all sorts, music, painting, writing, sculpting, reaching for the stars… all of it) is created from a need to express all that we imagine… we simply MUST get it out to see! A good thing, I think…………. Thanks for the quote — and yes, it was Einstein. Not a dummy, he.
Oh oh, you touch a sore nerve here. I am always imagining, and hardly ever doing – for whatever reasons!
Swati, when I was in grade school, our reading and language books were called Think and Do. It’s a title that has stuck with me throughout my life. For me it’s good advice, ’cause think and don’t do just frustrates me.
Thanks so much for you comment… you reminded me to take my own advice.
I’m not sure this is a good day to reply to this. I’m not sure if it ever is actually :p
I don’t imagine much useful anymore, or much of anything. I just immerse myself in my learning/doing what little bit I do.
I do remember though, when I was in my 20′s and back at my parents home in the midst for my first major depression. I imagined the what ifs, if I had the developing job for the angiograms I performed on people. Well, I did it. I made a great living and actually had a job I could handle for the first time in my life (that would be because I can’t seem to do the 8-5 at the office kind of job).
Sliloh, thanks so much for sharing your story of the job you had (have?). You are, and can be, the creative behind many works, I’d think.
I think, in my experience, I’d have to answer, “that depends.” My imagination tosses ideas for editorial cartoons, lyrics, photographic studies, etc at me at any old odd hour, but unless it’s along the lines of something I’m already doing, the chances are great that the mental impulse will be allowed to waft away like so much chalk dust. It’s greatly to do with lack of time, energy or space to keep skills up enough so that there is some hope that the quality of creation will match the ideation.
A walk or bike ride used to help clarify thoughts alot, as did daily meditation in its turn.
Thank you for asking the interesting question.
Grand thought-provoking post, you’ve written.
Cheers,
pete
Pete, you write wafting away like so much chalk dust… that’s what happens to most of us, I think, unless we actually ARE focused on something. In school, we were taught to brainstorm ideas, with nothing being criticized or edited or remarked on in any way. Just jot down everything that came to mind. One idea seemed to lead to another, whether I brainstormed by myself or in a group-task. Amazing what the mind is capable of!
You talk of the quality of the creation to match the ideation — oh wow… there’s a whole philosophical discussion inherent in those few words. Does actualization ever reach imagination? Only the idea is whole and complete? Who knows… but that’s why we keep creating. It’s all practice. Physicians and attorneys are allowed to practice, why not painters, writers, musicians?
Thanks so much for your thoughts…
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