Imagination

Photo by Rakicevic Nenadman

Remember when you were a kid and you could run around all day with nothing but some friends and the great outdoors and the possibilities seemed limitless? What ever happened to that time? In my youth the internet did not yet exist, we watched very little television and the radio seemed to embody all the mysteries of the universe. I did not grow up with wealth and many common child distractions were out of reach until my teens, when I started to earn some money of my own. Yet I don’t feel like I missed out on much. I may have never seen Disneyland as a child or had a large collection of Star Wars toys, but I had the wilderness and freedom and my imagination.

I sometimes wonder if my own son has the same ability to make a magical world out of nothing except his mind and his environment. He often seems dependent on video games, television and direct parental interaction. He does not generally like to play outdoors and seems to only enjoy his friends in small doses. Though he is often absorbed by the desire for video entertainment and physical toys, I still see his ability to create something from nothing. It seems hard to compare my background to his since my son always has some kind of stimulation available to him. This is where I see that to him, a lack of stimulation just means not having something new. Sometimes this is what he wants, and he will retreat to his room and arrange his stuffed animals, build a blanket fort, or just lay in his bed cuddle his dog and listen to music. Other times he gets this creative drive and hunts down a toy or game he hasn’t played in months and tries something new with it. Another sign of this innate creativity is when he breaks out the Legos, or Minecraft or a sketch pad and just creates new buildings, cities or drawings for hours straight. I think that having the time to just dump hours into random creative expression is one of the key elements of sustaining creativity that we adults tend to miss out on.

It seems that, as we age, the weight of responsibility and the stress of day to day life suppresses our once active imaginations. Perhaps our adult brains see the skill as less practical and so as we stop flexing this muscle, it atrophies in favor of more pragmatic thought processes. Is there anything we can do to slow this process down or reverse it? Do we want to? What would be the cost? I feel that the ability to think outside of the box is useful in almost every scenario. If we want to be more successful, wealthy and healthy, imagination is a skill set we should definitely spend some time cultivating. As a manager, one’s problem solving ability is related to their experience and ability to creatively apply it to new situations. As a real estate investor, one may be denied financing by dozens of banks or go through several realtors who believe that a second or third property cannot be purchased with non-standard  or creative financing. Sometimes professionals are so blinded by the standard way of doing things, they are blind to the other less common options. As an athlete who wants to lose weight or eat healthy, one must often come up with creative ways to remain on track and stay disciplined when others are not supportive or temptation is around every corner.

Please do not confuse imagination and creativity with discipline and motivation. Imagination can solve problems by envisioning a solution or be the spark of inspiration for a lucrative idea. Discipline is how you follow through with these ideas and stay with them until completion. Even if you are an artist, maybe inspiration helped you make a painting, but discipline makes a career with income. If you are a writer then you know that creativity is an outline that will never be a book without discipline.

For the purpose of this post lets define imagination as your ability to solve unique problems and generate new ideas. Your brain has gone stagnant from years of the nine to five grind, cooking dinner, doing dishes, laundry, and changing diapers. Now you want some of that child-like desire for something different, something new, something that is uniquely yours. Maybe you want something more interesting for dinner, maybe you want to be more in tune with your kids, or maybe you want to creatively outsource all those household chores. Whatever your goals, I hope you find some value in the following suggestions for improving your imagination.

Reading books, especially fiction, exposes you to new worlds, ideas, and perspectives. It can stimulate your imagination by allowing you to visualize scenarios, characters, and places. I prefer fantasy and science fiction to get my fix. If I get transported somewhere for original ideas I certainly don’t want it to be in the real world. Also as a wanna-be fantasy author I feel that that genre fits my goals the best. I also find value in video games and tabletop role playing games like Dungeons and Dragons for priming that spark. Playing video games with my son is especially enlightening as he still has that random creative perspective I’m looking for that can’t really be re-created any other way. 

Carry a journal or use a digital app to jot down your thoughts, observations, and ideas throughout the day. This practice can help you notice interesting details in the world around you and induce creative thinking. This is especially handy for a prospective author or when you are the Dungeon Master for a Dungeons and Dragons group. I once saw a pair of small birds harassing a crow and jotted down this idea for incorporeal fey spirits that would possess animals so they could attack humans encroaching on their land. It’s amazing which images and ideas can trigger random thoughts. I also used to keep a journal by my bed so that I could write down my dreams and draw upon ideas from my subconscious. I seldom remember my dreams anymore and that’s just sad. It’s a sure sign of stress and a rigid lifestyle and a great reason for me to follow my own advice in this post.

Practicing Mindfulness and Meditation can help clear your mind of clutter and stress, making room for more creative thoughts. Mindfulness encourages you to notice details in your environment that you might otherwise overlook. Meditation can quiet the background noise in your mind and open you to a higher state that encourages inspired answers. Eckhart Tolle compared the perfect meditation to being in touch with an infinite intelligence that some believe is a direct connection to the divine. Check out my happiness posts for more information or better yet check out Tolle’s books like the Power of Now. Keep an open mind. I’m not even close to being a religious person, but I can attest to the practical value of effectively managing your inner voices. 

Engage with various forms of art, such as painting, music, theater, and dance. Participating in or even just appreciating different forms of artistic expression can inspire new ideas and ways of thinking. Some personal examples for me include the Black Magic Crafts YouTube channel. I was inspired by the creation of tabletop props using styrofoam and cardboard. I never did anything lucrative with it but I had fun building some environments for D&D miniatures and especially loved building some little play areas for Hot Wheels with my kiddo. Music is something I have always enjoyed listening to. Some of my favorite bands for inspirational listening include Led Zeppelin, Metallica and R.E.M. Another surprisingly inspirational activity for me as a fantasy writer was Salsa dancing. I remember when I finally became good enough to improvise moves on the fly and create my own combination instead of just a single choreographed routine. It was like this bell went off in my head and I thought ‘oh this is how sword fighting is sometimes described when two opponents are using variable forms, chaining combinations and countering each other’. I also gained a keen appreciation of footwork and balance while dancing that I never quite obtained with martial arts.

Puzzles, strategy games, and brain teasers can challenge your problem-solving skills and encourage you to think in innovative ways. In addition to a variety of video games, we also play board and card games like Risk, Settlers of Catan, Magic the Gathering and Dominion to name a few.  You never really think about how much strategy is involved in something that seems like a roll of the dice until you lose six times in a row to your wife while playing Risk. Other games help one to understand the difficulties of resource management and competition when settling a new area. I got the idea for a ‘mana-flow’ game mechanic for one of my half built role playing games from playing MTG. 

Experiencing new places, cultures, and people can broaden your perspective and inspire new ideas. If you can’t travel far, try exploring new areas in your local community. Hiking is my favorite mode of exploration. It helps to clear my mind and I can’t help but imagine myself in a fantasy setting, especially when surrounded by the towering trees and majestic vistas of Sequoia and Yosemite national parks. Exploring Japan opened my eyes to a new world of hidden temples and amazing sculpted gardens woven into the middle of towering skyscrapers in such a way that you feel transported to a new world. The multi-floored train stations with grocery stores underneath and department stores on top give one a unique appreciation for the economy of space. 

Sharing ideas and working on projects with people who have different skills and perspectives can spark creativity. Collaboration can lead to the combination of ideas in ways you might not have thought of on your own. No matter how experienced or diligent you are, other people will always be able to surprise you. Everybody brings their own experience to the table and innovation can arrive even amidst the strain of conflict. I remember leading a work group on a couple different occasions where other members brought up ideas that I thought were so stupid and wasteful it blew my mind. I had to stop and check myself, however, because these people were respected professionals, and their brains worked in such a way that to them, these were legitimate issues. I had to assess my own values in those situations. I can’t say that my overall opinions about wasting resources changed, but we compromised, and learning occurred on all fronts.

Improving your imagination is a process that involves curiosity, openness to new experiences, and the willingness to explore and experiment. By incorporating these practices into your life, you can develop a richer, more creative imagination. So travel to new places, meet new people and try different food. Experience what life has to offer and soak it up. Put yourself in the shoes of others and envision their wants and needs and how you can help them achieve their goals. Above all seek out that inner child, and learn from them.