Get Your Imagination in Shape
Tips to make the most of your creative side.
By Polly Campbell
Having trouble visualizing your life with less tress or arthritis pain? You may need to strengthen your imagination.
“Imagination is really the ability to think about events beyond our present situation, and that’s a fundamental aspect of the human condition,” says Marjorie Taylor, PhD, professor of psychology at the University of Oregon in Eugene. It is so fundamental, in fact, that this childhood trait carries into adulthood and helps us think about the future, ponder the past, solve problems and generate new ideas.
“Imagination enables us to really transcend our immediate circumstances,” Taylor says. “By maximizing it, we can consider possibilities, alternatives and hypothetical scenarios.”
You may be unaware of how frequently throughout your day you actually put your imagination to use. Every time you come up with a mealtime menu using only the few ingredients you have in your fridge, or when you find a way to fold the laundry, even though your fingers are stiff and sore, you are drawing from your imagination. It’s a powerful force.
Here are some other ways to develop those imaginative powers:
Explore your thoughts. Give yourself permission to sit quietly and mull things over. Let your mind wander, and see where it leads you. The brain is capable of generating ideas, solutions and unexpected alternatives if you give it time and space to work.
Do things differently. If you usually follow one route to work each day, switch it up. Do you always eat fish on Fridays? Instead, spread out a pizza picnic on your living room floor. Approach a challenge at work from a new direction. Stimulate your brain with new ways of performing an everyday task, and your imagination will respond.
Get creative. Paint, mold clay, write poetry. Look at art. Read a book of fiction. And explore the world in different ways. Not only will your imagination take off, but chances are you’ll also experience moments of illumination in other areas of your life.
