December 19, 2023

How do you feel about your imagination? Is it something that enriches your life? Something that you regularly, intentionally engage with? Or do you think you don't really have one anymore? Maybe you were imaginative as a child, but you lost that connection somewhere along the way.

I was definitely someone who just believed I didn't have an imagination. I wasn't artistic or creative. I was logical, practical. My job involved data and numbers. I didn't tell stories or create games. I even had trouble playing Pictionary, just drawing basic things or guessing what my boyfriend was drawing. He got mad at me one time because I wasn't guessing enough. But my mind was a blank.

I'm not exactly sure when I started to think I might have an imagination, that maybe I'd just been misusing it or discounting it because I wasn't an artist or a writer. I do remember reading a book - Beginners: The Joy and Transformative Power of Lifelong Learning by Tom Vanderbilt. He was taking his daughter to a lot of activities where she was learning new things and he wondered why he couldn't do the same. So he spent a year learning new things - surfing, playing chess, drawing, singing. 

He referenced another book - Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards. I decided to give drawing a shot. I had been telling myself for most of my life that I could not draw. Betty makes the argument that drawing is a very learnable skill, like reading. Some of us just get stuck drawing the way we did as kids. So I checked the book out of the library, bought some supplies and did the exercises. And learned that I can actually draw recognizable things. 

And I learned that drawing is not something I really enjoy. It was time-consuming and difficult for me. I didn't finish the book or the self portrait at the end. But I did re-engage with the right side of my brain. I did learn to see things in different ways. I did prove to myself that I could do something I thought was impossible for me. I imagine it would have gotten easier to draw if I had kept going, but I was ready to move on. I got what I came for.

Using my imagination is kind of the same story, at least in the beginning. I'd been telling myself for a long time that I just didn't have one. I wasn't creative. I started to question this belief as well. I had no trouble imagining worst case scenarios. I didn't think of that as imaginative, but it is. It's creating a story in my mind that is not actually happening. That came super easy to me. No doubts about my great capacity for imagining the worst.

In working on creating this community, I was reading a lot of Mighty Network's guides, learning what other people were doing to create thriving communities. I came across an online community called Urgent Optimists. One of the examples of community activities was their scavenger hunts for signals of hope. I love scavenger hunts and was intrigued to learn better uses for my imagination than the usual doom and gloom I was used to.

I joined their community last spring and it has been such a great experience. I took some of the included self-guided courses and they were helpful. But what has been the best is a chance to actually use my imagination and to read other people's imaginings. November was a month-long Festival of Future Holidays. We each chose 3 future holidays from a collection to imagine celebrating ten years in the future. 

I celebrated the Drawing Closer ritual where my partner and I drew each other's faces without looking at the paper. It was more about connecting with each other than drawing. I think you can tell who is the more talented artist from the picture. Mine is the amorphous blob at the top. Marshall did keep drawing (and started looking at his paper) after the one-minute time limit was up so that's why the eye and the hand look so good.

Next I celebrated Tender Memory Day. One morning I woke up feeling an emptiness in my heart, missing my mom and worried about losing more of the people I love. I closed my eyes and allowed myself to feel the emptiness, the loneliness. And because I was involved in the Festival of Future Holidays, I wrote about it. I wrote a poem about death and loneliness. I typed the poem first, with my eyes closed. Then I wrote a journal entry from the future, imagining going to a community gathering to celebrate Tender Memory Day. Later that day, in real life, I went to the beach and read my poem. It was a very cathartic experience. And creative.

Lastly, I celebrated Un-Retirement Day. After taking a few years off from work, I imagine returning to the work force, renewed and more myself. While I was away, I reconnected with parts of myself that had been buried or ignored for a long time. And I was able to come back into work as more of my whole self. This wasn't all that imaginative since I haven't been working for a few years. And I am attempting to make this community my work. I basically used my present day life but added a few future details, like Universal Basic Income allowing me to take some time away from work.

I wanted to share some of my journey to rediscovering the gifts of my imagination here, with all of you, in the hopes that you can relate to some part of my story. Just a few years ago I firmly believed that I had no imagination, that I was not creative at all. I believe I had a lot of wounds around being imaginative and playful so I buried that part of myself. And it was so long ago that I truly believed my imagination didn't exist or it was very broken, at the least. I convinced myself that I didn't need it. It wasn't necessary as an adult.

Now I can see how much I was cutting myself off from. Why life often seemed so dull and burdensome. I couldn't allow myself to imagine anything better for myself. I was stuck in survival mode. In trying to fit in with society and expectations I thought others had of me. Expectations I had of myself. 

I may not ever be a paid artist or writer, but I no longer use that comparison to shut my own creativity down. We are all human and we are all creators. Opening back up to the gifts of my imagination has truly been one of the best gifts I've ever given myself. 

I'd love to read some of your stories related to imagination. You can leave a comment below or post your own article in the Community space. Feel free to write as much as you want and include any of your creations. I think we're all so used to social media and people talking in short snippets, that we feel we have to do the same. I'd like this community to be deeper than most social media so longer stories are welcome and encouraged. Short is good too if you don't have the time for something longer. I just want everyone to know that writing longer things is definitely allowed :) If you have any questions about how to post an article or add pictures, just send me a message here. I'm happy to help.

I hope some of you can make it to Thursday's Imagination Workout event at 2 PM eastern/7 PM UK time. Please read more about it and RSVP here. The idea is to give us all a chance to reconnect with our imaginations and to practice voicing our wants to others, even if we're not sure how we'll ever get what we want. To lend others our support in a fun and creative way and to receive support from others in a way that feels open and relaxed. If you're not sure what your wants are, you can just choose a feeling you want to experience more of.

I know it's a busy time of year and you might not be able to make it, but I'm working on getting myself into the habit of a weekly meeting and showing up for myself and what I want to create. So I'll definitely be there :) I hope you will be too.