26 Days til Launch: Practice Imagination

I’ve heard it said that anything worth doing is worth doing poorly until you can do it well.  It’s called practicing.  We do it every day.  None of us have mastered everything in life, and most of us do things that require a lot of practice.  Perhaps we’re working on developing better communication in a relationship with someone in our family, a friend or coworker.  Maybe we’re learning a new skill that requires repetition and patience to master.  Or there may be a character flaw we’re trying to overcome.  But progress takes time and we may need more opportunities to utilize the quality we aim to emulate.  Any seasoned athlete, accomplished musician or artist, acclaimed author, or successful business owner will readily admit the need for countless hours, even years or decades, of practice—and that with practice came many mistakes.

One of the ways to improve at a particular thing is to do it more often.  If a child wants to read well, give him or her more books to read.  To write better, write something every day.  To learn a new language, surround yourself with those who speak the language you wish to master.  For most adults, learning imagination also requires practice.

How do you practice imagination?  First, give yourself permission to do so.  By making imagination a priority you validate the value of it in your life.  Productivity is always increased when the creative mind is allowed to be a part of any solution, or implemented in the execution of any plan or project.  Second, remind yourself that if you can imagine it, it’s possible.  Perhaps not with the current status quo, set of circumstances, or within the three dimensions and five senses we may be most familiar.  But certainly possible, according to Napolean Hill, who said, “What the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve.”  Said another way, man is not capable of imagining something that is impossible.

Finally, let yourself go!  Literally, get “self”—or the ego—out of the equation.  Ego is disguised as judgment, restriction, fear, hesitation, false identity, and justification.  Ego kills imagination and creativity.  Pure imagination only comes from a place of pure space or openness.  This is precisely why is takes real practice to master the art of imagination.

Our lives are so cluttered with demands, appointments, information, technology, and even survival, little space remains for imagination.  Even our children are continually bombarded by external stimuli.  They, too, struggle to use their innate imagination to problem solve, or simply to experience delight.  The days of building blanket forts in the living room or building a rocket out of a refrigerator box have been replaced with an Xbox, Wii, or ipad.  Of course, imagination and creativity were required to design all of these devices but at what cost, if they rob a person of the open space needed to create, design, build and imagine? 

I’m not against technology.  But imagination is nurtured in an environment free of distractions.  This is what we must practice—freeing “self” from whatever distractions may diminish or hinder our imagination and creativity.  Imagination is real.  Our ability to utilize the power of imagination to its greatest capacity depends, in part, upon our willingness to create the space necessary to allow it to emerge.

Here are a few practical suggestions on how to practice creating that needed space:

·      Spend some time outside every day.

·      Observe nature.

·      Go to a park and play.

·      Watch a live theatre presentation.

·      Draw, paint, build.

·      Exercise.

·      Listen to classical music.

·      Fly a kite.

·      Crawl on the floor with a child.

·      Dance.

·      Turn off all electronic devices for a day.

Create your space and practice imagination!