Tell Us About . . . Imagination: The Value of "What If?"

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Imagination is the act of forming new ideas, images, or concepts of objects not present to our senses. It sounds very ethereal and artsy, and many people think they're not very imaginative or creative, but I believe we all rely on our imaginations more than we may realize. Even if we aren't artists or musicians or poets.

Yes, imagination is what sparks creativity. Through imagination, writers invent stories and entire alternative universes where the stories play out. Through imagination, artists depict places and things both real and abstract using light, color, and form. Through imagination, composers create melodies, harmonies, and rhythms that convey stories and emotions; and musicians bring those creative songs to life and add their own imaginative nuances. 

But all of that creativity also requires the audience to participate with their own imagination. We must hear and see and visualize the characters and actions in the books we read (or listen to). We must interpret what we see in artwork and decide what it communicates to us or what we appreciate about it. Our interpretations and reactions to music are the same. When we see a play or a ballet or even a movie, we need to participate with our imaginations to make those stories real for the moment.

Architects, builders, engineers, scientists, inventors, chefs, teachers, . . . I believe there's elements of imagination that are needed and used in almost every profession. And even if we don't see how imagination is part of our career, I think we use imagination in our day-to-day lives more than we might realize. 

At its heart, imagination is asking, "What if . . . ?" That question leads people to explore possibilities, investigate how things work, solve problems, think about things differently, create beauty or interest, and innovate new ways of doing things. Every time we ask ourselves a 'what if' question, we allow ourselves to use a valuable human skill―imagination.

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I started listing all the ways I've put my imagination to work over the past year or so and was surprised how many things I came up with. By the way, I had to employ a bit of imagination to see how my imagination was employed in so many ways!

The obvious: 

I have been leading worship with singing and playing keyboard, so as a musician I imagine how I want the songs to sound and how one song will connect to the next one. All of us in the band imagine our part in the whole, what we'll do with our instrument, which part we'll sing, how we'll express the truths and emotions of the music, and how we'll communicate it to others. Sometimes I can internally visualize what the music looks like in notes or in pictures. Now I'm not leading a band any more, just sometimes asked to play keyboards, but I still use the same imagination skills to help me (hopefully) play well and lead by example.

I started singing in a Sweet Adelines chorus this year. Much of barbershop style singing is storytelling through the music. Every member of the chorus has to imagine the story and embody it in our voices and expressions and actions as we sing. I'm learning to visualize my breath and my voice in imaginative ways that help me sing better. I imagine the stories of the songs we are singing so I can be part of conveying that story believably to the audience. 

I use my imagination to write these little articles here on my blog, and try to express my thoughts in interesting ways. 

Perhaps less obvious:

I've been teaching high school writing and literature at a homeschool co-op for quite a few years. While it's the students that must come up with stories for the Creative Writing class, which challenges their imaginations, it's my job to come up with ways to present the material that sparks their creativity and helps them understand. The same is true of non-fiction writing class and the literature class. Teaching can be a very imaginative endeavor, finding the words to communicate clearly with students to help them comprehend, learn, and improve; and hopefully inspiring, challenging, and encouraging them as well.

And while I finished homeschooling my own children several years ago, I think it's worth mentioning that homeschooling required a tremendous amount of imagination. From choosing curriculum to tweaking it or even writing our own, to figuring out ways to organize our days and cover all the bases, it all takes a bit of creative thinking!

Every time I've wanted to give a gift to someone I care about, I've had to use my imagination to come up with ideas and make a decision what to give, and maybe even how to get the gift to them. Even when I have the convenience of having someone's Amazon wish list, I still get to imagine how the gift will convey my affection or admiration to the recipient. 

When we moved, it required quite a bit of imagination to believe it would all work out okay, and even to do the logistics. We imagined a way to have our adult kids stay in our house so they could have the continuity of a family home and we didn't have to deal with the stress of selling it. I had to imagine how to make a rented townhouse feel like it was our new home, and that's something I'm still working on. We've had to reimagine what life could be like as we abruptly became empty nesters who had moved out of our own nest! 

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How has your imagination been a valuable tool in making your life better or more interesting? Are you creative in artistic ways, or does your imagination help you solve problems or communicate or do your job more efficiently? Leave a comment and let me know!

Tell Us About . . . is a monthly opportunity for bloggers to showcase their creativity. Each month one of the co-hosts will choose the word to focus on. On the third Thursday of every month we'll respond to the prompt "Tell Us About ---" which could be absolutely anything. And how we respond is also wide open. It could be a blog post with our opinions or reminscences; a poem, photos, a short story or whatever takes your fancy―it could even be a mix of all these! This month's theme is "Imagination" and our hostess is Suzy at The Grey Brunette.

This post is linked at Tell Us About Imagination.

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