Imagination … What Is It?

What comes to mind when you see or hear the word imagination?

While I’m sure everyone would think something different, the foundation would be the same - it’s what your mind/brain creates.

But how does our mind create these images? Why can 2 people look at the same thing and image completely different things? What causes a person to have more imagination than another? Why do some people seem to have no imagination at all?

I’m sure there have been and will continue to be thousands of studies and tests to determine the answers to these and other questions about imagination.

Imagination propels our existence. Without imagination there would be no inventions. Without imagination, what would our future look like?

Imagination is a must for a writer in my opinion. It’s what spurs the writer to create the stories they create. A lot of writing is based solely on the author’s imagination with little or no reality involved.

I began to think about imagination and what fuels it while listening to my mother-in-law. She will soon be 91 years old and has Alzheimer’s. What little I know about this terrible disease is that it causes the person to digress to their younger self. They live in the past when they were children or young adults. They sometimes don’t recognize their own grown children because to them the children haven’t been born or they are only infants. The also relive events from their past.

My mother-in-law has these symptoms. But she also talks to people no one in the family has ever heard of. At times she also thinks events are taking place that she never experienced before such as the house burning or a child drowning. She sometimes carries on conversations with people as one does when they’re young and create imaginary friends to play with.

I guess my ramblings today are to say those who have imaginations seem to have them with them from birth to death. At various stages of our life we use our imaginations in different ways. However, it’s always there whether we use it or allow it to lay dormant. And at some point with this terrible disease, the imagination can take over becoming the reality without us ever realizing it.

Do you make an effort each day to use your imagination? Do you remember the fun you had as a child when you put your imagination to work? Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope you take time to enjoy a good book today.