I was driving around in my car today and my daughters asked me what I was going to do when this Experiment came to an end. I responded that i hadn't thought about yet. I haven't yet planned for an extension to my writing. I just slog through the daily exercise, and enjoy the personal challenge of attempting to have something new to say each day.
Aside from one or two pieces, I have not let them read my words. While the majority of it is PG-13, it's not for them yet. Amazingly, they have both respected that choice. And while at some point I am sure they will sit down and read it all, I hope they can balance the feelings of horror with some feelings of pride knowing their mother has made many of the choices she has because she loved them so much. And because she loved herself, too.
But they still want to play a role in this project. When they catch me writing, they inquire as to the topic of the day. They ask if I write about them ever, and want to know if people actually read it. I decided to involve them to a larger degree. Today, they each gave me a word to write about. And I will let them read these two days, as they provided the inspiration for them.
Chiara provided today's word, imagination. It is such a perfect choice for her. Of course, I have no idea what she was thinking when she shared it. I'll give my thoughts on the word though, and then we can compare notes. It should be fuel for our good dinner conversation tonight.
When I think of imagination, I think of the input to creativity. I think of wildly intelligent people. I think of soul and individuality. I think of children. And I think of happiness. I think of the importance of fairytales.
I think of all these things because imagination is that state where limits are boundless. The restrictions are off. Albert Einstein had a terrific quote. "Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere." How true.
Without imagination we would not have all the incredible movies, art, meals, or new apps we enjoy. Or anything else we care about. There are many intelligent people in the world. However, those with the ability to first understand and then push past the rational and be willing to experiment and go after the seemingly obscure - those are the brilliant people in my mind.
Children are spectacular at this. They are able to create stories and narratives and thus exercise their imaginations engaging in two levels. They are able to do simple role playing, which allows them to act out what they create in their imaginations. They are able at a deeper level, though, to pretend that what they have created is their actual reality while acting it out. For example, I'm pretending I am a Princess, and my good Prince Wesley is coming to rescue me. I live in a danger place, and three bad guys are preventing him from getting to me. As I act this out as the Princess, I can actually pretend that my playroom is a castle, my three teddy bears are the bad guys, and my 6 ft. tall giraffe is Wesley. I have used my imagination in full force, and I'm only five.
Why does that often diminish as we get older? Why do we let that piece of ourselves go? Is it because it is not rewarded or valued? It seems that we live in a world that rewards imagination. Venture funding is thrown at companies with brilliant, disruptive ideas.
Is it because we are intimidated to break those chains of thinking "out of the box" and think differently? Is it because we just don't know where to start? Is it because we are afraid of our thoughts being rejected? Perhaps there is a something to being trapped between being willing to embrace our ability to imagine and our deep rooted belief systems in some areas.
I don't have the answer. What I do know is that I'm grateful for the incredible imaginations of our time. Those people like Walt Disney, Steve Jobs and Annie Leibovitz who take a basic idea and then just get to imagining in a very different way have made the world such a more interesting place.
Chiara, you share this characteristic too. Your eye for photography and talent for art are so special. You are intellectually very bright, but combined with your imagination, you will be unstoppable. Don't ever put that gift back in the box.
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