- Share This Post
- submit
- 6
-
Sparkle (0)
Ah, the imagination! The imagination gives us the ability to see ourselves in any circumstance, any wild and wonderful scenario, either in the world or out of it. It can take us on the "future trip" of all time, spinning our reality around until it is only vaguely recognizable. Look at how easily children create new realities to enjoy with their supple imaginations. Cardboard boxes can become snow forts, and a comfy chair can instantly become an ancient regal throne. The bathtub can become a formidable pirate's ship, all decked out for navigating the perils and adventures of the high seas.
Children can imagine themselves anywhere, doing anything. And that is what I am going to ask you to do.
It is important to dream, to envisage a possible future. As the poet, Langston Hughes said,
Dreams
Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.
Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow.
So, that is what we are going to do. I am going to encourage you to dream, to imagine.
Stretch your imagination ten years forward.
Imagine yourself really happy. See yourself enjoying life, smiling. The rules that apply now, may not apply in the 10-years-from-now-world. Any sort of upheaval may or may not take place between now and then. So, feel free to let your imagination run rampant about your future.
Now, spend some time examining what your happiness looks like. What are the components to it? What ingredients are in the background? What contributes to that happiness?
Then, slowly come back to the present.
Now, think about what it might take to get you from here to there.
Ten years is a pretty long stretch into the future. Ten years ago, Google was in its infancy. Many people were just getting online. The world was awaiting the disaster of the Y2K bug. things we didn't believe were possible then, are in fact possible today. So even if what you are left with as the way to happiness seems silly, or improbable, give some time over to thinking what you can do to get there.
The future changes, transmogrifies (my new favorite word), and shimmers into all kinds of unexpected places. But, if you start putting steps in place now, as the world shifts, your steps can shift as well.
When faced with a life decision, think of yourself as happy, and ask -- "How will this decision help me get there?"
I am not suggesting that happiness of self is the be all and end all. But we can do more for others if we are happy in the now, as opposed to miserable, or unsatisfied or stressed beyond manageability.
I am also not suggesting that a dream will always come true, or even that it should. But I do think that dreamers are happier. And I think that wishing for one kind of happiness can end us up at another kind, maybe even a better one.
When I think of my own happiness, I am thinner, more physically fit, more engaged in an active community of people, more financially secure and helping more people purposefully. My own list surprised me. And there are things I can do now that I know will help me get there.
And you?
Jenna Black comes at this from the reverse.
I have two things I’d like to tell my younger self, in hopes that knowing the future would reduce some of the anguish I went through. I’d like to tell my twenty-something self that I would eventually find Mr. Right, because my boyfriend in college did such a hatchet number on my heart that I really believed I would never fall in love again. You can be assured that I didn’t write much in the way of romance during those days, because it’s hard to believe in a happily-ever-after when your heart has been irreparably (or so I thought) broken. I think the pessimism I felt in thinking I’d be alone for the rest of my life affected much of my writing, and not in a good way.
Sandy Morgan tells her inspirational story about dreams:
Time has been good to me. Born in the late 40's, my folks were told I'd be a vegetable who would never sit up. Soon my parents realized this as not so an began to work with me. As far back as I can remember, I visualized success in whatever I wanted to do. That's the true blessing of going through
