It is remarkable to be so tired after a day of doing virtually nothing during yesterday’s snow day. I dragged around much of today, feeling physically tired even though my mind was relatively clear. One of my colleagues at work noted a general lack of energy in our office suite that she’d also observed in other parts of the campus. That made me feel a little better, and while I’m happy to know that I wasn’t alone in my lethargy I was lethargic nonetheless. The old expression “misery loves company” applies here, but even with company, who wants to be miserable? Just wondering.
I am grateful this evening for the blessing of imagination. It is a useful thing to have when you’re tired and wishing for two weeks on a beach someplace warm and sunny. I can close my eyes and put myself there, sitting in one of those semi-reclining beach chairs, a fruity drink that comes in a hollowed out pineapple with one of those little umbrellas sticking out of it resting on one of the arms of the chair. I can hear the sounds of the surf (I’m not watching it, my eyes are closed) and feel a warm (not hot) breeze blowing over me. Of course I’m sitting under the shade of an umbrella so as not to be crisped by the UV rays of the sun. Ah yes, the power of imagination.
Sometimes I use my imagination to try to see into the mind or heart of a person I am trying to figure out. Often it is a person with whom I am in conflict. What is it that makes that person tick? Why are they the way they are and how can I use that knowledge to try and forge a good relationship with them? I believe that if I can figure out what makes a person behave as they do, particularly if that behavior is challenging to me, then I can try to adjust my approach to them in such a way that we can work together in more meaningful and effective ways. Of course this process also requires me to know myself pretty well also–what makes me tick, and what is it about this person that sets me on edge, puts me on the defensive, makes me uncomfortable? I use my imagination to construct answers to these hypothetical questions. Sometimes I am way off in my assessments–both of myself and of the other person–but more often than not my analysis of the person and the situation is pretty good.
When I’m trying to improve a relationship, I can’t spend all of my time and energy focusing on what’s wrong with the other person; I have to spend an equal or perhaps even greater amount of time pondering what in me is responding to them. Again, all of this is toward the end goal of being in better relationship with that person. It is through all this imagining that I construct a story that allows me to see them not as an “enemy” or adversary, but as a human being who has experienced challenges and struggles, joys and excitement, and the full range of emotions and experiences open to us all. And when I can see them in this light, my heart and mind are filled with compassion for them in their humanity. As best I can, I approach them from this place of compassion. And yet sometimes, even after all of this, the person remains an enigma to me and I am unable to find my way into a clearer, better connection to them. In that case, I use my imagination to create different ways to work around that person as best I can. It takes a lot of energy, but is usually worth the effort.
I know. I can hear you saying, “That is not what I expected you to write about when you expressed gratitude for imagination.” It’s one of the wonderful things about imagination: you can create all kinds of interesting plot twists and turns, goals and objectives, chord progressions and lyrics, doodles and sketches. The creativity of imagination manifests in as many different ways are there are neuronal pathways in the brain and as many individual people on the planet. Ain’t it great? That’s part of what makes this gratitude path interesting. Thanks for journeying along with me.
