How to improve & hone your imagination skills?

20/2/2016

Imagination is our ability to create or make mental pictures of the objects, things, people, situation and events which are either not existed or may have existed in the past. For example you can enjoy a cup of tea in your mind, you can imagine watching a movie or going to picnic with your friends. You can imagine anything like past events or the new ideas, negative situation or positive outcomes (A strong personality tries to restrict the negative thoughts to the maximum extent); it is solely your choice and decision.

The right imagination increases your productivity and what you imagine most of the time defines your taste and shapes your overall personality.
We imagine every now and then in our daily lives whether we are leaving for the office, planning a trip, having a cup of tea, or watching a movie. This has become an indispensable process and part of our life that we do consciously or unconsciously. Each one of us possesses the ability to imagine, the only difference is the degree of imagination; some people have high imagination abilities while others have low.
The imagination has the ability to take you to the whole new world where you can evaluate and analyze the things with wide perspective and can look at the situation with different point of view. When you imagine any event or situation, you actually get lost in it and start feeling that situation though your senses which allows you to understand the things in a deeper and better way.
Well, all your imagination is based on your 5 senses and they define the type of imagination, which are as follows:

You can imagine a taste like having a cup of coffee or tea, relishing a tasty dinner etc
You can imagine sound or lyrics
You can imagine physical sensation
You can imagine a smell
You can imagine a picture

The strong imagination power strengthens your abilities and helps you in improving your life. The types of things, objects, people and situation you imagine defines your overall personality. If your imagination is inclined towards negative outcome, you become a defeated person and if you imagine positive outcomes and try to find the solution of the problems, you will not only emerge out as winner but also end up in igniting the chain reaction of positive thoughts in the surroundings.
The type and degree of imagination defines your creativity power. Anyone can increase the degree of imagination; there are ways to improve it which helps you in becoming a better and successful person. These ways are as follows:

(1) Become voracious reader and practice telling interesting stories

Do you know that our mind understands the things in the form of pictures? When you read words, your mind tries to make picture of those words to make you understand. The more you read the better and easier it becomes for the mind to create the picture of the words and ultimately improves your imagination power. It is like exercising & practicing your mind to stay charged & motivated and getting better day by day.
Telling stories or having healthy conversation helps in increasing your imagination power.

(2) Be curious and try new things

Do not accept anything for granted, try to find the reason behind its existence or occurrence. You can find interesting questions from your daily life like:

Why earth rotates?
What is the reason behind the seasons?
How much time does sunlight takes to reach the earthÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s surface?
How curd is made?
Why things fall on the ground? And many more

Your curious approach of questioning the things and finding their solution will enhance your imagination power.
Moreover, if you have new ideas in your mind then why not try and implement it? The new ideas open the whole new territory for the mind to create & imagine the things which were not implemented by you in the past. For example, instead of charging your smart phone from the normal charger why not use a solar mobile charger to power your phone.

(3) Write and try visual art on the regular basis

When you are reading the words are written on the book but when you are writing & drawing pictures, the notebook is initially blank and the paper is white. It is you who is writing and creating picture out of own words. Now, your mind is doing extra exercise as compared to when you are only reading.

(4) Try decorating your house or room

This is the example of one of those activities where you are trying to re-arrange the existing image in the fixed dimensions of the room. Your mind is engaged in finding the finding the pattern that best suits in your room or the house. You are enhancing your imagination skills in this process of re-creating or decorating the room or house.

(5) Make a habit of listening to music without lyrics

We generally listen to music with lyrics and your mind is bound to imagine and create picture based on that music only. But when you listen to the music without lyrics you are open to imagine & create your own lyrics that can best fit into that music. Try listening instrumental music, compose your own music and sing; this activity will improve your imagination skills.

(6) Try to create or make something more interesting by your own

The art of creating new things is the best way to accelerate your imagination skills. You can make your existing and monotonous routine interesting when you add the pinch of imagination in it.
For example:

If you are a housewife then try preparing same food in a different manner like garnishing it in different way or cutting salad more stylishly or preparing a delicious cake or serving food in different way etc.
Try creating something new out of scrap like making a pen holder from cardboard box or making things like an aeroplane, boat or monkey from paper and play with your children.
Try making a kite and fly it.
On the bigger scale, try creating a product or service that can be helpful for the society.

The concise view of the cause and the effect

S.No	Activity	Effect on mind
1	Reading a book	You are making pictures of the words written by others
2	Questioning	You are imagining the probable solution
3	Writing	You are converting your imagination into words
4	Decoration	You are re-arranging the image of the room or house in your mind
5	Listening to music without lyrics	You are filling the empty space with music through your imagination
6	Creating	You are using your imagination to shape a new thing

Conclusion

Imagination does not have any physical boundaries but have mental barriers that can limit or dwarf your imagination. Practicing above activities will enhance your imagination skills & rejuvenate life by widening its horizon and overall circumference. I have listed the above activities based on my own experience and imagination. You can definitely try out or find more activities to hone your imagination skills and help you in leading a successful life. Well, I am trying these activities on regular basis and I would love to know any new activity from your side that I can help all of us to improve further.