Did you also dream as a child of becoming an astronaut, jungle explorer, the first female chancellor of Germany, or a world-famous pop star? Or did you not even want to settle for just one profession and imagined being a policeman, paramedic, and firefighter all at the same time?
As children, we look at the world with big, sparkling eyes.
We lose ourselves in our vivid fantasies about our fantastic future and bring it directly into our present by playing.
The cardboard box quickly is converted into a rocket; the kitchen sieve turned into a helmet and the snowsuit, no matter how hot the weather might be and if sweat is running down our forehead, is transformed into a spacesuit. And off we go to the moon, Jupiter or Mars. The teddy bears and dolls are carefully auscultated and bandaged with mummy's scarves to get them well again. And we spontaneously dig up the garden in search of gold, diamonds, or other treasures. At the latest, this action would guarantee the anger of our parents. And depending on the hardness of the expected punishment, this might have been our only digging action in life.
No matter how vivid our #imagination as a child may be, sooner or later, we are expected to suppress this wonderful gift, unfortunately.
We are told to be calm and not too wild, to be nice and polite, not to attract too much attention, obey and sit quietly and listen. In school at the latest, creative thinking only is required and permitted in art lessons; and even there only to a minimal extent. After all, one is supposed to acquire certain techniques and, again, for the sake of an excellent general education, learn something about the history of art.
Even in a children's room, #imagination and #creativity are soon hardly found.
Thanks to the many extracurricular activities such as sports, music lessons, or similar, which usually only show us again how to do something right. Or have you ever experienced a music teacher who said: "Keep hitting the keyboard and keep on trying until you find out what sounds nice"?
On top of that, you have to do homework, practice to play on the instrument, do household chores, and on the side you have to get enough sleep. There is not much time left for imaginative play.
Over the years, we, therefore, forget the things that were so naturally as a child. We forget how to dream big, imagine that we already have become the person of our dreams, and we exclude #creativity from our lives for the most part. We leave it to others: the musicians, painters, entrepreneurs of this time.
And yet, creativity plays an immensely important role in our lives.
Many people associate #creativity exclusively with artists of all kinds and completely forget that we depend on it every single day.
No matter what class we are in, what profession we have, what or where we study, what education or hobbies we have, without #creativity, we would hardly be able to get through everyday life.
We are continually learning something new, have to organize and plan our days, and need to find the best strategy to accomplish our goals. We may want a good grade in the next exam, finally find the courage to ask the crush out for a date, to find a new job, to negotiate a promotion or a pay rise, or to skillfully combine friends, family and school/university/job without getting stressed.
Incessantly we have to adapt to new situations and find new ways and solutions.
We get involved in new projects, have to do things we never did before, or have to spontaneously reorganize the day because the car or the bike breaks down, the train doesn't run, or one of the children gets sick, unexpectedly.
We also continuously need #imagination and #creativity in our relationships. What is the best way to help a friend who calls because of a heartbreak? What does my child need the most right now? How do I continuously show my partner how much he or she means to me? How do I salvage the birthday cake for my best friend, when I forgot the baking powder?
Without consciously noticing it, our #creativity is needed several times a day and continuously at work. And the better we can use it, the more successful the solution we come up with will be.
But how do we consciously activate and train our #creativity?
Let's think back to the time when being on a fantasy trip all day long was the most natural thing in the world; when everything seemed to be possible and we flew to the moon in a cardboard box, had the wildest adventures in our parents' garden and found the greatest treasures.
What would we have done as a child? What would we have wished for our future selves? How did we imagine us to be as a grown-up?
Let us remind us about the picture we created of our adult self when we were a kid. How far away are we from that? Would our five-year-old version be proud of us, or would it look at us with a reproachful look and ask: "Seriously? Am I not a jungle explorer? Not an adventurer? I'm not saving the world?? How DAMN BORING is that?!"
No matter what the fictive response of our five-year-old version may be, it only gives us a hint of the direction we have decided to go. If we have not become the adventure-seeking explorer, continually trying to discover new animals and plants, then there was a reason for it.
There was an event that took us off this path, a decision that we consciously made, and we made it on our own.
No one forces us to do it. It was our free choice. The decision to take another way was based on the level of knowledge and our life vision at this time. That is absolutely fine, and nothing that should bother us. All that belongs to the past cannot be changed and is good the way it is.
After all, every single decision we made brought us here and made us who we are today. But the question is whether we like the place we are at and the person we have become or not. We need to know if we are precisely living the life we want the most.
Therefore, we should answer the following questions entirely honestly:
- What do I wish today for my future self?
- How do I want to be?
- How do I want to feel every day?
- How does my perfect day look?
- What is the exact daily routine?
- What do I do when, where, with whom and why?
- Where do I live?
- What do I experience?
- With whom do I experience it?
- What do I enjoy?
- Why do I enjoy it?
- How can I integrate the elements that I enjoy more into my everyday life?
- Who or what is good for me, and who or what is not?
The more questions we ask ourselves, the clearer, more precise, and more vivid the picture of our future becomes.
And the more likely it is that sooner or later, this picture finally will become our reality.
For this purpose, it is essential to write down the questions and our answers and to read them before going to bed in the evening and to imagine it vividly. As realizing the things that truly matter to us might take some time and iteration, we need to adjust this list continuously and adapt everything that no longer feels good.
If we would ask these questions to a child, the answers would surely come like a shot out of a gun. Everything would be crystal clear. And that is precisely the clarity we need today. But where do children get such an un-mistakenly clear sense of what they want and don't want?
Children know so well what they want, simply because they try it!
They don't think long about how it could be to do something and get countless books in which they read about how someone else did it or why the things they had in mind can't work.
No!
Children are intuitive beings, listening to their gut feeling and, therefore, automatically know that they have to try it when they want to experience it. They try new things every day and thus get to know themselves as well as their needs.
As we seek to experience the freedom, we attributed to our parents, who could always decide everything and especially about us, we desire to grow up quickly. We eagerly try to become adults. And as we leave the childish phase of our lives behind, we also no longer follow the intuitive approach of trying new things. Before we dare to do something new, we usually now search the internet, read books on the subject, and talk with friends about it, only to decide at some point whether we want to try it or not.
Therefore, hand on heart: When was the last time you did something crazy? Something new?
Did you rush into something without informing yourself about it for hours beforehand, simply because your gut feeling told you it could be great? When was the last time you tried out a new hobby, a new way of traveling, a change of industry, or deliberately approached strangers to meet new people?
As children, we do these things every day.
An idea pops into our head, and as soon as our gut feeling decides that it could be fun, we try it. Although the result is excruciating here and there and does not pass us by without bruises and wounds, we continuously experience something new and learn more about ourselves and the world in a short time than we would over the years when we are older.
In-play we try and test everything unrestrainedly, whether we like it or not, and whether it works the way we want. One day we extinguish all the fires in the world or stand on stage and give everything we have in our singing performance, and the next day we tinker a parachute out of our blanket and jump off the garage roof. The latter, of course, falls into the category painful but instructive. But there are some things we have to experience by ourselves first to deeply understand it, even if injuries are inevitable here and there.
Let your deeds speak for you.
Therefore the answer to the above questions is, of course, followed by one thing: Action!
As a child, did you dream of being a firefighter and do you still have this dream deep inside of you? Then go to the voluntary fire brigade near you and offer your help.
Have you always dreamed of standing on the big stage and inspiring the masses with your songs? Then go to the nearest karaoke bar and rock the house!
It is never too late to become the person you want to be.
Start with small steps and see if you like it; if it provides you with what you want.
Start dreaming wildly and boundlessly again!
It is YOUR life!
Make it the imaginative place of your childhood where everything is possible, and you can be whoever you want to be!
Have you maybe already taken the first step and would like to share your experiences? I am looking forward to reading about it!
Love,
Your Nadine
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