Kristal Lee

Today's A-Z Challenge letter is "I".

What is this ethereal entity we call imagination?

Dictionary.com ~the product of imagining;  a conception or mental creation, often a baseless or fanciful one.

Merriam-Webster Dictionary ~ the act or power of forming a mental image of something not present to the senses or never before wholly perceived in reality.

SuccessConsciousness.com ~ the ability to form a mental image of something that is not perceived through the senses.

Wikipedia ~ the work of the mind that helps create, provides meaning to experience and understanding to knowledge; is a fundamental facility through which people make sense of the world. The basic training for imagination is listening to storytelling, in which the exactness of the chosen words is the fundamental factor to "evoke worlds."  Woohoo! I like this def the best!

I believe, as my tagline will attest, that Imagination is the elixir of life, not the elusive Philosopher's Stone that has enraptured alchemists since the 10th century--including Sir Isaac Newton. Without imagination, there is no progress, no growth. Only stagnation and decline. Imagination pushes us forward, keeps us in motion. Ever learning. Ever reaching to understand more.


Imaginative play is a critical part of child development. It is an activity we should carry over into adulthood to continually revitalize ourselves. Unfortunately, many of us don't bring it with us because we're clinging to bad memories and disappointments.

Jerome L Singer, PhD, Professor Emeritus Yale University, has studied the phenomenon of imaginative play in adults and surmises that daydreaming and fantasy could improve everyday problem-solving abilities. He further postulates that imbibing in "creative novels and dramas built around characters’ private thoughts" could have a similar effect.

My interpretation of Dr. Singer's research...indulging in imagination is good.


Albert Einstein rode the imagination train. He said, "logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere."  He also believed imagination was more important that knowledge. "For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand."


Motivational speaker, Stephen Covey, encourages us to "live out of {our} imagination, not {our} history." And, Henry Miller asserted that "imagination is the voice of daring. If there is anything godlike about God it is that. He dared to imagine everything."

When you engage your imagination, you become the creator of a universe that is uniquely and unequivocally your own. The only limitations to that providence are the ones you devise.

Seems some experts have determined that play time is not only good for kids, but adults as well. In fact, its essential to our well being. There’s even scientific research to prove it. Who knew that scientists were interested in playing? There’s even a National Institute for Play in California! According to some studies, play is a natural stress reliever with the proven health benefits of lowering blood pressure, increasing energy and reducing fatigue. Playfulness with a partner can increase romantic attraction and boost libido.


So, what qualifies as play? Whatever you find fun to do in which you have no goal except the sheer enjoyment of doing it. You remember those things, don’t you? The things that make you go wheeee! and woohoo!

Personally, I like stomping puddles in the rain. Its childish, undignified, and I’m definitely too old to be doing it, but that makes it all the more fun. I’ve also been known to walk by a ringing phone in a store,–you know, the ones hanging on the wall that the sales associates use to call different departments– pick it up and have a kooky conversation with the associate on the other end.

Sometimes a potentially embarrassing moment can be the constructs for a new game. While I was eating crab legs in a restaurant, water shot from the shell as I cracked it with my hands. It squirted over my shoulder like a miniature geyser and sprayed the woman sitting at the table behind me, who incidentally thought condensation from the air conditioning vent had dripped on her. Of course, then it became a game to see if I could do it again. Disappointingly to me, but probably not to the other patrons, I was unable to recreate the event. But that doesn’t deter me from trying whenever I eat crab legs.

Now, I have scientific endorsements for when I have moments like those and encouragement for more. Oh, I will relish telling my family and friends…Play, play, I must play.

For more information on Play, check out the article “Go Out and Play” by Margaret Renkl in the May 2010 edition of Ladies Home Journal.

~Kristal Lee