I can only imagine…

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us.—Ephesians 3:20

When I am feeling stuck, engaging in what some call, “analysis paralysis,” I find it helpful to apply the power of our God-given creative imagination for inspiration and problem-solving.

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Imagination is a powerful entity. It can cause the hair on the back of our neck to stand up, our spirit to soar, or our face to blush. Imagination is the power that holds our beliefs together; we believe with our imagination. Imagination is the wellspring of faith and hope. Our biggest and best dreams for ourselves and others rise from the imagination.

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When we have been hurt, our imagination is wounded. As a result, alienation and belief in bad news replace belief in good news. We may have...

• a feeling response that can become frozen into resentment. 
• an anger response that can become frozen into negative reactions of rage or passivity. 
• an interpretation response that can become frozen in negative attitudes, perceptions, biases, and beliefs. 

As a result, our imagination becomes paralyzed. Attending to our wounded imagination is a path through forgiveness. Forgiveness expands our horizons and invites us to retrieve the positive and work through the negative. Is the glass of water half-full or half-empty? The answer depends entirely on how you see it. “How you see it” is called “perception.”

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There is the story about the blind men and the elephant. Each man named and described the animal according to his experience of touching only one part of the elephant’s body. The man who held the trunk “perceived” the elephant to be a large snake; the man who held the leg “perceived” the elephant to be a sturdy tree. In the same way, we “perceive” life—depending on what our experience is.  Our experiences generate our expectations and our perceptions. We interpret life experiences, and we form expectations and perceptions, attitudes, and assumptions.

.

All of this activity is the work of the imagination.

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It is also the work of the imagination to reinterpret and reform repeated assumptions and expectations. Forgiveness demands that we take another look so that our imagination can reframe our narrow interpretations. Forgiveness includes the decision to refocus or enlarge the context…walk a mile in another’s shoes. When we enlarge the context, we refocus, or we see it through a wider lens.

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Imagination is the work of seeing through a wider lens.

.

If we remain stuck in a negative interpretation of an old offense, we will experience resentment whenever we think about it, or about the offender. We will never be able to grieve and let go; we will seesaw between rage and resignation; we will never allow anger to surface and put us back on the journey of forgiveness. If we insist on telling and retelling our bad news stories of the past, we simply recycle the bad news and pass it on to the next generation. We pollute the emotional environment; we remain stuck in lifeless memories instead of looking for a more positive side of things long past.

.

When you enlarge your perceptions using your creative imagination, you at least allow for the possibility of healing. You give yourself the opportunity to turn from the negative aspects of your past, to get rid of the excess baggage, and to face the journey into the future with hope.

.

When I served as the Florida Department of Education State Consultant for Gifted Education, I was frequently asked to provide technical assistance to school districts regarding strategies to improve creative and critical thinking skills for students.  I have identified some of those strategies here to inspire us to think creatively using our God-given imagination.

.

The formulation of a problem is often more essential than its solution, which may be merely a matter of mathematical or experimental skill. To raise new questions, new possibilities, to regard old questions from a new angle, requires creative imagination and marks real advance in science.—Albert Einstein.

.

The formulation of a problem determines the range of choices:  the questions you ask determine the answers you receive. Write the problems you want to solve as a question. Use the phrase, “In what ways might I…?” to start a problem statement. This keeps you from settling on a problem statement that may reflect only one perception of the problem. Keep asking this open-ended “In what ways might I…?” question allowing your creative imagination to flow.

.

You will be amazed at how your continual re-wording of the "In what ways might I...?" question will increase your creative thinking skills of Fluency, Flexibility, Originality, and Elaboration—the four primary strategies for developing and improving creative thinking or imagination:

• Fluency is the ability to think of many answers to a question, to list many possible solutions to a problem, or to generate a number of responses. Fluency is being able to think of lots of plans or ideas.
• Flexibility is the ability to change your way of thinking about a problem or situation. It is the ability to think of alternative ideas and to adapt to different situations. 
• Originality is the ability to think of fresh or unusual designs, ideas, responses, or styles. People who are original are independent and creative in their thoughts and actions. They create things that are new, different, or unique. 
• Elaboration is the process of expanding an idea by adding detail. To elaborate, you must understand the original idea and see a way to clarify or improve it by adding specific details. You are elaborating when you add to, enlarge, enrich, or expand descriptions, designs, drawings, explanations, instructions, reports or stories. 

Jesus used parables to help people imagine what His point was. Bible-centered imagination paints a picture of something new. It shows you the potential of what could be. Imagine how you will feel as a result of kicking a heart-hurting habit to the curb. 

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Use the blessings of God’s Fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22–23) as a carrot incentive to act differently...even more than what you’ve imagined, God can do. Imagine God smiling down on you as you trust Him with the scary things of your day. See yourself leaning on Him when you feel you can’t stand. Praise His name and feel Him smiling back at you through your suffering. Imagine who God has created you to be and what He has created you to do. Imagine how you feel as you let go of all that has held you back. When you set up God to rule over your life, no doubt, your heart can’t help but rule over your head.
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Lord Jesus, I can only imagine what it will be like to see Your light fully for the first time and bask in the light of Your glory. Your light has changed my life, given me wisdom, and helped me find my way out of dark places. It has illuminated Your Word and comforted me and taught me. I can only imagine what it will it be like one day to walk in a city where You are the light! In Jesus’ name I pray, amen.
.
Look Up—meditate on Ephesians 3:20 ... pray to see what it reveals about the character of God.
.
Look In—as you meditate on Ephesians 3:20 ... pray to see how you might apply it to your life. Be propelled to ask galvanizing questions about your discoveries: "Because God is_________, I will_____________."
.
Look Out—as you meditate on  Ephesians 3:20 ... pray to see how you might apply it to your relationships with others. Let the nature of God impact on every relationship, for your good, and for His glory.  

feeling stuck? just imagine...

Imagine Mosaic in New York City's Central Park

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us.—Ephesians 3:20

When I am feeling stuck, engaging in what some call, “analysis paralysis,” I find it helpful to apply the power of our God-given creative imagination for inspiration and problem-solving.
.
Imagination is a powerful entity. It can cause the hair on the back of our neck to stand up, our spirit to soar, or our face to blush. Imagination is the power that holds our beliefs together; we believe with our imagination. Imagination is the wellspring of faith and hope. Our biggest and best dreams for ourselves and others rise from the imagination.
.
When we have been hurt, our imagination is wounded. As a result, alienation and belief in bad news replace belief in good news. We may have...

• a feeling response that can become frozen into resentment.
• an anger response that can become frozen into negative reactions of rage or passivity.
• an interpretation response that can become frozen in negative attitudes, perceptions, biases, and beliefs.

As a result, our imagination becomes paralyzed. Attending to our wounded imagination is a path through forgiveness. Forgiveness expands our horizons and invites us to retrieve the positive and work through the negative. Is the glass of water half-full or half-empty? The answer depends entirely on how you see it. “How you see it” is called “perception.”
.
There is the story about the blind men and the elephant. Each man named and described the animal according to his experience of touching only one part of the elephant’s body. The man who held the trunk “perceived” the elephant to be a large snake; the man who held the leg “perceived” the elephant to be a sturdy tree. In the same way, we “perceive” life—depending on what our experience is.  Our experiences generate our expectations and our perceptions. We interpret life experiences, and we form expectations and perceptions, attitudes, and assumptions.
.
All of this activity is the work of the imagination.
.
It is also the work of the imagination to reinterpret and reform repeated assumptions and expectations. Forgiveness demands that we take another look so that our imagination can reframe our narrow interpretations. Forgiveness includes the decision to refocus or enlarge the context…walk a mile in another’s shoes. When we enlarge the context, we refocus, or we see it through a wider lens.
.
Imagination is the work of seeing through a wider lens.
.
If we remain stuck in a negative interpretation of an old offense, we will experience resentment whenever we think about it, or about the offender. We will never be able to grieve and let go; we will seesaw between rage and resignation; we will never allow anger to surface and put us back on the journey of forgiveness. If we insist on telling and retelling our bad news stories of the past, we simply recycle the bad news and pass it on to the next generation. We pollute the emotional environment; we remain stuck in lifeless memories instead of looking for a more positive side of things long past.
.
When you enlarge your perceptions using your creative imagination, you at least allow for the possibility of healing. You give yourself the opportunity to turn from the negative aspects of your past, to get rid of the excess baggage, and to face the journey into the future with hope.
.
When I served as the Florida Department of Education State Consultant for Gifted Education, I was frequently asked to provide technical assistance to school districts regarding strategies to improve creative and critical thinking skills for students.  I have identified some of those strategies here to inspire us to think creatively using our God-given imagination.

The formulation of a problem is often more essential than its solution, which may be merely a matter of mathematical or experimental skill. To raise new questions, new possibilities, to regard old questions from a new angle, requires creative imagination and marks real advance in science.—Albert Einstein.

.
The formulation of a problem determines the range of choices:  the questions you ask determine the answers you receive. Write the problems you want to solve as a question. Use the phrase, “In what ways might I…?” to start a problem statement. This keeps you from settling on a problem statement that may reflect only one perception of the problem. Keep asking this open-ended “In what ways might I…?” question allowing your creative imagination to flow.
.
You will be amazed at how your continual re-wording of the "In what ways might I...?" question will increase your creative thinking skills of Fluency, Flexibility, Originality, and Elaboration—the four primary strategies for developing and improving creative thinking or imagination:

• Fluency is the ability to think of many answers to a question, to list many possible solutions to a problem, or to generate a number of responses. Fluency is being able to think of lots of plans or ideas.

• Flexibility is the ability to change your way of thinking about a problem or situation. It is the ability to think of alternative ideas and to adapt to different situations.

• Originality is the ability to think of fresh or unusual designs, ideas, responses, or styles. People who are original are independent and creative in their thoughts and actions. They create things that are new, different, or unique.
• Elaboration is the process of expanding an idea by adding detail. To elaborate, you must understand the original idea and see a way to clarify or improve it by adding specific details. You are elaborating when you add to, enlarge, enrich, or expand descriptions, designs, drawings, explanations, instructions, reports or stories.
  
  
  .

  Jesus used parables to help people imagine what His point was. Bible-centered imagination paints a picture of something new. It shows you the potential of what could be. Imagine how you will feel as a result of kicking a heart-hurting habit to the curb. Use the blessings of God’s Fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22–23) as a carrot incentive to act differently...even more than what you’ve imagined, God can do. Imagine God smiling down on you as you trust Him with the scary things of your day. See yourself leaning on Him when you feel you can’t stand. Praise His name and feel Him smiling back at you through your suffering. Imagine who God has created you to be and what He has created you to do. Imagine how you feel as you let go of all that has held you back. When you set up God to rule over your life: no doubt, your heart can’t help but rule over your head.

  .

  Lord Jesus, I can only imagine what it will be like to see Your light fully for the first time and bask in the light of Your glory. Your light has changed my life, given me wisdom, and helped me find my way out of dark places. It has illuminated Your Word and comforted me and taught me. I can only imagine what it will it be like one day to walk in a city where You are the light! In Jesus’ name I pray, amen.

  .

  Look Up—meditate on Ephesians 3:20 ... pray to see what it reveals about the character of God.

  .

  Look In—as you meditate on Ephesians 3:20 ... pray to see how you might apply it to your life. Be propelled to ask galvanizing questions about your discoveries: "Because God is_________, I will_____________."

  .

  Look Out—as you meditate on  Ephesians 3:20 ... pray to see how you might apply it to your relationships with others. Let the nature of God impact on every relationship, for your good, and for His glory.  

  
  

  
  
  
  

a walk, a warm shower, and alpha waves

“Creativity is the residue of time wasted.”--Albert Einstein

What an interesting program today on Book TV with author Jonah Lehrer discussing his new book, Imagine: How Creativity Works. He takes a look at the science behind creative thinking and shows how it can be applied to solve problems.

Lehrer explains that the first stage of the insight experience is the stage of impasse--the frustration of hitting the wall. It turns out that flashes of brilliance all share a few essential features that scientists use to define what is called the “insight experience.” 

According to Lehrer, “When we tell one another the stories about creativity, we tend to leave out this phase of the creative process.” This feeling of impasse or boredom is an essential part of the creative process. When we reach the point of giving up, or let go of our preoccupation with the problem and allow our minds to wander or be bored, solutions are more likely to show up. The creative spark that we search for so diligently, often doesn’t show up until we let go. 

The second stage, the part where the idea hits, is too often recognized as the important moment. However, without the impasse or boredom moment, the flash of brilliance will remain in hiding. Like the proverbial watched pot, our brains hit the boiling point when we don’t try to force it. 

What actually happens in the brain just before the moment of insight? Scientists report that, right before a great idea hits, the brain is washed by alpha waves emanating from its right hemisphere. The exact function of the alpha waves is unknown, but we do know how to bring them on. 

Distractions to one’s focus, or relaxing activities like a walk, a warm shower, even a simple board game, will get the alpha waves pumping. It seems that when our minds are at ease — when the alpha waves are saturating our brain — we are more likely to direct our attention inward toward the stream of connections we retain in the right hemisphere. When we are diligently focused, our attention is outward toward the details of the problem we are trying to solve.

"It’s not until we’re being massaged by warm water, unable to check our email, that we’re finally able to hear the quiet voices in the backs of our heads telling us about the insight. The answers have been there all along — we just weren’t listening,” Lehrer says. 

As parents and teachers, we can help our children ignite these moments of insight for themselves by giving them space to be children and not rush them into adulthood; by not scheduling every moment of their lives; by giving them time for free play; and, perhaps most importantly, by allowing ourselves some time for flashes of brilliance. As Einstein said, “Creativity is the residue of time wasted.” We have to get a little bit better at wasting time. 

Lehrer suggests the Compound Remote Associate Problem activity to test one's ability to see relationships between seemingly mutually remote ideas, which is an important part of the creative thinking process, involving fluency, flexibility, and originality.

How about you? Want to test your creative thinking? 

Try this Compound Remote Associate Problem activity...

Think of a common word that is associated with all three words of the triad by formation of a compound word or phrase  (e.g., age / mile / sand form the compounds stoneage, milestone, and sandstone with the solution word stone).

For each set below, find the common word that is associated with all three words given:

1. Broken, Clear, Eye

2. Playing, Credit, Report

3. Barrel, Root, Belly

4. Rock, Times, Steel

5. Sore, Shoulder, Sweat

6. Pine, Crab, Sauce

The solution words are below...

Solution words: 1. Glass 2. Card 3. Beer 4. Hard 5. Cold 6. Apple

Imagine

Our son, Jason, and I at the "imagine" mosaic in NYC Central Park in 2007

Favorite Creative Imagination Quote: “The formulation of a problem is often more essential than its solution, which may be merely a matter of mathematical or experimental skill. To raise new questions, new possibilities, to regard old questions from a new angle, requires creative imagination and marks real advance in science.”—Albert Einstein

When I served as the Florida Department of Education State Consultant for Gifted Education, I was frequently asked to provide technical assistance to school districts regarding strategies to improve creative and critical thinking skills for school-age students. In this article, I have identified some terrific strategies for learning to think creatively by using our imagination, including applications for both children and adults.

Strategies for Identifying and Developing Imagination in Children
Fluency, Flexibility, Originality, and Elaboration are the four primary strategies for developing and improving creative thinking or imagination.

Fluency is the ability to think of many answers to a question, to list many possible solutions to a problem, or to generate a number of responses. Fluency is being able to think of lots of plans or ideas. You are fluent when you can:

• Think of a long list of reasons for not cleaning your room.
• Make a very long list of games to play at a party.
• List many uncommon uses for a common thing, like a shoelace.
  

Flexibility is the ability to change your way of thinking about a problem or situation. It is the ability to think of alternative ideas and to adapt to different situations. You are flexible when you can:

• Think of indoor games to play when your birthday party has been rained out.
• Think of another way to reach the top shelf when you can’t find the stepladder.
• Invent an interesting way to wash the kitchen floor.
  

Originality is the ability to think of fresh or unusual designs, ideas, responses, or styles. People who are original are independent and creative in their thoughts and actions. They create things that are new, different, or unique. You are original when you can:

• Suggest a unique name for your new baby sister.
• Devise a tool that will help you hold a pencil while your broken arm is in a cast.
• Design a get-well card for a sick friend and write your own message inside.
  

Elaboration is the process of expanding an idea by adding detail. To elaborate, you must understand the original idea and see a way to clarify or improve it by adding specific details. You are elaborating when you add to, enlarge, enrich, or expand descriptions, designs, drawings, explanations, instructions, reports or stories. You are using elaboration when you can:

• Add extra details to a community map so that a friend can find your house more easily.
• Tell more about a character in a story so that a reader can identify with him or her.
• Explain the instructions for a game in greater detail than was used by the manufacturer of the game.

Application of Imagination Strategies for Adults

Our imagination is a powerful entity. It can cause the hair on the back of our neck to stand up, our spirit to soar, or our face to blush. Imagination is the power that holds our beliefs together; we believe with our imagination. The imagination is the wellspring of faith and hope. Our biggest and best dreams for ourselves and others rise from the imagination. As adults, when we have been hurt, our imagination is wounded. As a result, alienation and belief in bad news replace belief in good news.

• We may have a feeling response that can become frozen into resentment.
• We may have an anger response that can become frozen into negative reactions of rage or passivity.
• We might have an interpretation response that can become frozen in negative attitudes, perceptions, biases, and beliefs. As a result, our imagination becomes paralyzed. Attending to our wounded imagination is a path through forgiveness.

Forgiveness expands our horizons and invites us to retrieve the positive and work through the negative. Is the glass of water half-full or half-empty? The answer depends entirely on how you see it. “How you see it” is called “perception.” There is the story about the blind men and the elephant. Each man named and described the animal according to his experience of touching only one part of the elephant’s body. The man who held the trunk “perceived” the elephant to be a large snake; the man who held the leg “perceived” the elephant to be a sturdy tree. In the same way, we “perceive” life—depending on what our experience is. Our experiences generate our expectations and our perceptions. We interpret life experiences, and we form expectations and perceptions, attitudes and assumptions. All of this activity is the work of the imagination. It is likewise the work of the imagination to reinterpret and reform repeated assumptions and expectations.

Forgiveness demands that we take another look so that our imagination can reframe our narrow interpretations. Forgiveness includes the decision to refocus or enlarge the context. Native Americans speak of walking a mile in another’s moccasins. When we enlarge the context, we refocus, or we see it through a wider lens. Imagination is the work of seeing through a wider lens. If we stick to a negative interpretation of an old offense, we will experience resentment whenever we think about it, or about the offender. We will never be able to grieve and let go; we will seesaw between rage and resignation; we will never allow anger to surface and put us back on the journey of forgiveness. If we insist on telling and retelling our bad news stories of the past, we simply recycle the bad news and pass it on to the next generation. We pollute the emotional environment; we remain stuck in lifeless memories instead of looking for a more positive side of things long past.

When you enlarge your perceptions, using your imagination, you at least allow for the possibility of healing. You give yourself the opportunity to turn from the negative aspects of your past, to get rid of the excess baggage, and to face the journey into the future with hope...What are your thoughts?