I have several elementary school–aged children in my life who use their imagination abundantly throughout the day. Nearly everything can be made into a game, a discovery, or an opportunity to pretend. And I admire this. We adults don’t often get to daydream for long stretches of time or turn our office into a game of tag or leapfrog.
But maybe we could let our imagination flow more often. Maybe we could leave some space for our minds to drift.
People often share that some of their best ideas emerge in the shower. In those moments, we’re not often thinking linearly, and we’re definitely not scrolling through our phones.
I experience something similar when I’m biking. I’m paying attention to my surroundings — I have to — but I also have imaginative thoughts based on what I see along the way. Sometimes, they make me laugh, too.
For instance, I probably wouldn’t have noticed the dumpster I was passing, except it was from a company called “Dignified Dumpsters.” Those words were displayed prominently on the side. What would make a dumpster… dignified? What would you need to have in order to think, “Oh yes, well, this one is dignified?”
My mind went in that direction for a while, and it’s not a question I ever thought I’d ask.
About fifteen minutes later, while passing by many houses, I wondered, “If the multiverse is real, and there are parallel universes, do various versions of me know various versions of every single person in this town?” If so, I think that would be neato.
However your day is going, I hope you have time for imagination and a few stream-of-consciousness thoughts.
—Renee Roederer
Smuggling Grace 