Imagination is Where Your Mind Plays

So there I was a young child growing up in Moore, Idaho. I did not have sisters, my friends did not live close by, I was not a part of many community activities, and I did not have television. What I did have was a magnificent imagination. I would imagine a whole different world where I was the master. I liked to play in the dirt, explore the mountains, talk to myself in the mirror, make rafts, dig for fossils, make up dance routines and put on a show for the family, and write stories. When I was nine, my imagination led me to become a little capitalist. I would think of all kinds of ways to make money.

One example of my childhood capitalistic imagination is when my best friend Shauna and I were laying on my bed looking up at my ceiling and talking. All of a sudden it hit me. Why had I never thought of this before? I noticed that my chandelier had huge, shiny diamonds (of course I now know they are prisms). Shauna and I agreed to walk a mile and a half to the C & L Market to trade the diamonds for cash. On the walk there, we agreed upon our marketing approach. It went something like this, "Hello. My name is Mandy. It is an awesome day. Today we have an awesome deal for you. I'd like to sell these diamonds to you for a very low price. You will get such a good deal. These diamonds are worth $40 but today's price is $10." Needless to say we did not have any luck. On the way home from the store I was so frustrated that I threw away the "diamonds." There are still missing spots on my chandelier of where the prism used to be.

I see children on a daily basis and they seem to have less imagination than me and my friends when I was their age. Why is this? My hypothesis is that these children are spending most of their time being entertained by television and video games instead of spending their time discovering, playing make believe, and building any world that they would like. I see it often in therapy. A lot of my client do not know how to play. I wonder what this generation of all entertainment and little imagination will become.

In the words of my four year old nephew Collin "Imagination is where your mind plays." I hope that each of us still use our imaginations to think of how life could be different, how to creatively solve the problems around us, and make any life of which we can dream.

A Photo Tribute to Little Mandy Lin

Me and pom-poms in a parade * Brother Levi and I playing outside

I just love this photo...the hair..the teeth. Thank goodness for hair straightners and the natural movement of teeth.

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