Fuel your Imagination

Chapter Three: Revolution of Imagination is all about how we can tap into our imagination to come up with solutions that can build a better world. Imagination is the gateway to creativity, we are all born with it, but throughout our lives it can feel like we become more distant from our imaginative selves. It’s almost like imagination is a muscle we need to keep flexing, so we’ve got a few ways to start exercising our imagination, to bring it back to the forefront of our everyday lives. 

Do something that sparks all of your senses

Try to experience something that touches every one of your senses, and really think about them all individually. What does that smell, taste, sound, touch make you feel or think about? Wild swimming could be a great example of this. If you’ve never been before, please check out some safety tips, and perhaps wait until some milder weather and ease in! 

Forced Connections

The theory of forced connections is designed to help you start thinking out of the box. Take two seemingly unrelated items, concepts or words and give yourself the challenge of finding connections between them. This way of forcing your brain to make connections can help with thinking beyond traditional boundaries, and even uncover some innovative solutions.

Start a dream journal 

We’re probably at our most imaginative when we sleep, the dreams we conjure up within ourselves can sometimes seem beyond the realms of what we could ever think of in our day-to-day lives. Try and jot down what you dreamt of when you wake up, and this could set your imagination off on its path for the day ahead. 

Actively visualise

This is sort of like daydreaming on purpose. Give your imagination a simple, specific task to visualise something in extreme detail. You could imagine your perfect world, imagine walking the streets, getting your groceries, the smells around you. Let yourself fully experience it all through your imagination. 

If technology, innovation and behaviour change is the vehicle to a better world, then imagination is the engine. Imagination isn’t related to how good we are at art or the physical things we can create, but is more about observing, seeing gaps and possibilities to fix things. If we could allow a small amount of time in our day to try out some techniques to exercise imagination, we could start naturally coming up with the solutions we all crave.