Imagination is Everything

January 19, 2014January 31, 2014Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life Tags: Creativity, Einstein, imagination, NaamaYehuda, Reality, Transformation 2 Comments

Albert Einstein said: “Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life’s coming attractions.”

How apt and true and whole encompassing. How delicious. How perfectly fun!

If you’ve seen a child submerged in play, you know that imagination is their dress rehearsal for all matters living. If you’ve seen an artist bubbled in their creative space, you know that imagination is the spring that feeds it. If you’ve heard a fairy-tale or folk story, fable, tall-tale, or a Bard imparting lore; you know that imagination is the fertile ground they grow on, what sustains them, where their seeds remain asleep, awaiting a creative dawn.

All that has ever been done, invented, manufactured, built, sewed, woven, Jerry-rigged, cobbled together; it had to pass through an imagination portal first.

We cannot create what we don’t see–if not with eyes or ears or hands or senses, then with our mind and heart and soul. Most true creations call on several of those to form the tapestry of thought to form.

Imagination creates. It is the foundation, the first step before the step is even taken. It is the heartbeat of all progress, in one’s own life as well as in the world galore. It is what makes impossible, possible; what makes the unimaginable, done. Humans are made to imagine. We are made to visit unseen shores within our mind and see vistas unfurl endless wavelets, seashells, cliffs and boulders, shores within a shore. We are made to dream upon an image, find a thread to follow and breathe imagination through it till a light-bulb sputters on.

Imagination “is the preview of life’s coming attractions”, Einstein said. It is the show before the show, the act before the acting, the plan before the blueprint, the background of a story before it knows the words. And it is limitless. The mind’s eye is unencumbered by space or time or speed; it is unfettered by procedures, flow charts, feasibility, or expectations. It is the infinite universe where old-soul-magic and deep-shared knowledge parent images till we find the courage to have them be born.

“Imagination is everything.”

Indeed it is, and in it lays its magic. In it strums the harmony that leaves us breathless, resonates our very soul, and holds us in the mesmerizing imaginary space where we are partially tethered to reality and partially swimming in the spheres of all-be-known.

Imagine, and you will forever be transformed.

Maybe Baby

January 18, 2014January 31, 2014Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life Tags: bargaining, children, distractions, imps, mothers, NaamaYehuda, phones Leave a comment

A preschooler today, arriving with his mom. He already bargaining as they walk up the stairs:
“Mommy, can we have ice-cream after?”
“Maybe, Baby.”
“Mommy, can have a play date with Yanny?”
“Maybe, Baby.”
“Tomorrow?”
“Maybe, Baby.”
“Can I watch TV?”
“Maybe, Baby.”

The duo arrives, bags down, coats shed, sticky hands washed (there had to have been one ‘yes’ among the ‘maybe’s!).

The boy takes his seat. Eyes still on Mom.
“Can I have pizza for dinner?”
Mom, distracted with the phone, as she had to have been coming up the stairs–the tone remained unchanged:
“Maybe, Baby.”

The little man is miffed by then, but he’s a clever chap. He ponders, brightens, looks at me. I smile benignly back–I want to see what he’s got planned.
“Mommy, do you love Marie more than me?”
“Maybe, Baby.”
“MOMMY!!!!”

He got her. And I think he got the ice-cream and the play-date, too.

You said, what?!

No way Mammal!

January 18, 2014January 31, 2014Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life Tags: children, incredulity, learning, mammals, NaamaYehuda, proving-wrong, teaching Leave a comment

A girl, learning about Mongolia, coming across a fact about the “Horse People” drinking horse milk.
Girl: “No way! Horses don’t have milk!”
Me: “Actually, they do. They are mammals, and all mammals have milk for their young.”
Girl (eyeing me suspiciously): “Na-ah, only cows and goats have milk.”
Me: “The milk that we drink and use indeed comes from cows and goats and sheep, but all mammals have milk for their babies. Including horses.”
The girl, incredulous and rather alarmed. “No way! You are just saying this to trick me”
Me: “Nope. Not tricking you.”
Girl:”Yes you are, only cows have milk. And goats and stuff. Not horses. What are you going to say next, that zebras have milk, too?”
Me (smiling): “Yep, they do. And lions, and hippos, and giraffes, and mice…”
Girl (adamant): “Stop it! Mice are way to small to be mammals…”

And so it went. On whales, and elephants, bats and rabbits, gorillas and dogs (“No way!”)
She demanded an internet search to prove I was not pulling her leg but then refused to believe that, either.

We went back to animal groupings. Bird, Reptiles, Mammals…

After a while of this, glee rose in her eyes. She was sure she finally found the loophole to absolutely prove me wrong.
“So,” she said, victorious, “if you say that mammals have hair or fur and have teeth and have live babies and all that, then I KNOW you are wrong because then you’d have to tell me that we’re mammals, too!”

(imagination point for my reply and her resulting exclamation…)
🙂

Photo credit to I.A.

The Wonder of Wondering

January 18, 2014January 31, 2014Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life Tags: Childhood, imagination, Kindergarten, learning, NaamaYehuda, play, schedules, time, wonder Leave a comment

A mom of a client tried to find a day to reschedule a session that they were going to miss next week. She could not find ‘an opening’ in her five-year-old’s schedule in the next SEVERAL weeks.
“We may have more time in March,” she murmured, peering at her iPhone screen. “No, actually, that’s when his sports club changes, so I don’t know if he’ll have time then.”

Aside from speech-therapy, which he needed because of a small deformity in his mouth which affected the clarity of his speech; this five-year-old had baseball, soccer, drama, piano, chess, guitar lessons, and tutoring (for kindergarten preparation–the latest hit in urban upper class–this mom is actually behind the curve because she ‘only’ started him at age three, and not earlier…). He also had two playdates scheduled–in the several weeks ahead, there was no time for more–one to take place at a museum and the other at a movie theater followed by a pizza place.
Al of those were activities to fit after his preschool was done at 2pm each day or on weekends. Sunday was especially busy, apparently, with double tutoring, so he “not fall behind on no school days.”

“When does he play?” I wondered aloud.

The mom looked mildly surprised at the question. “Oh, he plays a lot. He plays soccer, baseball, chess…”

I smiled. “I meant when does he have time for unstructured play, to just be in his room with his toys and use his imagination and daydream and make up stories for himself?”

The mom nodded dismissively, “Oh, yeah, I know that’s good for his development, but he’s just too busy right now. He does read, though. He’s up to level 2 now. Every night he has to read his words before he goes to sleep.”

UGH.

The wonderful power of wondering was completely lost on the mother, swept up as she was in the rush of demands an requirements, competition, check-marks, and achievement.

It made me wonder, too, about whether she herself knew how to just be, if she still remembered how to play.

Do you?

Do you set aside time for musing and refilling your tank of creativity and playfulness?

How much time does your child have for play? Does he lose himself in fantasy, imagination, and the wonder of wondering?

It is the job of childhood to be at play. To invent, experiment, inquire, speculate, dream with eyes wide open, animate toys, get slightly bored and think of nothing and everything, walk slowly outside and collect pieces of leaves, paper, dirt. It is the job of childhood to socialize, assign roles in joined mimicking of adult-roles and fantastic stories, negotiate with peers and make your own rules, unencumbered by adults who demand you follow the ‘rules-of-the-game’ instead.

Surely there is time a child should spend in listening, following directions, and learning. There is room for rules and consequences, routines and chores. However, losing the balance between adult-led and child-inspired, tilts childhood off its axis. How can a child who does not have the time to breathe and get a little bored, learn how to entertain himself, day-dream, imagine, be truly creative, be a child, play?

When is the last time you deeply reconnected with wonder? If you cannot say, then it is time to stop, watch a child getting lost in a bubble, let them be, and find your own path to some play.