3 Ways To Spark Your Imagination

Innovate! Create! Think outside the box! Sound familiar? I thought so.These are important reminders yet we're hearing them so much they're losing their meaning.

In my opinion the call to action is actually to use our imaginations.

Since all humans have imaginations this sounds like an easy thing to do, and it probably was before we all had a smart phone as an extra appendage. If we're bored for more than a second we tend to pick it up and scroll. Our heads become full of ideas, images, communication.... but that's not using imagination.

So how do we spark our imaginations? Below are 3 ideas.

1) Daydream. You might have done this a lot growing up. Try setting aside a little time each day and simply let your mind wander. Take a walk around the block, or just look out the window.

2) Doodle. Swirls, stars, geometric shapes... whatever naturally comes out of your hand. You can do this anywhere and everywhere: on napkins, in the margins of a notebook, or keep a piece of paper and a pen on your desk just for doodling. It will allow your mind to wander and activate your right brain.

3) Trace your hand. Lynda Barry talks about this in her book "Making Comics"and I find it to be so useful and relaxing when I feel stuck. Humans have been tracing their hands onto surfaces for thousands of years. We all did it as children and that memory alone can get our imaginations going.

If you have more ideas about how to spark imagination, please send them to me and I'll add them to this list!