Imagination

Try Something New: See Beyond the Obvious

/ Kennedy Farr / 7 Comments

You can't depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focusMark Twain: “You can’t depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus.”

What does it mean when my imagination is out of focus?  I don’t recognize life’s glorious gifts.  I am easily distracted.  I choose routine and I shun spontaneity.  I see options, not miracles.  I worry rather than allow.  I choose to accept mediocrity rather than to change.  I believe the naysayers.  I neglect the artistic potential of the bottle cap languishing in the gutter and walk on by.  I cease to create.  I might get grumpy or feel trapped or start blaming someone or something else for something insignificant.  I might deny the truth and start assigning blame. A little toad might hop out of my mouth — never to be retrieved and silenced.

I stop loving and I embrace fear.  These are the times when I pull the needle back on the vinyl.  Zzzrrrrrrip.  Time for a do-over. Time to make a difference.  Time to hone the focus of my imagination.

Every day.  My intentions are vivid and sharp.  I strive to be mindful . . . to push beyond the boundaries of the obvious.  To alwaysalwaysalways choose love over fear.  Love over fear.  This is tricky business, especially when daily distractions demand my attention.  I am running late, the dog needs to be walked, I can’t find my red shoes, I spill my coffee on the seat of my truck, I blow out the copier on campus with my crazyenergy . . . It takes very little imagination to understand how this “stuff” affects my focus.  It blows it into vapor — never to be made manifest.

thankful-quote1-300x300I am profoundly appreciative of those in my life who make it so easy and so fun to choose love.  Who inspire me to choose laughter over tears.  Who remind me to think big and go beyond.  Who believe in me.  These are my heroes.  They are the “people who make a difference” in my life.  They are the people who encourage me to keep my focus.  To grow my imagination.  I so love them for this.

I thank you.  From the bottom of my heart.  I do.   toaster oven

This video is an awesome example of seeing beyond the obvious.  Jarbas Agnelli was seeing with his imagination:

Today?  It is my intent to see at least one thing that extends beyond the obvious.  Whew.  Who knows what kind of amazing things might happen today?

The History of the Soul

/ Kennedy Farr / Leave a comment

Profound words fromYeats’ The Speckled Bird:

“We will change all things if we can make the imagination sacred.  But all the images and impulses of the imagination, just in so far as they are shaped and ordered in beauty and in peace, must become sacred.  To do this they must be associated deliberately and directly with the history of the soul.”

Making the imagination sacred . . . deliberately and directly with the history of the soul.  These are some very very beautiful words.  When I read them, I feel engulfed by an unexpected blessing.  Such is the power of words and such is the power of aligning with the history of the soul.  The soul is old. And it has so much to share and to convey.  When I listen to my soul, I feel nurtured, guided, blessed, encouraged. And also questioned and mildly chastised in the ways of an old friend who knows my predilection to possibly  not advocate for myself or revert to unhealthy patterns.  How do you thank your own soul for being faithful and true to course? It is pretty amazing how we unerringly know that which is best for our own respective sense of Sacred.  This is very large stuff.  Maybe it is time to stop and appreciate our own selves for shaping and ordering Sacred into our days.

I LOVE Yeats’ words.  I have the power to change all things if I honor Imagination.  What a beautiful and risky and wild and easy choice.  When I allow for Sacred, all things are possible.  I want to fling open the door and welcome Imagination into my life.  Offer it the seat of honor at the head of the table.  I want to be mindful that it is best shaped and ordered in beauty and in peace.  What an amazing thing to be mindful of cultivating: beauty and peace.

I am reminded to honor my history while shaping and ordering with intention.  This is all such an enormous thing to realize when we discover that we have created such a moment by simply being ourselves.  By being transparent with others.  By laughing until our sides hurt.  By loving another with an easiness that transcends any sort of explanation.  By being willing to share our Sacred.

All while shaping and ordering and imagining a moment of bliss and generosity that will be included in our brief history.