Imagination, unleashing infinite creativity- Arts News Now

Pictured Above: Transformation by Don Campbell. Photo Credit: Contributed.

Imagination - The Key to Unleashing Infinite Creativity

By Guest Writer, Don Campbell

Artist, Don Campbell offers his approach to harnessing imagination to ignite creativity

If the mind is the problem solver, imagination is the explorer of new uncharted possibilities. Imagination is the muscle of creativity and the birthing chamber of new future possibilities. However, imagination can be equally effective in support of our limitations as for our creative visions. When we engage our imaginative powers to venture outside of our current reality fixations, we ignite energy, passion, and possibilities that can lead to new horizons and give us a sense of purpose. Imagination can be the catalyst by which we share our gift in service to the world.

Nurturing our imagination is imperative if we want to access the wellspring of future possibilities. Children have no problem using their imaginations. They can seamlessly connect their world at hand and imagined worlds on demand.

Creative people are often considered to have good imaginations and people who aren’t creative are thought not to have good imaginations.

This is not true; all of us have imagination, it just comes down to how we use it. One element of imagination is when people can visualize something in their minds, as is common with children, artists, writers, dancers, and architects, to name a few.

Imagination includes more than visual imagery; it can include feelings, thoughts, and all our senses linked to a total sensory experience. I think that the more all our senses take part in our imaginative process, the more power it generates. Imagination allows us to create in our mind something that is not in our current reality or not even real at all. One can imagine sitting on a beach relaxing under the sun looking out over a panoramic view of turquoise water. But one can also get caught up in imagining the impending doom of losing one’s job, money, or health, getting into conflict with someone, or falling into some other fear-based situation.

Unfortunately, this is our default setting if we don’t take the time to become aware of what is happening in our mind and inner world. I want to make a distinction here about the importance of being present while activating our imaginative powers. We use our imagination all the time, most notably in our nightly dreams as our minds create elaborate virtual realities that we interact with. We use our imagination in a variety of other ways, including planning, understanding, reasoning, and picturing things past and future to assimilate incoming sensory data. All this as we go about our daily life at home or work. This is just the “normal” use of our imaginative process without conscious awareness.

We want to become aware of our imagination and use it to reach outside our “normal” process and imagine a new future, new solutions, and new ideas. This can have a much higher degree of potency if we are in a state of presence without our old beliefs and patterns of behavior setting limitations on our imagination.

We have to learn to open our minds, open our hearts, leave our old limited patterns behind, and enter the present moment of stillness. In this state, we are completely open to allowing our imagination to run free, probe, and enter the uncharted waters of possibilities.

Once we are free from the past, it has no hold on us, we can let the river of consciousness unfold, allowing intuition and inspiration to flow freely. It takes practice, commitment, and diligence as with any significant changes in our behavior.

Pictured Above: Soul Carrier by Don Campbell. Photo Credit: Contributed.

Our imagination has no boundaries other than what we impose on it. If that is true, why would we impose limitations on it? if we only listen to the past, we don’t allow ourselves to believe that our imagination has any relevance or can have an effect on our lives. It is fantasy, some may say. Yet all great ideas were imagined first in the minds of those who would manifest them. It may have been a long, difficult process with many setbacks, but everything starts with imagination. This is why it is so important to move beyond listening only to the past.

Imagination is the rocket ship that can lead us into a new future that is unknown, unlimited, and magical.

Imagination is not the province of the few. It is the birthright of everyone.

Free your imagination with the intention of aligning with your joy, purpose, and passion.

As artists, we stand at the edge of an infinite well of creativity. It’s time to trust our imagination to lead us into unexplored realms, where every discovery starts with a single thought. Create space (free of thought) for something new to emerge, something that wants to be born through you.

Don Campbell is a sculptor, writer, and entrepreneur with a studio in Hopewell NJ. His studio will be open to the public during the Tour des Arts event on September 28^th and 29^th.