Is having a curious mind important in your life? Or perhaps like many others you might say only children often like to ask “why”?
Imagine with me for a second, let’s try to understand the link between imagination and the curious mind. Would you agree that boredom could be the missing ingredient that binds the two together?
The truth is when we use our imagination, somehow our curious mind ignites to think of solutions to our challenges. Then, using our imagination becomes a life skill that is essential for our personal growth and happiness, leading us to live a life with purpose. Let me show you why.
The Curious Mind Creates Actively through Imagination
“The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination.”
Albert Einstein
I was born and raised in Singapore. As a young child, my most favorite thing to do was daydream of dragons and dungeons! I had the same film playing constantly in my mind, of worlds away in galaxies never been explored, where I was the hero!
Whenever I had a chance to visit my aunt and cousins, their backyard became my escape to an adventure far away from home. She had many fruit trees in her garden, rambutans, queenie, mangoes and a frangipani tree in her front yard. And I would climb those trees or lie in her grass, watching the world go by.
My imagination soared beyond and into a future world, created in my mind. Then came questions after questions which probably irritated my mom in the process. The questions never stopped, they still continue today. And because of those questions, I have created everything I could ever imagine to be true in my life.
After a scrumptious lunch of delicious hamburgers and chips prepared by my aunt, at her home, I excused myself from the table and put my plate in the kitchen sink. I ran out the back door into a field so green like the apple I was munching on. The stale damp air warmed my skin. Wow, everything looked so beautiful and fresh especially after a downpour of rain but that made it humid.
I climbed the pink frangipani tree near the entrance of her front yard. Turning to my left, I looked up at the mango tree with ripening fruits. The branches swayed furiously to the rhythm of the wind. Can the wind and the trees speak to each other? What was the secret they shared? Looks like the rain is coming again. I hope those mangoes don’t fall on my head. I leaned back onto the branch and watched the cars drive by, then climb down from the tree to lie on the grass. It would be easy for me to dash across the staircase back into the house if the rain came pouring down.
Searching the sky, I see every dark grey cloud, swirl across into a massive deep ocean of waves bursting into charcoal dust. A bright light flashed across the sky. The smell of the earth was like thick heavy road tar. Imagine that, everything moved to its own rhythm as the atmosphere warned me of what would come next. Bang! I turned to the block of flats across the road. Windows opened and closed, as the howling winds pushed against them. A lady walking along the pavement, struggled to control her broken umbrella as she fought against the gust of wind. In an instant, lightning flashed and I shuddered. I ran straight up the staircase and into my aunts’ home, peeking out from her window, afraid the lighting would strike me. Bang! The crack of thunder made my heart skip a beat.
I heard my cousin was giggling from behind me watching, The Looney Tunes on TV. Sigh! It’s boring inside, I wish it wouldn’t rain so I can stay longer outside. As I sat on the lounge, I visualized cars going by on the main road. Perhaps one day, I could drive my own car and go on road trips to Seletar Reservoir.
Do you see the link and connection between imagination and the curious mind and how boredom connects the two together? When we allow boredom to creep in, during that process, ideas are formed with our amazing sense of imagination.
Remember an open mind innovates to help with forward thinking because of our desire to learn. This is what we need to nurture in our children because it is an ability that will help them solve future problems.
The Creative World of Sensory
As a true dreamer, the world around me showed me a different story to what I saw in my mind. And I would scrutinize all the minute little cues that connected me to the inner world of where my imagination made the impossible possible.
Can we make our imaginations come alive in our reality?
Many people often tell me to snap out of daydreaming. See, I dream too much! Every hour or minute until it affected my studies and work. Oh, I failed most of my school years except the final year in high school when I applied everything I learned in school to at least obtain a high school certificate.
What made a huge difference in my life that not many people know is that I was raised amidst family violence in an emotionally unstable home environment. The first seventeen years of my life were spent navigating a life tarnished by violence and abuse. Both my mother and I were at the mercy of my father’s wrath.
The Scripted and Unscripted Story of our Life
Do you remember when your child was born? We all do. It was the happiest day of our life. It was a time when my husband and I reflected on what values we wanted to pass onto to our children so they may grow into responsible adults.
When we were born, our parents told our story. In many ways, I felt my father’s story intertwined into every choice I made. In a way his fear of life became mine. Perhaps you as a parent are scripting your children’s story but really, is it their story or yours that is being scripted? I too wanted the best for my children but is the best really good enough to guide them in our uncertain world.
To each individual person, the best is different because we all see through the lens of our experiences, biases, cultures, fears and needs. Most of us, including myself, without knowing, pass down our unmet expectations onto our children. Yup, I have done this myself too. The one defense I taught my children was to think for themselves. And they stepped up to tell me if they are uncomfortable or upset with a no thank you, Mom.
Learn to give up the need to control their story with your expectations of who they become. Let them naturally experience their life.
What happens when you break this cycle of control?
The moment I surrender the need to control their future was when I listened to my children. Their life changed from the scripted parents’ expectations to adventure and fun. An unscripted path where their imagination and the curious mind visualized a world of their own creation through the choices they made. They began enjoying what they naturally learned. Who said you can’t enjoy life?
Let Children be Children
Ever notice how our life is often scripted? Or perhaps you as a parent consistently organize your children’s activities without asking them if they would like to try something new? You know what I mean?
- What they wear
- What they eat
- How others see them
- Who they play with
- Or register them for activities even when they are not interested in
The moment children get bored at home or in school, we give them activities to distract them and to occupy their time. We have lost the ability to be present and alone with ourselves. Instead we trade our moments for a sense of belonging to conform to social norms.
As a daydreamer, I loved dancing in the rain and always wanting to play on my own. My imagination soared like an eagle. All at the expense of being laid back in school. In the eyes of those around me, I was a slacker. Not popular with the smart kids and a weak student.
The truth was I couldn’t fit into the mold that went in their box. The one person who took me seriously was the same person who taught me how to think for myself. My mother didn’t script my life but she did encourage me to be open to change and to never listen to naysayers.
When children are expected to fulfill our needs or make us happy, they are trapped in our cycle of destructive thinking that they are not good enough. Fear takes control and they react to their emotions to protect themselves. The ability to use imagination and to ignite their curious mind no longer exists.
When we as parents stop the need to control and program our children, they learn to trust themselves and to make their own choices from their hearts desire.
Being true to yourself almost always leads you to a deeper understanding of yourself and others. Everything happens first in your mind, before you manifest it in reality. Therefore, a mind filled with imagination brings out our natural ability to co-create, to co-produce, to make a difference in our world.
Now that I have children of my own, I encourage them to be curious and to understand what they feel. It develops their imagination and the curious mind.
The one most important lesson that is not taught in schools is to do what brings you joy and to listen within. That quiet time alone is filled with magic leading us into our imagination where we thrive to create the impossible dream and make it come true. A dream leading to a growth mindset and to forward thinking.
My children think for themselves and choose what they want to do. In other words, they are true to themselves. We all want the best for our children. I made sure the best was of their own choices not mine.
Listen to your children. Let their imagination soar into limitlessness so they can make the impossible, possible. To every person who believes in the impossible, your imagination and a curious mind will lead you into a world where anything and everything is possible.
Note:
This essay Imagination and The Curious Mind, was awarded Honorable Mention in the Memoirs/Personal Essay category of the 90th Annual Writer’s Digest Writing Competition.
