Well hello there! I heard there's an old pirate treasure hidden in this ship. Let's check it out!
Hmm, I don't see it.
Wait a minute, is that a shark? Uh oh, he's coming! Swim! Swim for your lives!
Ah! Thank heavens! I'm alive! I was just daydreaming. Phew,
who knew that our imagination could be so powerful? Well for starters that guy.
For those of you who don't know who that is that's Albert Einstein one of the greatest scientists who
ever lived. A man of logic, science, and you know what he said? "Logic will get you from A to B.
Imagination will take you everywhere." How about that for some words of wisdom? Our imagination is
one of the most powerful tools that we have. Not only as artists but as human beings. Think about
it. Airplanes, submarines, the mission to the moon, and who knows how many other inventions,
historical events, and masterpieces exist only because someone somewhere imagined that they could
which is what brings us to today's lesson. Today we will show you the benefits of having a strong
imagination. After that we will teach you some simple exercises that will cultivate
and nurture your imagination. So get ready to do some daydreaming and peek behind a curtain,
pun intended, of your brain. Let's get this party started! As we say in the theater, lights up!
Many believe that having a strong imagination is only reserved for children or visionaries
and that's simply not true. Before we show you some simple ways in which you can activate your
imagination, here's five ways in which you will benefit from developing a strong imagination.
Number 1. A strong imagination improves your problem-solving skills. It allows you to look
at challenges in a different way and come up with more creative and resourceful solutions.
Number 2. A strong imagination improves your memory. According to recent neurological studies,
being imaginative creates more neurons in your brain and if you continue to use your imagination
later in life, you're 73% less likely to develop the memory problems that lead to dementia.
Number 3. A strong imagination improves your social interactions. Having a strong imagination
allows you to put yourself in other people's shoes which in turn makes you more empathetic.
It also helps you to develop creative ideas to cope with and overcome conflicts. Number
4 .A strong imagination develops a strong sense of self-confidence. Exercising your imagination helps
you to appreciate your skills and instincts. Also, if you can imagine in your head how scenarios will
play out you are more likely to make decisions that are beneficial to your overall well-being.
Number 5. A strong imagination will help you to acquire new knowledge and skills. Using
your imagination allows you to picture not just your current reality, but endless possibilities
to come. This in turn picks your curiosity and motivates you to acquire new skills and knowledge.
Now that you have seen some benefits of using your imagination, here are some simple exercises that
will help you cultivate and nurture your imagination. Number 1. The car exercise.
The purpose of this exercise is to reimagine objects that already exist. It can be any object.
For today we're going to use a car. There are three steps to this exercise. The first step is
to pick a car, it can be any car that you want and really study it. Ask yourself "what model
is this car?", "what materials is it made of both on the inside and out?", "is it a new car or is
it an old car?". Be very specific and ask yourself as many questions as you want regarding this car.
The second step is to think of 10 different changes that you would make to this car if
you were asked to rebuild and reimagine this car. This is where the exercise gets really
cool because now you're in control. The key question to ask yourself here is "What if?"
What if I make this car bigger? What if I put a different engine? What if I make
it into a convertible? The possibilities here are endless! The third and final step of this
exercise pushes the boundaries of the question "What if?" even further. Here you're going to
imagine 10 different ways in which you could repurpose this car to be anything except a car.
For example, what if I make this car into a barbecue or what if I make this car into a bed?
The key here is to really think of what you would need in order to transform this car into whatever
you want. Don't just think of the final result, no. Think of all the steps and pieces that you
will need in order to transform this object. Now if you'll excuse me, I got some daydreaming to do.
Isn't it beautiful? I
call it Juanland and I imagine it myself which brings me to the next exercise. The
second exercise is all about letting your imagination run wild with possibilities.
It's called the world-building exercise. As the naming tells it, you're going to build
a whole new world inside your head. It can be as big or as small as you want. The cool thing
about this exercise is that there are really no wrong answers. It's your world so you can build
it however you want! The challenge here is not to be vague, we want you to be specific. Ask yourself
"what do people eat in this world?", "what's the weather like in this world?",
"are there any beaches in this world?", "are there any mountains?", "maybe both?",
"where are they?". There's no such thing as too many details or too specific questions. No,
the more specific and the more questions that you ask yourself the better. If you
like to draw this is the perfect exercise to let your drawing take part of your creative juices.
Finally, we have my personal favorite exercise. I call it the Human Zoo.
This is basically an exercise in non-intrusive, non-invasive people watching.
The purpose of this exercise is simple; to imagine how strangers live their lives. For this exercise,
all you need is to go to a public place with some earphones if you like listening to music
and a pen and notepad to take some notes. Here's how this exercise works. Pick a public spot where
you can watch people in a non-invasive way. It can be a park, a coffee shop, a library, a mall,
Etc. Try to sit in that spot for at least 20 minutes. As you see all these different people
walking by, allow your imagination to wander. Question yourself and be curious about what these
people are thinking and what their lives could look like. What are they excited about or what are
they worried about? Where are they coming from and where are they going? Where do they work or where
do they go to school? Do they have a family, if so how many and who are they? Do they have any pets?
Let your imagination be curious for a few moments then let it drift to the next person.
The purpose of this exercise is not to get any right answers regarding the lives of strangers,
it's all about entertaining the possibility of what their lives could be. It goes back to
the question "What if?". What if this person is married? What if they live with their parents?
What if they are chefs? Allow your imagination to create as many different scenarios as it desires.
Now before you check out the PDF and practice questions, let's do a quick recap of what we
learned today. Today we learned some of the benefits of having a strong imagination. After
that we explored some exercises that will help you activate and cultivate your imagination,
we call them the car exercise, the world-building exercise, and the human zoo. That's it for today's
video folks! In our next lesson, we will check out some important people and phrases to know in
the theatre. Until then, remember in theatre like in life, the limit is your imagination!