Courtesy of Andrew McConnochie

Your imagination is very likely starving, and in Manage Your Imagination to Increase Your Success I promised to share some tips, insight, and resources on what to feed your imagination. Today, is the first article in that series.

We start out with a personal story…

Looking for deer has become a ritual on the way home from Grandmas This past Easter Sunday was no different and we found ourselves driving next to the orchard we frequently saw deer in.  Suddenly I caught a glimpse of a magnificent building sitting upon the hill.  I thought, “Wow -- what is that building that is glowing like a beacon on the hill?”  It was unexpected, yet it shouldn’t have been.

As it turned out it was a Mormon temple that I had passed probably hundreds of  times, but it was if I as seeing it for the very first time.

I’d seen it at different angles, and from different locations, and I should have seen it from this particular angle before -- but I had always been busy looking for the glow of the deer’s eyes, and not really taking time to pay attention to the things above my typical field of view.

How often have you walked past somethings that warrants a little attention and ignored it? Doing so doesn’t serve you and it starves your imagination.

My husband, some friends, and I went on a cruise this past summer.  We arrived back in port with quite a few hours to spare and decided to spend the time walking around San Diego and taking in the sights.

As we walked I photographed.  I captured, among other things, the bark on trees, the interesting shape of the tree’s roots, the texture of the sidewalks, the cute bird that visited us for lunch, and flowers from unique angles.

My friend turned to me and said, ” Leisa, I can tell you are an artist.  You notice things that I just tend to walk by.  I love seeing how you see the world!”

I once heard it said that artists notice things that others don’t.

And, if you’ve seen the movie August Rush you’ll understand what I mean when I say that musicians often hear music that goes unnoticed by the general public.

Here’s a couple of  clips,  just in case you haven’t seen it:
(and if you haven’t I highly recommend you do)

So today’s assignment for feeding and managing your imagination is to take  your camera and look for the interesting things you pass every day. This time look at it with new eyes! Then photograph and capture them. And feel free to include a link below to anything interesting you happen to notice.

Try to capture the interesting textures, the way the shadows dance upon the wall, and those things that others often don’t notice.

Pay attention to life’s rhythms!