Over the weekend, I saw the 2025 Oscar-nominated Animated Shorts, which our local independent movie house shows every year.
As usual, the one I liked the most didn’t win the Oscar. Oscar voters like darker subject matters than I do.
The one I liked was called Yuck! It creatively explores children’s evolving feelings about kissing. It begins with the kids finding it gross and disgusting (Yuck!) and concludes with their growing intrigue and interest.
One reason I liked it is that it takes place in a campground, and I spent a lot of time in campgrounds as a kid.
Whenever I see creative films or plays, I marvel at the artists’ imaginations. I marvel at how they create the story, the setting, the right music, and the flow.
And for years, I would say things like, “I wish I had that level of imagination.”
But I do have a very potent imagination. I just use it in unhelpful and unproductive ways.
For instance, last year, I bought a used car. It has been great, but recently, the oil light lit up on the dash.
Immediately, my imagination went into overdrive. I imagined oil leaking out of the engine block and the mechanic saying, “You’re going to need a new engine.” I imagined having to rejigger my schedule to pick up my daughter from college with only one car available to our family for a couple of weeks. I imagined paying hundreds of dollars for something I was not expecting.
I imagined all of this in about two minutes.
It turns out this car’s oil light comes on if your oil level dips below a certain level. I changed my oil, and it has been fine.
(As I type this, I realize last week’s post explored my imagination around transportation breaking down. Maybe I should sell my cars and move to a place with excellent public transit 🙂.)
And here’s the point.
Humans are imaginative creatures.
When we were kids, we imagined with our toys and our friends. We built houses out of blankets, zoos out of stuffed animals, and games out of nowhere.
But as we age, we think imagination is childish, but it’s not. It’s part of being human.
So, the challenge for this week is to spend more time imagining good things.
Let your big, beautiful mind imagine beautiful, exciting, wonderful things. Then, work on creating what you have imagined.
If you don’t focus on imagining good things, your mind will imagine bad things.
After all, humans are imaginative creatures.