The Stick
The 3-year-old boy ran around the empty yard. There were no playsets, no balls, no riding toys, yet he was grinning from ear-to-ear. We were having a wonderful time, playing ‘Abracadabra’. My made-up name for a made-up game, consisting only of a stick that had been found lying on the ground. Sprinkle in a dose of creativity and imagination, and we were off to a good time.
I would wave my ‘magic wand’ and shout, “Abracadabra”, and the boy would turn into a different creature. Sometimes a stomping dinosaur, sometimes a barking dog, sometimes a hopping frog, or a nibbling bunny. He loved it. He was having fun pretending to be all of the animals he had living in his brain and trying to stump me with his pantomimes. I know I ran out of steam before he did.
We wore that stick out that day. It became a fishing pole, a horse, a microphone, and even a sword, depending on who was holding it.
But here’s what didn’t happen. He never asked if he was doing it right. There was never a question about looking for a more suitable stick. He never needed permission to try something different. I marveled at that.
I thought of all the adults that will often spend a fortune, trying to buy back what that stick gave us for free.
Turning something ordinary into something extraordinary is what many creators try to do every day.
No one ever asks us, “What are you pretending?”
I wonder when I stopped calling it imagination and named it productivity.
There is a beauty to imagination. I’ve come to think of it as one of the quiet ways we care for ourselves.
Creativity and imagination are linked to all of our senses. Checking in with my senses is something I do on the regular, and yet I’m always surprised to find one of them that has been a bit neglected.
I love to stimulate my sense of touch by petting my micro-fiber recliner as I read, or smoothing my soft blankie. Working with plants provides the contrasting rough textures I never seem to have enough of, and just clocking the difference wakes up something in my imagination.
Switching up sensory input is one way I can spice up creativity. Being open to new experiences, taking a risk now and then, and changing up the people around me and the places I go can be the spark to a new imaginative adventure. It always amazes me how these things connect.
There was a trip I took to New York City with a group of girls many years ago. I had recently purchased a stretchy knit tube that was marketed as a 4-in-one piece of fashion, if not more. The piece could be worn as a micro-mini skirt, a full-length tube top, a bra-style tube, a belt, a neckline accessory. I saw it as a prop to entertain my friends.
Grabbing the piece and a willing accomplice, I began to host my own show (years before the Home Shopping Network), ‘What Can It Be?’ I showed the different ways the piece could be worn by stretching or bunching it accordingly on the model, each time repeating the tagline, “But wait, what can it be?” Towards the end of the ‘show’, all the girls were cracking up and joining in with the signature prompt after I would say, “But wait…”.
I smile as I write that, because that moment of silly giggles became a running gag for our group through many years. Even today, if someone should say, “But wait”, those among us who were there respond with a laugh and repeat the now-famous response. We’ve even been known to repeat the show with various other items.
We had imagination. We were creative. And, unlike that piece of fabric, we’ve still got those skills today. I’m sure you do, too.
Grab some paper, glue and scissors. Put on a radio station you’ve never heard before. Light a candle with a never-tried before scent. See if you can find your favorite candy as a kid. Try something new with your senses and see if it lights another piece of you.
If nothing else works, go grab a stick.
Get yourself a summer treat in my SHOP
Easy ways to practice your own self-care because you matter❣️
Check out my children’s books for the gift of imagination ❣️
🌟 I Know A Kid — a gentle celebration of children and the many ways they move through the world.
🌟Today Is The Day — an uplifting reminder to look for what’s good, hopeful, and possible.
🌟The Brothers’ Bear — a rhyming adventure about five brothers who make an unexpected discovery one windy night.
🌟 My Bright Light — a quiet book about noticing the light around us and within us.
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Karen, I really enjoyed this. I think a lot of adults spend years trying to buy back the imagination they once carried around so effortlessly as kids.
I love the tube top story!