30. Do I have a visual imagination?
Some people believe that they don’t have visual imagination, that it’s only present in artists, designers, architects, mathematicians… If you’re among them, consider how then do we dream?
It should be expected that if we have dreamed even once, the ability must exist. Another question is to what extent we’ve developed it while awake, i.e., in consciousness.
The author’s conviction is that visual imagination is a skill that exists to some extent in everyone, albeit insufficient for certain purposes.
It can be improved through practice. Haven’t we drawn as children? Hasn’t the face of a loved one, a beautiful flower, or a soccer ball ever emerged in our consciousness, even if only in rough outlines?
Internal “tools” develop when exercised, and we can always start if we haven’t so far.
If, for some reason, we can’t visualize for now, we could temporarily use other internal tools. Who knows, with time, it might work out. At least, we can give ourselves a chance by allowing the possibility.
31. Exercises for the visual imagination – create and retain an image
Sometimes we think of something, but not in words, but in the form of a picture, such as the registration plate of a car. It just emerges and stands out in our inner world and so we actually “see” it. This process can be passive when we remember a picture, but it can also be active, by using the visual imagination to provoke the emergence of an inner picture and strive to keep it or “see” it for a longer time. Thus, visual imagination can be developed much faster.
For this purpose, we invent a picture that we like and we would like to see. It can be something simple, like a ball or a flower, or it can be a natural landscape. It does not matter, the important thing is to choose a picture. It is recommended in the beginning to be as simple as possible, for example only a single point with a specific color, or a little more complicated, for example, the 8 tops of a cube, or a little more complicated – the 12 edges of a cube or 6 of its walls in the same color or in different colors.
We visualize this picture with the help of the imagination. If it is easier with closed eyes, we do it. Gradually we build the image, point by point, line by line, shape by shape. When we manage to imagine it all at once, we keep the image as long as possible and that is enough.
We repeat the exercise whenever we have the desire and time until it becomes easy to do.