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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jack7" data-source="post: 4809029" data-attributes="member: 54707">I've been extremely busy this weekend and so still don't have time to respond to every post as I intend to. But I have noticed that some people have been giving examples of things that trigger their imaginations.I think that's a pretty good exercise as I suspect different people have different things that trigger their imaginations (in the particulars) but that many different types of things tend to trigger most people's imaginations. (And of course you have to consider the various things that interest people - several posts have already pointed out the connection between interest and enthusiasm - something I want to return to later - and imagination.)So this weekend these were some of the things that triggered my imagination.1. I took my kids and my Saint Bernard and one of my Greta Danes to the lake. We had some interesting conversations with some fishermen (I also go to that lake to fish) and other people and my dogs discovered some large feathers from water fowl which my youngest daughter decided to keep. I agreed and we took them home and cleaned them. Later I intend to decorate and covert two of them into sepia ink quills so that she and I can use them for calligraphy and for pen and ink sketching.2. I took my kids up to the Science Center (we are frequent visitors as well as members) where we watched three planetarium shows. The dome on the planetarium gave me an idea for a new type of movie theatre invention and one show called Spatial Imagineering (It was an old show but still a good one.) gave me several "moments of imagination." One of the other shows, Oceans in Space, narrated by Avery Brooks helped me resolve a science fiction story I am writing and expand the story greatly to include something related to an invention idea I've had that I don't think has ever really been done in a sci-fi story before. At least I've never read such a story. The story also involves a "real invention" I'd like to see undertaken one day in real life, but don't know if it will be anytime soon because of the sheer scale of the thing and the telescope that would be involved because our moon would have to be used to station the necessary equipment.3. Since my wife is away for the weekend with friends I used this as an excuse to do very little work around the house and estate, aside from cut a few trees down (I've got a new axe and chain saw, both of which I really like using) and cut grass and haul some earth with my tractor. After that we went to a Woodsman of the World meeting, a very large one, and enjoyed ourselves thoroughly. The bonfire and storytelling was very imagination-intense.4. I took my kids to see Star Trek. My wife and I had seen it on the second night on a date, but I wanted my kids to see it. They loved it and this time I noticed many things in the film I had not previously. A lot of things in the film reminded me of Lost, one of my favorite television shows and also a great "imagination trigger" for me. 5. I got in a copy of the Art of Memory by Frances Yates. I'm buying a copy for my personal library but this one was an old rare copy I got from the Interlibrary Loan Program and included many old illustrations and artwork. The book is already having a deep effect upon both my way of looking at mental techniques for problem solving and for mnemonic purposes, but I see now that it will also heavily influence my imagination.6. My kids and I watched the International Space Station fly over our house last night. I knew it would be moving too fast to track with my telescope but I did use my high powered spotting binoculars and we each got a really good look at it as it shot by from west-nor'west until it disappeared.7. I am soon to receive a copy of the Jack Flanders radio play The Fourth Tower of Inverness. (I think radio has an effect upon the imagination that television often does not.) It'll be on CD and I plan to have my entire family listen to it with me in the evenings. We'll sit back after dark and listen to the play on CD every evening for a week. I suspect it will have enormous effect upon my kid's imaginations, and I am really looking forwards to hearing it again, which I probably haven't done for twenty years or more.All of these things this weekend, and some other things that have happened to me over the past couple of weeks, some of which I describe in the original post, have all had direct effects upon my recent imagination. I have also seen some of these things creeping into my dreams in different ways. And maybe it is merely because I have lately been paying specific attention to things that have been affecting my imagination but my dreams are becoming much more powerful, easy to remember and "imagination-rich" for lack of a better term. But for ten years or so I've barely remembered my dreams or had any of much consequence. I think that is because I have been so busy at different things in life (marriage, work, fatherhood, business, science, invention, etc) I've paid little attention to my mental, psychological, or "imaginative" life. But that seems to be reawakening lately. And I'm glad. It's enjoyable and beneficial to me.I'll take this up and some of the other folks replies later.Gotta get me and the kids ready for church now.</blockquote>

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