Harness Introvert Power No Matter Who You Are

Introvert.

What sort of images crossed you mind then? Did you see someone cowering, shy, stuttering? Did you see a shadow or an ant, that larger and louder people cannot stand, so they step on it? Did you see someone who is not successful? Someone who won't go anywhere in life but dead in a ditch from suicide?

Whatever the images were which crossed your mind. Or the thoughts which bounced under them like karoke captions, they were largely untrue. Why? Because all those things I listed are things that could describe anyone. Regardless of being defined as an Introvert ot Extrovert or those people who sit somewhere in between.

Being an Introvert simply means we draw energy and power from being alone. We are most creative and most alive in that state. However that does not mean we cannot speak in front of crowds, that we cannot be successful, that we cannot live a full and happy life.

Steve Jobs and Rosa Parks were Introverts, as is JK Rowling.

An entrepreneur that started one of the biggest companies in the world, a civil rights activist for African Americans in the 1960's and an author of one of the most read series in contemporary history.

But that is all actually quite beside the point of this post, which is to challenge you to spend some time alone, at least fifteen minutes day, for a week. And I mean completely alone. The sort of alone where you are not going to pass someone else walking on the street, or being surrounded by individuals in a coffee shop. If you have to, shut yourself in a closet. Though a better option would be to hike somewhere or somewhen, that would allow you to be completely alone. For at least fifteen minutes.

While you are there, close your eyes. Breathe. Identify sounds your hear. Identify smells. Identify the feel of whatever ground you are sitting on or the wind, the sun, the rain on your body and face.

If your mind wanders. Go back to using some of your senses to pick out the world around you. But keep your eyes closed.

When the fifteen minutes are open. Open your eyes. Breathe in deep.

Now, let your mind chatter away. Let all the worries; what you are making for dinner, whether you'll get an interview for a job, whether you'll pass an exam you just wrote, whether you'll have enough money for rent next month, or what a particularly stubborn character needs to do for your story to conclude. Let it all chatter through your brain.

You'll notice you'll suddenly have answers for some of those things. You'll notice you suddenly feel calmer about the things that don't have instant answers. You'll notice that really, having any solid answers doesn't matter because you are here. You are fortunate. You are alive.

You are alive.

As an Introvert, that is the best advice I can give you. Be quiet. Alone. And just listen to the world. Do a little every day. Regardless of how you identify yourself as an individual, everyone could all do with a little bit of Introvert time.

Illustration by Maurice Sendak from Open House for Butterflies by Ruth Krauss

Sitting on the Rock. Living.
Moony.

Returning to the Corner

Time and again, I return to my corner. I may venture out for a time, but in this incredibly fast, loud and hectic world, people like myself don't last long. (For now, the jury is out on whether or not there is help for me in that area).

Faced with people coming, going, giggling, deep voiced chatter, yelling instructions, commands and discipling all in the same breath; music or t.v. blaring  to the beat of the dishwasher, dryer, the refridgerator or desktop computer and one wonders why life hasn't driven you under the dirt yet.

Quess what? Like an overheated computer, it's time to shut down.

Bring on the other worlds. Bring the chaos that only goes to my imagination.

It's time to sit quietly in my corner.

This is all just to say real life is dragging me under a lot lately which is leaving less and less energy to come up with anything remotely insightful, let alone creative for the few who actually read this. That said, this is part of my shut down therapy in that it does take me to another world through the expression of my own thoughts.

I will admit however to leaning heavily on pre-existing creations such as books, t.v. shows, movies or manga.

Then again, there is great power in other medias, particularly television series. They give us models by which we can base our own similar experiences off of, or models of experiences we have never had before that open our eyes to new perspectives, places and opinions. No, that's nothing really new, I am sure you all recognized why you watch certain t.v. shows and the value that exists in them. (Except for reality t.v., I really cannot understand the point of watching a fake reality, at least fiction has greater messages and purposes behind it, and a psychologist agrees with me, as much as that counts. (See the article on TheMarySue here).

Can you list off all the shows/movies/books which have influenced you or which have led you to communities, friendships and new experiences. I realized mine's not actually that large but I am very passionate about those few.

Anyway, this all brings me to wonder, as I am tempted to say imagination is a far better place to exist than reality...

How much imagination is too much? 

When you say the word "imagination" the following words and phrases are conjured: fiction, fantasy, lack of logic, things that don't really exist, things that aren't possible etc...

The problem with all that lies in belief however; after all, the word "impossible" breaks down to actually say "I'm possible." Also, saying something doesn't exist is somewhat abitrary because that thing just might exist in the next year or twenty years from now. Plus, all those more intagible things like unicorns, or faeries, or spirits leaks into the same realm of general spiritual, or dare I say, organized religions. Not to mention, in order to stay motivated when you are working toward achieving something you have to have some level of self-belief that you will succeed, otherwise you'd stay in bed all day.

Perhaps I am dragging the word and idea of imagination way out of proportion and the story-based context it is generally used in but then again, as someone who is, in my word, an occupational imaginist (ie: someone who strives to see people, places, things and situations in unique ways in order to glean something new), this is right up my alley.

If anyone is, at all, reading this, I encourage you to leave your personal definition and thoughts on imagination in the comments as I have an ongoing wiki project devoted to collecting as many possible definitions of words as I can gather and input.

You might call the project yet another angle by which I hope to reveal to people that we are all creative beings because of our different ways of seeing and responding to the world.

Whether something is too bright, too loud or too fast, that bathwater of yours is at the premium temperature for a long relaxing soak, or the sun is hitting the rock just right to give you great photos, once you've climbed your way up, we all have our own corners in this world and it's high time we started properly celebrating it.

By all means, celebrate the pre-existing wonders of human creativity (after this I am going to laugh my self silly with A Bit of Fry and Laurie) but remember that your bones are creative in their own unique way too. Maybe you have multiple areas of creativity and you're uniqueness might come through combining them, I combine my love of photography with writing through this blog for example, or maybe you just have one area, so go, find other like-minded individuals, learn lots and as an old childhood t.v. character used to say:

"Take chances, make mistakes and get messy." (Mrs Frizzle of Magic School Bus fame).

What's your brand of imagination?
Moony.

Note: Life is as hectic as implied at the beginning of this post, thus I'll probably be falling back on posting every other day, or at least three times a week for the next couple months.