The Wisdom of Your Imagination

I travel a lot with the work that I do. I specialize in teaching people how to use imagery and imagination to make the changes they want to make. My work is not talk therapy or emotional expressive therapy but each plays a part in the work. I do what is called inspirational interviewing wherein the client is put into a confidence building role, relying on a deeper wisdom to help them make decisions and achieve goals.

Imagery not only includes the visual modality, it also encompasses what we feel, hear, smell, touch, and taste. Imagination represents the expansive part of us. A friend of mine once wrote, “Imagination is the opposite of depression.” Imagination is always our way out of whatever is making us feel trapped. Imagination offers us possibilities, options, opens doors and helps us reach beyond the places where we are stuck. Imagination activates all of our senses so that we can see new opportunities, feel alive again inside, hear the music, smell the flowers, reinvent ourselves, reignite our relationships, and begin to take the steps which will lead us in a new direction.

Depression is a state of contraction, a holding in, a repressing, and a narrowing of perception. When we think negatively and feel hopeless, we don’t notice people’s smiles, the sounds of nature, or see beauty. When we are depressed, life becomes very limited in scope. In a sense, depression is a very self-centered experience. The “I” becomes all important: I don’t have, I lack, I missed out, I failed, I made the mistake, I, I, I. In the English language, the “I” is always capitalized but the “we,” “ she,” and “he” are in lower case. Why do we put such a high premium on the “I?”  Depression is not a bad thing, but when we are in it, it does not feel good. Depression can be viewed as ‘seed time.’ It is an important time to read, to journal, to look back, to look forward, to explore what we want to do, what we want to achieve, what goals we want to work towards. While depressed we typically don’t think about goals or what we want to achieve because we are waterlogged with feelings of hopelessness. But, these are the times that we must actively force ourselves to move beyond the feelings and tap into imagination. This is where my work comes in handy. It encourages and supports people to look at their lives in a creative way, a nurturing way, and a hopeful way. During the interview, the person is helped to identify a goal that is important to her. Even the most depressed person can be helped to identify a goal IF the questions asked by the interviewer are non-threatening and create safety. This is called establishing rapport.

Keep in mind that when I speak of depression I am not talking about grief as it relates to loss. Feeling grief and going through the natural stages of grief following a loss are quite different. I had the good fortune of working with grief and loss expert, Elizabeth Kubler Ross, MD while in graduate school and know from my own experiences that grief as it relates to loss takes time. But, I have had hundreds of people attend my workshops who were suffering from grief gain immeasurably from the creative processes and exploring grief and loss in new ways.

Following the interview stage of the work, I help those I work with to learn how to relax. This can be quite challenging, especially to someone who has not relaxed in a very long time. Oftentimes when a person is guided into a relaxation process, or meditative state they begin to gently cry. This crying is not out of sadness but rather a physiological response to entering into an altered state of consciousness that feels good. It feels so good that the eyes begin to tear. It is akin to crying at the airport when we pick up a friend or relative we haven’t seen in a very long time and it is feels so good to see that person again. We cry out of joy. The same thing can happen when we deeply relax. We tap into an inner place that we haven’t visited in a very long time but the body remembers how good it felt.

Next, the person is helped with the goal that was identified in the interview. My work is solution focused, not problem focused. Solution focused means that I am going to help you create viable solutions so that so you can do more of the things that will bring a smile to your face.  The goal might be to be more relaxed, to make a big life decision, to gain clarity on an important issue, to be pain free, to improve sleep, or to embrace something new. A goal is not something you don’t want but has to be put into positive terms as something you do want. Oftentimes people spend too much time talking about what is awful in their lives, what isn’t working, and what is causing distress. In my workshops, we spend very little time with these issues and spend most of our time looking at solutions, options, possibilities, needed changes, and creative ways of opening doors. In the words of Abraham Maslow, we explore “The farther reaches of human nature.” The difference with the work that I do is that these farther reaches are explored while in a deeply relaxing state of mind. We go inside and let the imagination take the lead. I have done this work with thousands of people in three countries and still today I am amazed at the positive life-changing results.

The work takes different forms and I offer those attending the workshops a half dozen creative processes to explore. Sometimes we work in the past; sometimes we work in the future; sometimes we work with a process wherein we take two opposing goals and place them metaphorically in the hands; sometimes we work in the present; sometimes we work on a dream or a series of dreams. But, the most important thing is that we work creatively and draw upon the wisdom of your imagination.

John A. Tamiazzo is the author of two books. His newest book, Returning to the Land of Oz: Finding Hope, Love, and Courage on Your Yellow Brick Road, is available at Amazon.com, Amazon,ca, Barnesandnoble.com, and as a Kindle e-book at Amazon. Check his workshop schedule at www.landofozworkshops.blogspot.com for a workshop coming to your area soon.