Some of the bright young things I occasionally mix with are getting excited about 'Augmented Reality'. This is where computer technology is used to add something (hence the 'augmented') to the reality they are perceiving.

The easiest is a heads-up display on some goggles where you can look at the world but also read data about what you're looking at.

Hmmm.

I've been living in an Augmented Reality for decades – and without the aid or need for technology's help! I've also been reading a lot more into it than was really there!

Sitting beside my desk as I type this is a piece of art that lights up. Most of the time, I feel it is gently mocking me, but I know the artist's intent was positive. It is a phrase:

"Live the life you have imagined."

When life is sad or hard going, this motivational piece of artwork feels more demotivating, but it has got me thinking: "Could I use my imagination to enhance my 'reality'?"

Like so many of us who read the Moodscope blog, I'm really creative! Creativity is an expression of imagination, and I have had my share of using 'Dark Imagination' to make reality even worse than it is!!!

Perhaps we could all learn to flip that tendency. What if we could use our imagination, our creativity, our story-telling skills, to tell a happier story to ourselves?

For example, it is time for our 'Alpine Sunset' roses to begin blooming... and blooming they are. This is my favourite rose – beautify and scented. I visit the bush each day because the beauty is extremely fleeting, and I want to make the most of this Spring.

Frankly, the reality is beautiful enough, but could I enhance it with my imagination?

Of course I could! And my pleasure is all the more so because of my engagement in the moment of bliss that is my reflective time with the rose.

For me, the imagination is around architecture and fashion design – with the rose as my muse.

How do you use imagination to make the real world a better place?

Lex

A Moodscope member.