Tue, Jan 30 2007

Imagine yourself older and wiser

I once had a friend tell me about a mental exercise similar to the Imagined House. But the version she described had one other step for gaining insight into one's own thought processes. Once inside the house, you imagine choosing to go into a room where there is an elderly person seated comfortably. You join the person in a nearby chair. You recognize that the person in the room is actually an older, wiser version of your own self, so you imagine asking the person about the decision you need to make or the insight you seek. They lovingly give you an answer that seems as though it was the right one all along.

This particular visualization isn't intended to take the place of moral choices in major circumstances, but if you can successfully put yourself into the exercise you may find it useful. What you really feel concerning certain issues may have been interfering with your decision-making process and may have even led you to procrastinate in making any decision at all.

This could also be a great tool in character development for any fictional story you might be contemplating. I've always like the idea of imagining an interview with a major character, but this sort of exercise would take the process a layer deeper and might give you the answer as to what you character really wants to do. You maintain control of the story, of course. But if you find that a particular character doesn't feel genuine or hasn't fleshed out properly in a story, you might imagine them seeking their own older and wiser self, as a journey to make your reader more empathetic to their thoughts and actions.

posted at: 07:53 | category: /Writing Life | link to this entry