6 ways your imagination is more powerful than reality

Hey, Psych2Goers! Hope you’re doing well!

Have you ever heard the phrase that “thoughts become things”?  Our brains are powerful organs and amazingly you can use your imagination in more ways than just daydreaming of relaxing on a tropical beach.  Your imagination can improve your life in multiple ways – from healing your body to helping you reach your goals and build your skills.

Before we start, here’s a friendly disclaimer: This article is made for entertainment purposes. So please don’t take it too seriously. 

With that said, here are 6 ways your imagination is life-changing.

1. Your imagination builds your future.

Albert Einstein once said: “Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.”

When we stay stuck in our present reality, we end up re-living the same ups and downs and experiences over and over again and getting stuck in a bit of a rut.  But when we use our imagination to help us focus on what we want to do and be in the future, that can help set things in motion. Every decision you make and imagine and then try can shape your future in powerful ways.   So start imagining an amazing future and take the steps, no matter how small, to make it a reality.

2. Your imagination builds creativity.

You probably know that your imagination is where you can be creative, right? So this one is kind of obvious. When we imagine new things, things that haven’t been thought about before, we’re being creative and accessing the power of our subconscious mind. Imagination has allowed us human beings to create and invent all the awesome stuff in the world – starting with the wheel, and the lightbulb, and today computers and smartphones! Imagine what you could create that could help the world and let that motivate you!

3. Your imagination changes your perceptions.

Did you know that your imagination can actually change your reality? Sounds impossible, right? According to Psychology Today, Swedish researchers have found that our imagination can change how we perceive our reality – by changing what you think you see or hear and making you believe it’s true when it’s an illusion.  Our imagining a sound or a shape can change how we experience the world the same way as actually seeing or hearing something can. Essentially, what we imagine we hear can change what we see, and vice versa.  So what does that mean? It means you can train your brain to see the world more optimistically (or pessimistically), and these changes can happen at the neuronal level. If you imagine that the world is full of hope and possibility and see the glass half full, that’s how the world will seem to you.

4. Your imagination builds your skills.

Did you know you can actually improve your skills by just using your imagination?

In a study by Science Direct, researchers looked into whether imagination could improve predicted motor skills by imagining and then actually, throwing darts, and seeing how accurate they were based on what they’d visualized. It turns out that being an expert in something and visualizing something before doing it makes you more likely to do it better than a non-expert. The same goes for other skills like playing the piano. If you want to improve, visualize yourself playing it – sitting down on the bench, placing your hands on the keys, and reading the music in front of you. Imagine everything about it as if you’re actually doing it. And next time you sit down at that piano, you might just find your lesson goes a bit better than you expected with a little boost from your imaginary practice session! But you can’t just kind of imagine playing the piano (or football, or dancing, or whatever). You need to have a specific goal in mind and then make it as real as possible by engaging as many of your senses as you can – imagine the people you’re with, the objects you would touch, how your body feels (are you sweating? Do you feel the sun on your face?). Visualize as clearly as you can and you’ll reap the rewards. 

5. Your imagination can make you stronger.

You know how you can get better at playing piano or darts just by imagining it? (Though it helps to also practice as well. You can’t become a world-class pianist just by playing piano in your mind!).  And imagination training can also help in more important ways, like helping surgeons enhance their abilities in the operating room!  According to a Cleveland Clinic study, participants could also get stronger just by visualizing exercise.  There’s growing evidence that mental rehearsing physical skills along with actually doing it, is more effective than just visualizing or just actually doing it. And researchers have found that if you do both things, it means you can cut down the number of hours you practice something by half! One Cleveland Clinic experiment compared people who went to the gym, with people who mentally worked out only in their imaginations. The gym-goers increased muscle strength by 30% and those that only visualized working out increased theirs by as much as 13.5%. Wow! Research also shows that the shorter the time between when you imagine doing something and then actually doing it, the more effective it is.  Another mind-blowing discovery was that visualization of exercise helped stroke victims regain control of paralyzed limbs and reduce muscle loss. 

How does all this work? It’s because your brain is activating and strengthening the same neural pathways through visualization as it does when you’re doing the activity, just at a lower level. 

When we see what other people do, mirror neurons activate in our brains in the same way as if we were doing that. For example, the mirror neurons fire when we eat an orange and when we watch someone else eating an orange. Or when we see someone else expressing anxiety, our mirror neurons get triggered and we may experience anxiety too. 

6. Your imagination can change your body processes.

Have you ever pictured in your mind taking a bite of a slice of lemon? Do it now. Does your mouth water with saliva at the thought? Or do you shudder at the experience you’re just picturing in your mind?

Think about how your body reacts when you imagine meeting up with your crush or your romantic partner. Just thinking about doing that can increase the flow of happy hormones and make you feel all warm and tingly inside.  What about if you’re experiencing a haunted house at a theme park or on Hallowe’en. Think of how your body reacts just by imagining what scary things might be around the corner? Your heart rate increases, maybe you feel a cold shiver of fear. Perhaps your palms go sweaty with nervousness, or your body tenses as adrenaline spikes, so you can run away from any scary monsters that jump out at you. And this is before anything has even happened! Just your imagination going into overdrive has caused these physiological changes. This is proof that even just by imagining things, your brain causes the same things to happen in your body as if you’re doing them! 

Closing Thoughts

So whatever task you have on your plate, big or small, like giving a speech in an important meeting or getting the courage to talk to your parents about something big, there’s growing evidence that imagining doing these things, along with physical practice,  can help because it can reduce your anxiety and increase your confidence by mentally rehearsing it beforehand. But don’t just vaguely visualize it – imagine every aspect – how you’ll speak and interact with others and everything that you can feel, hear, see, smell or even taste. And then get out there and do it!

Have you tried to imagine something first before giving it a try for real? How did it go? Let us know in the comments below! And if you liked this article, please share it with someone who might enjoy it.

As always, take care!

REFERENCES

Serf-Walls, L (2017, Dec 6) 5 Reasons Imagination Is More Important Than Reality. HuffPost https://www.huffpost.com/entry/5-reasons-imagination-is-_b_6096368

Miller, M (n.d.) Envisioning Your Way to Success: The Power of Mental Practice. 6 Seconds.org https://www.6seconds.org/2018/01/15/envisioning-way-success-incredible-power-mental-practice/ (Accessed 2021/09/29)

Gupta, A (2017, April 10). Reasons Imagination Is More Important Than Reality. Fearless Motivation.com https://www.fearlessmotivation.com/2017/04/10/5-reasons-imagination-important-reality/

Bergland, C (2013, June 28) Imagination Can Change Perceptions of Reality. Psychology Today. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-athletes-way/201306/imagination-can-change-perceptions-reality 

Dahm, S. Rieger, M. (2019, August) Is imagery better than reality? Performance in imagined dart throwing. Science Direct  https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167945718300745 (Accessed 2021, September 28)

Lee, I (2020, August 5) Mind Over Matter: The power of imagination. Brainworld Magazinehttps://brainworldmagazine.com/mind-over-matter-the-power-of-imagination/