Imaginary Lives

In pondering what to write about today, I read one of my favourite 'go-to' books: Simple Abundance A Daybook of Comfort and Joy by Sarah Ban Breathnach. For me, it is indeed a book of comfort that I have read cover to cover several times and that I keep in my bathroom and pick up from time to time to read. Her book has a reading each day, giving lots of food for thought. Today's reading resonated with me: imaginary selves. Sarah implores us to think what we want to be, what we would like to do. Then she asks us to examine if there is a part of that life that appeals to us that we can incorporate into our daily lives.

From Simple Abundance A Daybook of Comfort and Joy by Sarah Ban Breathnach http://www.sarahbanbreathnach.com/books

Her entry made me think of one of my absolute favourite 'tasks' from another go-to book, The Artist's Way~A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity by Julia Cameron: Write 5 imaginary lives (Week I) ....and write another 5 (Week II). If ever one of my books was going to be like the Velveteen Rabbit and come alive simply by how much it was loved, it would this book. I have worked my way through it from cover to cover several times and if ever I feel ungrounded, it and its practice of Morning Pages (my AM pages), is the first thing I reach for.

So maybe try that when you get chance today: what are your 5 (or 10) imaginary lives? How can you introduce parts of them into your present life?

Here are 5 of mine:
1. Radio dj
2. Modern day St Francis (lol...the animal attachment...it could also be Snow White and how all the woodland animals flock around her. It's important to examine what it is that truly attracts you to that life)
3. Prizewinning, world famous author
4. Magazine editor
5. Psychic

​Perhaps I've cheated in giving those examples because I'm very aware of how I've incorporated parts of those lives into my present everyday life over the years, although the magazine editor one is a recent revelation.

1. Radio dj: it's making songlists and themes and moods that appeals to me (like Effy's Mixed Tapes which I did as a teenager all the way through to creating cds) enter Spotify! 

2. St. Francis/ Snow White: having pets, feeding wildlife (it doesn't have to be an earth shattering embodiment.)

3. Prizewinning, world famous author: writing regularly, entering contests etc--modest local success

4. Magazine editor: Blogging! I like taking pictures, finding links, choosing music and researching and tying it all up in a neat bundle. It was fascinating for me to dig a little deeper and find out what really appealed to me about blogging and how it related to an imaginary life of being a magazine editor. 

5. Psychic: indulging my love of tarot by daily card pulls and regular readings for myself and friends. I also dabbled in reading in a local coffee shop which was fun but super scary!

So there you have it. Our imaginary lives have something in them that whispers and deeply appeals to us. If we can examine this more, we may discover what it is and expand what we perhaps consider to be our more mundane daily lives. 

Happy imagining. And living!  

---