Lovely morning. A friend of mine on Twitter read an English picture book aloud to me the other day. Books stimulate our imagination, and the voice that reads the beautiful words in the book also multiplies our imagination. Picture books don’t have as many words as novels. However, there is something between the words, a feeling. Her voice alone made me feel as if the world in the picture book was spreading into my heart. I was filled with happiness at the gift of her heartfelt voice.
I feel that picture books are not only for children, but they can also purify and enrich the hearts of adults. When we are children, we let our imaginations run wild without worrying about what’s good or bad, or what’s acceptable or not.
But as we grow up, our reasoning comes into play, or we feel that we have to do something well because everyone is watching, or something in our mind puts a brake on it, or gets in the way, or our imagination is limited because of our own fixed ideas.
The more flexible your mind is and the more imaginative you are, the more creative your ideas will be. First, stop thinking, breathe deeply, and make time for nothingness. Then, like a child opening the cover of a picture book for the first time, or like a child listening to a picture book being read to him or her, make a habit of honing your senses and feeling the sensations carefully. If you do this, you will be able to feel the beauty of everything in front of you, and you will grow to enjoy everything, which may further enrich your imagination and ability to think.