Picture: Amie and Angie in glorious costumes!

My cousin Amie and I lived a wonderfully creative and imaginative childhood. We would play together every Saturday at my grandparent's house in Vermont. Summer days would be filled with outdoors games of tag and hide-n-seek, climbing trees, making mud tacos (mud and large leaves), and building stick forts in the woods. The colder winter days were spent playing indoors, mostly in the large open basement at my grandparent's house. Grammy had a big "imagination" box in the basement filled with great wonders: old clothes, used kitchen utensils, scraps of cloth, buttons -- basically anything that might have been thrown out went into the imagination box for us grandkids to use (even our great grandmother's old wigs!).

What was glorious about the imagination box was that we were never told how we should use the items that went inside. Honestly, we grandkids were monitored just enough to make sure no tragic accidents happened; mostly we were left alone to do as we pleased (this was definitely the era before seat belts were mandatory!). We used kitchen utensils as clothes, weapons, and magic wands, and we used purses and handkerchiefs for hats (see above), wings, walls, and dragon tails. We made forts out of furniture, sheets, and boxes. We told stories, created our own plays, and invented choreographed musical performances (there were a few old instruments tucked in the box too).

Personally, I loved singing to the wooden spoon 😁.

I contemplate how different my own childhood was from the experience of young children today who are growing up attached to screens, ipods, and social media platforms. When my cousin and I were young, our creative play was nourished every day, and we made our own rules. We had lots of time to get bored and to figure out how to stay interested in our world. I think this is an important reminder not just for children but for us adults as well. It is far too easy to let Netflix and social media grab our attention and to feel like we have no outlet for creativity.

But what if you made your own imagination box? What if you gathered a box or basket and you filled it with interesting objects from your own home collection? Chances are you have a few extra objects around! Perhaps this box could be used to spark a journal writing practice, a daily poetry practice, or a photography practice. As a collage artist, I have many imagination boxes filled with scraps of paper, packing material, old buttons, old books, dried flowers, and more! You could glue things together to make a collage or a sculpture. You might even make your own dress up box; you're never too old to play dress up!

​Watch my short collage video for a little creative inspiration!

Being an adult is not an excuse to give up on your creative thinking. You need to keep those pathways in your brain active and engaged, and when you do, you just might find a way to create more joy and pleasure in your life.