Open-Mindedness – A Product of My Imagination

For as long as I can remember, I’ve looked at inanimate objects and been able to see something else in them. I think the first time I did this was with the tail lights on my mom’s old car. It was a Lancer from the late 1950’s, and every time I saw those tail lights, they reminded me of my cousin Paul’s eyes.

Then there were the wood panel doors that covered the closet in my childhood bedroom. The pattern in the wood grain reminded me of an impala. No, not the car; but the deer-like animal. I swore there was an impala just waiting to jump out into my bedroom. That’s how real it looked.

Then there was the puffy white cloud that rolled by moments ago. In it I could see a tiny lamb. Its head and torso were plain as day. Then, I noticed its wings, sprouting out to make it look like a cherub. That is until a hole formed in the cloud, and suddenly I was staring down the barrel of a sawed-off shotgun.

I know that these are all products of my imagination. Car lights are not eyes. There is no impala stuck in the wood grain of those closet doors. Certainly, lambs do not morph into cherubs, and then into shotguns. That would be ridiculous!

Ridiculous or not, I do my best not to stifle my imagination. It has played a major role in my recovery from active drug addiction. My imagination has been the source of much of the open-mindedness I’ve needed to practice over the past seven years; allowing me to see things that are not yet there as though they are.

In those early days of recovery, I found that though I had once thrived when in a large crowd, I was now terrified. It helped to imagine myself being as comfortable as my first sponsor in such settings. He was never rattled. So, I tried to see myself as being like him, even when I was the furthest thing from comfortable.

At work, when I was terrified that my peers would discover the truth about my addiction, I tried to imagine finding acceptance from them. It was an exercise that ultimately led me to explain why I wasn’t going out to the bar with them after dinner. To reveal the truth about how 2015 and 2016 had been rock-bottom years for me. Not only did I experience acceptance, but also encouragement that lasts to this very day.

I could go on and on with examples. The point is that I have discovered my imagination is one of the keys to practicing open-mindedness. It allows me to be less concerned with how things are, and more open to how things can be. This is especially true when I seek God’s will for my life. As I do, His plans for me begin to take shape, and my future looks bright.

Have a remarkable day!