10.28-StretchBrainImaginHANDOUT

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STRETCH YOUR BRAIN & IMAGINATION HANDOUT
 
 
The prompts below were developed by Dr. Jane McGonigal a futurist and game designer.
 
These strategies can be used to stretch and grow three parts of your brain, in addition to
 
building imagination and creativity skills. Viewing the YouTube video of McGonigal’s
 
talk: 
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The Future of Imagination
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is highly recommended. This talk was presented in 2016
 
at the Aspen Ideas Festival and it offers detailed examples of these activities as well as
 
the science behind them.
 
 
Prompt #1: Counterfactual Memory
 
 
Ask yourself:  What if instead of doing ‘X’ at some point in my past, I had done ‘Y’?
 
How might my life have turned out differently? (Example: What if I had joined the Coast
 
Guard instead of going to college right after high school?)
 
 
Keep it personal. Neurological activation increases when there’s an autobiographical
 
element to the memory or future you are trying to imagine. McGonigal suggests: “Trying
 
to imagine how things could have been different in the past allows you to imagine how
 
things could be different in the future.”
 
 
 
Step one
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:  Write your “What if” question at the top of a new page in your journal.
 
“What if instead of ___________________________, I _______________________.
 
Step two
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:  Write a journal entry describing as many details about the ways your life
 
might have turned out differently 
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as if you had done it.
 
 
Step three
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:  Reflection. Was this interesting for you to do?  Were you surprised what
 
came into your imagination?  Did you think about one or multiple possible futures? Did
 
any other insights come to mind?
 
 
When doing this exercise, the brain reaches for something that didn’t happen, but that
 
could have happened, by using a combination of logic, intuition and imagination. Three
 
parts of the brain are activated. Research shows this exercise heightens ‘agency’ (the
 
feeling that you have influence over how your life turns out), depression is reduced, and
 
your creativity goes up. McGonigal also reports practicing these exercises can: “increase
 
the sense of control you have over your own life” and “lead you to becoming a better
 
creative problem solver.”
 
 
 
Prompt #2: Counterfactual Foresight
 
Option A:
 
Step one
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:  Imagine yourself in the future doing something you’ve never done before.
 
Step two
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:  Describe the experience as vividly as you can.
 
 
Step three
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: Write your journal entry from the future - as if it already happened.
 
Step four
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: Imagine who is with you, how you got there, or other things that happened
 
while you were there. Give your imagination free rein to go wild.
 
(My example: I’ve never lived on a houseboat. I imagined and wrote about all the
 
adventures I had traveling that way for a year.)

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Option B: The X, Y, Z Format
 
Step one
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: Imagine a physical activity (ie: cooking, biking) that you’ve done (X).
 
Step two
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: Imagine a person you care about who is alive and you could possibly have a
 
future interaction with (Y).
 
Step three
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: Imagine traveling to a faraway place (Z).
 
Step four
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: Now imagine yourself doing this physical activity with the person you care
 
about in this faraway place.  Picture it for 10 seconds and imagine how you got there, and
 
why you are doing this activity with the person you care about in a faraway place.  Write
 
an entry in your journal describing everything as if it already happened. Add as many
 
details as possible.
 
 
Dr. McGonigal suggests: “Every time you remember a future that hasn’t actually
 
happened, you rate that future as more likely and the more vivid details that you describe
 
about this future that has never happened, the more likely you are to really start to believe
 
it could totally happen.” This is a highly effective skill to practice and develop if you are
 
interested in creating positive change in the world.
 
 
Part 3:  Collage Postcards from the Future
 
Use a large index card or half a sheet of paper as the base of your postcard from the
 
future.
 
 
Step one
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: Flip through magazines looking for images that catch your eye. The brain
 
recognizes symbols, colors, and shapes. Words anchor us to the present, so avoid them in
 
this exercise.
 
 
Step two
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: When you have a 6 or more images, begin cutting out specific shapes rather
 
than ‘boxes.’ Play with different ways of arranging your images before gluing them in
 
place. Let your intuition be your guide. Our purpose is not creating ‘great art’. The
 
process is used to ‘bring forward’ a story from the future.
 
 
Step three
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: When your postcard is complete, journal a description of the images you see
 
in your collage. How do you feel when you look at it? Imagine a story emerging. Write
 
the story in your journal from the future – as if it had already happened.  The process
 
ends with silent witnessing of the collages and a debrief of the process.
 
 
 
Reflections:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Reference:
 
McGonigal, Jane. (2016). 
​
The future of imagination
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. Aspen Ideas Festival Lecture.
 
 
            
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https://youtu.be/BeoHGwBvXhY