Making Merry with Andrew & Greg - episode 141
The goal of this episode was to make merry. And who to help us do that but Andrew Gumm and Greg Henninger. I hired them both as teaching artists for children’s theater back in the day, and they went to college with Shaun. Our connections run deep. Even if I haven’t seen or talked to them in a while, all bets are off when we connect, and it’s like no time has gone by. I cherish them both. To make more merry, they were quizzed on some Christmas movie quotes, and then some questions around Christmas.
We actually ran out of time. Maybe you could tell we could have kept going for many hours to come. Hopefully you are as entertained as we clearly were. Whether we’re talking about the merits, or lack of them for My Favorite Things as a Christmas song, or whether The Twelve Days of Christmas has too many birds, we covered as much as we could. For those things we will be pondering, we’ve got our work cut out for us to look into them and then we’ll come back and share our findings. Collaborating is fulfilling. When you can come together and be more than you could have been on your own, it’s simply the best. Just like these two.
Christmas isn’t a season.
It’s a feeling.
— Edna Ferber
It’s a Question of Imagination
Thoughts from Making Merry with Andrew and Greg
There is one thing I greatly appreciate about both Andrew and Greg. They have imaginations and are ready to use them, in any capacity, whenever possible. They are ‘grown-ups’ yet understand the value of creativity in all its forms. In fact they both have careers that promote and encourage the power to create in one’s mind, which is the definition of imagination.
I took a moment to find the following. According to writingcooperative.com, amongst others, there are eight types of imagination. Who knew? I didn’t.
Effectuative imagination - synthesize existing ideas from existing information
Intellectual or constructive imagination - to work from an existing idea or plan towards a distinct purpose
Imaginative fantasy - generate new ideas from scratch
Empathy - to mentally detach from self and experience what someone else is experiencing from their point of view
Strategic imagination - spot opportunities and visualize what might happen if you take them
Emotional imagination - manifesting emotional dispositions and extending them into scenarios
Dreams - imagination that we do when we’re asleep
Memory Reconstruction - retrieve our memories, use our imagination to regenerate images
This is the Enneagram 5 (Investigative Thinker) in me coming out to learn something new. I’ve never thought to look into how the imagination has been studied and I’m fascinated to see it broken down into 8 modes. But let’s not get into the weeds on this. Let’s find some reasons imagination is so important.
Based on a HuffPost.com article.
Imagination ignites passion - Have you lost the connection to your passion and purpose? Imagination can help you get them for the first time, or get them back.
Our imagination and thoughts create our future - What do you want to experience? Step out of reality and imagine so you can imagine the change you want to see.
Imagination stimulates creativity and innovation - Can you think bigger, better, more beautiful? Use imagination to step outside the box.
Imagination is magical - When was the last time you saw the possibilities? Use imagination to experience wonder and joy.
Sometimes reality just sucks - Do you have hope? Imagination can help create hope which can lead to transformation and change.
I’ve got to tell you I feel pretty excited about imagination and its use in our lives. I enjoyed learning more about it. I want to keep my imagination muscle flexed and hope you will too.
The true sign of intelligence is not
knowledge, but imagination.
— Albert Einstein
