Kaleidoscope Eyes

It must have been 1969 when I first heard the lyrics of this poem in school. The poem’s haunting, dreamlike lines resonated deeply in my imagination, and I drifted off into a familiar space I hadn’t thought about for a long time. The familiar space was daydreaming. Instantly, I was eight and the delicious tastes and scents of marmalade on fresh toasted homemade bread filled my head. Then I was lying beneath a tree on my back in a river of soft, thick grass, watching the sky float by through shadows of dancing leaves.

 Picture yourself in a boat on a river

with tangerine trees and marmalade skies.

The next guest on the show I was watching was an author who’d written a book on how our brains function in today’s work world: The Working Brain: Optimize Your Work Day Performance by Dr. Brynn L. Winegard. What caught my interest was her assertion that our brain functions best when we work with our brain’s wave cycles–arousal, peak, stress, and healing response–which translates to about ninety minutes of work followed by a twenty-minute break. However, when working with technology, our work cycle gets cut in half to forty-five minutes, followed by a twenty-minute break.

 Turns out, our brain gets cluttered with damaging stuff like plaque when we don’t pay attention to how we’re using our brain, like “powering” through to a deadline, forgetting to eat nourishing food, or sitting in front of our computers for hours. And, our brains can tell the difference between an in person interaction and an interaction between us and technology.

To optimize our brain wave cycles, then, we need to pay attention to how we move, eat, rest, interact, and think. Who knew my favorite parts of the day as a young child like daydreaming, lying on the grass, snack time, recess, nap time, and learning things were all elements needed to grow a healthy brain. Do children today get to daydream or lie on the grass? What kind of downtime do adults enjoy today? Hint: it doesn’t involve a glass of wine or going out to dinner. When was the last time we let our imagination take over our brain?

Picture yourself on a train in a station

with plasticine porters with looking glass ties.

“Ooh” I breathed, “looking glass ties”. Instantly I was in a train feeling its rocking motion and hearing its clicks and clacks as iron wheels sped over railroad ties. A huge balloon-like porter peered into my face, but all I saw were multiple reflections and light in his mirrored tie. It reminded me of the kaleidoscope I spent hours looking through as a child, and oddly, silly putty, another favourite toy. I wondered what role imagination plays in the way our human brain functions? Time to do creative activities throughout my day helps me function better, but does imagination or creativity serve a necessary function, or is it just a fun way to spend time?

Imagination: the act or power of forming mental images of what is not actually present or has never been actually directly experienced. Notably, imagination not only has the potential to enrich the meaning of an experience and deepen understanding, by multiplying and expanding the perspectives from which a phenomenon can be considered, but it also allows anticipating the outcome of an action without actually performing it via a “simulation” process. At its peak, imagination is the very mental faculty underlying visionary and creative thought.

Agnati LF, Guidolin D, Battistin L, Pagnoni G, Fuxe K. The neurobiology of imagination: possible role of interaction-dominant dynamics and default mode network. Front Psychol. 2013 May 24;4:296. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00296. PMID: 23745117; PMCID: PMC3662866.

Athletes do simulations all the time, don’t they? Anybody in sports visualizes victory. I’ve heard this technique works for athletes, but it didn’t seem to work for me until I began my transformation process. The deeper I explored who I was inside, the better I could simulate where I was going in life. I began to have amazing visions and dreams.

Newspaper taxis appear on the shore

Waiting to take you away.

Climb in the back with your head in the cloud

And you’re gone.

 To prepare for this post, I googled Top visionaries 2025, and I was truly gone, disappearing into a fascinating rabbit hole. It was based on the Top Fifty-one Thought Leaders who were the most in demand to speak to groups of people, stating that “According to Forbes, a thought leader is someone who ‘specialised in a given area and whom others in that industry turn to [F]for guidance.’” The list was truly inspiring, but it was my husband, who loves to quote words set to music, was the catalyst for this post. His phenomenal memory of lyrics to songs results from his years of professional bass playing and singing. This day, a word sparked a memory of McCartney/Lennon’s song, “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” which spurred me into this post about the world of imagining, visioning, and creating.

I was back in school, again, listening to my teacher reading this poem. The message wasn’t clear to me at all, and it made me feel uncomfortable. There was an undercurrent of something foreign and strange I couldn’t put my finger on until the teacher asked us what we thought the poem was about. Someone behind me snickered and said, “Good drugs, man.” It surprised and disappointed me. I thought it was about our imaginations, not about an LSD trip.

Still, I’m thankful for this reminder of an activity I used to do regularly as a child. Could downtime or daydreaming be the catalyst for amazing songs, incredible feats in sports, or becoming a renowned speaker inspiring millions? Inspiration holds the essence of who we are and catapults us into living our amazing lives. It’s what makes our hearts soar even if we don’t follow through. Imagine what we could do if we daydreamed regularly and out of it came an inspiring thought. What if we followed that thought through failure and frustration to a new reality? A reality that inspired millions more to take time to imagine.

Suddenly someone is there at the turnstile

The girl with kaleidoscope eyes.

Thank you, my imaginative, wonderful partner, Chris. My gratitude also to Paul McCartney, John Lennon, and all those who inspired me to create, visualize, and dream.