MAKE MAGIC.

I feel like the earth has been revolving around the sun a little faster these days. I browsed through some photos I took a year ago, and I cannot even begin to convince myself that, yes, a year has passed since they were taken. Wow. 

Then there is this film, "God Help The Girl," that is now out on DVD! I remember excitedly waiting for it to just even come out a year ago! I confess that I never did get the chance to watch it (I don't think it was even released in the country) until a while ago..well at least the first 30 minutes or so of it.

Again, I write at this very moment to remember this feeling of awe. I imagine a younger version of mine in another time--from a year ago--still sharing this same space from where I am writing. I imagine her thinking of her younger self from a year ago...and that younger self thinking about her younger self..and so on. It's amazing that humans are capable of such complex thinking and wonder and astonishment. 

I look at the things around me. They are literally frozen in their forms. They do not grow. The blanket around my feet, the pillow upon my head, the frame hanging on the wall..all these things do not seem to grow old, and are completely nonchalant about the passing of time. Yet they are powerful everyday reminders to us of change. They speak of memories that only humans can understand and bring out of them. The blanket takes me back to the time when I would drive my sister to and from her dorm in college, for it was one of the things we first brought to her place when she moved in. The pillow reminds me of afternoon naps I liked taking during the summers of my childhood; and the frame on the wall reminds me of my young self drawing every portrait I could find at home, painting on a folder, and channeling my inner Van Gogh. :p

True that it is weird to even think of inanimate things as alive, in the very sense that we, who attach feelings of growth and memories to them, ARE alive. But to some extent, I do believe that there is a magical force that allows us to think that way--that the things we grow old with also grow along with us. It is such force that we were first introduced to when we were children, but which we tend to forget the moment we realize that the doll we carry around will never really talk back to us, or that the cars we're playing with will never move as fast as real cars do. Sadly, the moment we grow up and learn, we often lose our imagination and we grow up allergic to anything that requires even the smallest bit of it. This happens to all of us. 

Then again, it also happens that somewhere along the course of our growing-up years, life also drops little pebbles along our path that meant to guide us back to the child in us--to remember this child, and learn from him/her especially when we need to--read: when our lack of imagination has sucked out the life in us. 

As John Lennon suggests, imagination is an extremely powerful thing. Even Rhonda Byrne agrees. Even Walt Disney agrees. Even Steve Jobs agrees. Many of the people who have gone on the change the world imagined...and made the most of their lives.

It may seem trivial now to even use the word imagination, in a world that over glorifies many other words we often associate with being wise or having an important place in the world--words such as "career" or "investments" or "business" or "ventures" or "power" or "fame" over words like "play" or "dreams" or "poetry" or "magic" and even "faith." 

I do hope that we never forget that everything around us were first imagined. The blankets, the pillows, the frames on the wall, the phone by our bedside, the food on the table, among many things. We need not look farther to believe that indeed, everything than can be imagined can be achieved, in this very short life that we have. 

Much has been given to us, and so while we are here, we must try to turn every struggle or problem we face into an opportunity to think happy, magical thoughts, and change the world.

Go. :)