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Getting your Aspergers imagination back

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IntellectualCat
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02 Nov 2013, 11:37 am

grahamguitarman wrote:
I suspect it is down to under use because you are under pressure to behave like an 'adult' causing your imagination is suppressed by those other thought processes that have taken priority.


True. A lot of people believe adults can't be creative, can't learn, can't have curiosity, etc. Because of that, when many people get older, they internalize those misconceptions and it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

grahamguitarman wrote:
I suspect that part of it is also down to the conflict between the left / right brain. The left side of the brain, which is responsible for logical thought and language tends to dominate the right side which deals with visual creativity and imagination. It was proven a long time ago that the left brain can actually overpower the right side to the point of creativity being apparently lost. With the right training the right side of the brain can be made stronger, and that I suspect would also help with the imagination problem.


Actually, creative and analytical thinking isn't limited to one hemisphere or the other, so it's not a matter of one overpowering the other.

To help myself be creative, when I'm drifting off to sleep, I pay attention to the free-associations my mind makes during that time. The next day, I occasionally get interesting insights. It helps that I have lots of vivid and bizarre dreams, too.



grahamguitarman
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02 Nov 2013, 12:43 pm

IntellectualCat wrote:
grahamguitarman wrote:
I suspect it is down to under use because you are under pressure to behave like an 'adult' causing your imagination is suppressed by those other thought processes that have taken priority.


True. A lot of people believe adults can't be creative, can't learn, can't have curiosity, etc. Because of that, when many people get older, they internalize those misconceptions and it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

grahamguitarman wrote:
I suspect that part of it is also down to the conflict between the left / right brain. The left side of the brain, which is responsible for logical thought and language tends to dominate the right side which deals with visual creativity and imagination. It was proven a long time ago that the left brain can actually overpower the right side to the point of creativity being apparently lost. With the right training the right side of the brain can be made stronger, and that I suspect would also help with the imagination problem.


Actually, creative and analytical thinking isn't limited to one hemisphere or the other, so it's not a matter of one overpowering the other.

To help myself be creative, when I'm drifting off to sleep, I pay attention to the free-associations my mind makes during that time. The next day, I occasionally get interesting insights. It helps that I have lots of vivid and bizarre dreams, too.


I stand corrected! back in the eighties when I first read 'drawing with the right side of the brain' (more or less required reading at art college back then) the split brain theory was still current. More up to date research has found that theory to be less relevant than was thought - seems even Nobel Prize winners can get it wrong LOL.

Though I think there is still a conflict between the logical processes and the creative processes that if you are not careful can tip too far one way or the other!


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04 Nov 2013, 3:56 am

When I was younger, I WAS able to imagine complete worlds with amazing detail. And I could revisit the place. I was also able to apply the filter of this imagination to the physical world, like, I could actually see things that weren't there in reality as if they were, if I wanted I could make all of the world look red, or I could imagine I was on the moon, and experience it as if it was actually happening. It hasn't been all that long since I stopped using this ability, yes, it is due to adolescence, now that I've become more conscious and I try to be normal, but my adolescence stage just started 3 years ago. I want to reverse all of this, I don't mind being called crazy or something like that due to this, I just want to be able to imagine again. It was one of the greatest abilities I had. I used to be creative, and I enjoyed painting and drawing, but I somehow find it to be no longer the case. I've used all the four coping methods listed in Tony Attwoods book, depression, imagination, denial and arrogance, and imitation. And I am living with all four of them even today, I am a complete mess right now. It used to be so much better when I was a child, I did not have to do all this extra work I have to do now due to my age, I could be who I was, and now I have the added disadvantage of living in a residential school, so everything I ever knew has changed, my complete life.



JSBACHlover
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09 Nov 2013, 10:21 am

Jensen wrote:
foxfield wrote:
Imagine a very very detailed painting or picture covered by a black card with small hole cut into it.
Due to the limited processing power of your brain, you will only be able to imagine very small areas of detail at an one time.
If you move the card so that the hole moves to a different part of the picture, you will soon forget what the hole revealed previously due to memory limitations.

What can we learn from this?
We can learn from this that the way to imagine a detailed and vivid fantasy world
1. Is NOT to try and imagine the world as a whole, or to plot out a "big picture" as this will inevitably fail
2. Is NOT to switch rapidly between different aspects of the world, as your memory will not be able to cope with this.
3. Instead, the way to develop a fantasy world is to concentrate on one very small aspect of the world. Concentrate on this aspect enough so that it works its way into your long term memory. Only when that small aspect of the world has been fully intergrated into your imagination can you move on and consider different aspects of the world.


I can totally relate to that. My memory is proven to be exellent, but in this respect, - Yes.
One of my music teachers once explained: The difference between "us" and Mozart is, that we, as well as he, can get into a musical flow, where ideas pop up by themselves, but by the upcoming of the next idea, we immediately forget the first.
Mozart could hang on to his and combine them.
That is the nature of musical genius.

Now I am thinking of projects at large: No. 1 is classic for most of us.
I always start different places and when the areas of interest/ideas have spread enough to reach one another, the structure begins to emerge.
By shifting for example between different art forms that lend energy to one another, No.2 can be done, and very fast.
Now to No.3: It is a very slow and limiting way, that works against imagination. That is the way, in which I limited mine.
Imagination must have a flow, so perhaps the best way is to let the flashwise manifestations live their own life and see, what comes up later? (for some of us, - much later!)

Can someone explain this post to me? I don't understand what it's trying to say.