How Your Brain Utilises Your Imagination to Make Decisions
I’m in a rut. Now that COVID restrictions are being lifted, I’m wondering what to do about work. I love working from home, but I miss people. So, I decided to relax and imagine my future.
What do I want it to look like? Who do I want to meet? What am I going to do?
I imagined my future as a full-time writer. I imagined my office, in a new home, with a window looking out onto a large tree, with the sun shining. I imagined my laptop in front of me while sitting in my comfortable office chair with a cat on my lap.
I could see it. I could visualise it. And I could imagine it.
Go Ahead — Imagine the Future
When we imagine the future (or anything for that matter), two processes are taking place in the brain.
The first is imagining IMAGES of what we want, what it looks like and the details. For example, as I let my mind wander around the idea of being a writer full time for the rest of my life, I imagine and CONSTRUCT my surroundings. This creation piece is what researchers call “constructive” function as your imagination constructs scenarios. During this constructive phase, the images that come up in our mind can pop or be vague. This is referred to as Vividness.
