Reading Stirs the Imagination | LMAC FreeStyle Collage No. 18

As a child, my household operated under modest means. Access to books was restricted to the school and public libraries. Once I was old enough to understand savings and purchasing power of money, I'd save my allowance. My mother would take us shopping at the local discount stores.

Once there, instead of sweets, toys, gadgets, or clothes, I'd buy as many books as I could afford.

It wasn't enough to check out the books at school or the library, I wanted my own copy so that I could re-read them whenever and wherever.

According to research, second behind thinking, reading works to stimulate the imagination in two ways. First, reading helps activate the part of the brain that deals with imagination. Although the process of imagining starts in the right side of the brain, it goes through several other processes that involves the left side also to continuously sort out what may or may not be possible.

Second, if you're a fiction reader, you follow the plot as it develops. You imagine several different scenarios of what may happen next given the set of circumstances. Researchers say this anticipation helps us imagine different situations and possible solutions to real-life problems.

This certainly worked for me. I love fiction. As a teen, mythology was my favorite genre. I'd imagine alternate pairings and battle situations for the various gods and goddesses.

Also, continuing to use your imagination through reading after retirement are 73% less likely to develop Dementia or other memory issues. ¹

Now that's what I needed to hear. So, I'll keep creating my collage themes, then imagining stories to accompany them.

In preparing my theme, I definitely wanted to locate a photo of a magical or surreal image of a book. I locate the perfect candidate.

Next, I wanted a mythical figure that emerges from the pages and come to life for its young reader.

In setting the background of my scene, I utilized the LMAC contest image authorized for use by @shaka:

I surrounded my scene with other unique images that helped to create a magical reading experience. Finally, I used a few images contributed by LMAC members to the LIL database. Below are the additional images I included:

• Book in magical landscape at PxFuel

• Woman with horns by squarefrog at Pixabay

• Anime girl siting on chair by hadiaaltaf at PUREPNG

• Flowers Contributed to the #LIL by @eve66

• Little Egret Contributed to the #LIL by @digitalis

• Butterfly Contributed to the #LIL by @redheadpei

• Fractal entitled "Butterfly in white" created by me in Apophysis

• Fractal entitled "Bronze-1" created by me in Apophysis

To complete my scene, I uploaded all images into Canva. I was able to blend them to create a surreal atmosphere by utilizing my Annual Pro Membership Subscription.

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Here is the final version: