She danced in the rain. They are dramatic. The kid made water boats float in muddy water. A dark brown horse is running on a beach. The grass is green.

Let us break down all the five scenarios one by one.

Scenario 1 – She danced in the rain. This is interesting. My narrative read, “she” but you visualised someone. I did not mention the time of the day or the feeling. Your brain scanned through the data of your memories and it selected the most prominent one, thus highlighting the time of the day, type of clothes, their colour, footwear, hairstyle – open hair, braided hair or short hair, facial expressions, height, your mood, and feeling. In short, we picturised a frame which depicted the physical and emotional aspects of the person dancing in the rain. Time of the day, for me, was late evening. Was it raining during the daytime and you felt happy? Were you pouring down along with the clouds? Did you visualise your friend, your mother, grandmother, girlfriend, sister, an actress, or anyone else with their arms spread wide? Or you envisioned yourself dancing in the rain by splashing water with your legs? How did you feel when you saw someone or yourself dancing in the rain? A single sentence evoked various perceptions.

Scenario 2 – They are dramatic. I imagined my family having arguments. Who did you imagine? In this case, we certainly imagined two or more people we think overreact to a situation or probably recalled a recent event which was loaded with drama. Here’s some of the funny incidents our brain connects the dot to when we hear the word drama –

  1. Picturise people who cause you the most emotional stress in life
  2. Focus on common statements and expressions of certain people when they’re angry
  3. Throws light on how you feel when you put yourself in that situation
  4. Feel irritated by thinking pattern of certain relatives, neighbours, friends, and you trying to explain your perspective to them
  5. We then start thinking about ways to deal with such situations
  6. We then start making imaginary scenarios inside our mind and think about ways to deal with them
  7. Think about what you could have or should have said to people

Scenario 3 – The kid made water boats float in muddy water. Did you imagine yourself, your niece-nephew or any other kids in your surrounding making paper boats, putting them in the water, moving the boat by waving hands in the water, and watching it slowly move forward? Was the kid half-seated on his or her feet or was sitting down with legs completely folded? Think about every aspect you thought of – colour of the paper boat (white, pink, yellow, etc.) paper material (newspaper, 4-lined, craft, kite or marble paper), colour of muddy water – dark brown, grey or black, was grass around it, was it a puddle, was it near the drain line, was it in the middle of the road, was it between the gap between road and the footpath?

Scenario 4 – A dark brown horse is running on a beach. I imagined a horse running on the part of the beach where the waves hit the sand and water splash in speed. I could even hear the noise the horse makes while running and with its mouth. When I thought about the running it was a wide shot but when I hear the sound, my focus shifts on its legs and mouth accordingly.

Scenario 5 – What did you visualise when you read the grass is green? I visualised an inch long grass pasture in close up. Some may have imagined a super close-up view of grass with dew drops while few may have picturised a garden with a fence (in slightly distant view). All of us visualise a description based on our experience. Let us slightly modify the narrative. Lush greens. Forest with pine trees, a waterfall enveloped by a variety of trees, a pack of dark green trees along a road which seems to meet the horizon. As soon as we read something, our mind tries to connect the dots with our memories – either experienced or seen in a film and thus, the result.

Our experience of memories is the treasure to our creativity. Therefore, it is said, the more we watch, read, feel, the more vivid our imagination. Something to think about how a narrative can evoke various perceptions. The more you think about the scenarios the more details you would want to focus on. Funny!

 

Disclaimer – This is the personal opinion of the author (Amulya Kalyanshetti) and does not intend to challenge opinions of any individual / community.