Imagination

60: (December 2025)

The power of the imagination hit me on a visceral level while traveling to Barcelona last month. It spoke to me through Antonio Gaudi’s spirit, which is palpable in the city. From his fancifully adorned buildings that look like larger-than-life gingerbread houses, to the Park Güell where his mosaics and sandcastle-like structures cavort with nature so delightfully, to his ultimate masterpiece the Sagrada Familia that is still in the making 99 years since his own death, the creative force of Gaudi’s imagination electrifies Barcelona.

Gaudi’s fascination and appreciation of nature breathes through the structure of the Sagrada Familia in its soaring columns that mimic trees and in the sculptures of turtles, geese, and snails that adorn its facade. But what struck me most profoundly was the way that colors play inside this vast church. The stained glass windows are comprised of modern, abstract shapes that don’t readily form images for the most part, allowing the swaths of blues, reds, greens, and yellows, to flow with abandon throughout the open interior of the church. The colors dance with light upon the white walls, which aren’t really white at all, because the colors are purposely meant to play on the surfaces in ever-changing hues throughout the day (and in fact throughout the year), as the angle of the light streaming through the windows changes.

As I witnessed the waves of color begin to spring to life as the early morning sun began its daily ritual, I marveled at Gaudi’s vision. To dream up such a fantastical place and then have the audacity to believe that it could and would become a reality is a testament to his genius, and indeed to the power of imagination itself. The effect of experiencing this unique creation touched my soul, enlivening my own imagination as I watched the pillars and walls being bathed in fluid color.

A non-U.S. foreigner in Barcelona spoke with me about the countries he was allowed to travel to with his passport, which limited him to some Asian countries, in addition to the hard-won visa to Spain, which took him years and a good deal of money to acquire. I realized that throughout my whole life I have taken for granted the fact that I can travel almost anywhere I wish—no small aspect of American freedom. The world’s imagination has been sparked by the vision of American freedom, and that has untold power as the vision continues to reverberate.

Freedom is an ideal and a dream, that like the Sagrada Familia, invites the spirit to soar. And like the Sagrada Familia, it is still being imagined into reality, a holy grail capable of elevating and enriching the human experience in ways unimaginable.

40: (December 2005)

With the stars and the moon, sunshine, hills, and trees all around me, why is it that I ever feel dissatisfied? Why do my eyes glaze over sometimes and not see what is around me? How is it that they can become blind and unable to appreciate?

I have found that I need to constantly cultivate light. I need to work hard to stay in the light because the darkness can pull with such might, seemingly trying to pull me into the void. So for me, gratitude requires vigilance. At times this feels exhausting and I want to stop and wallow in a “phantasmagoria of yuckiness” as a friend of mine dubs this state of ingratitude. It is at those times that I reach for my aids; music is a form of light for me, as is spiritual literature, and working with color in some way.

Much of perception is in our minds; as such, it is choice. To choose to see the light can sometimes be so hard. There are difficult things in life. Very difficult things. But the light is always there. This is something that I do not know with my mind, but I know with my heart. Perception is not solely in the mind; the heart can experience it as well. The mind tries to tell us that it is the boss, but the heart needs to be assertive and demand equal time.

From now on, I will try to become more aware of my heart and its perceptions and see where that leads in my quest to attain a state of gratitude. Bleeding hearts have a bad reputation. But what about big hearts? Hearts that care. Hearts that give. It is not the mind that generally drives compassion or empathy. Maybe I will tell my intellect it can go on vacation for a while and see what life brings when I live out of my heart with greater abandon.

Perhaps someday it will become second nature for me to live out of a state of gratitude. But enlightened I am not. So I must continue to practice gratitude. As I tell my children, we must always be on the lookout for the silver linings.

60-40:

May this season be filled with light and color for everyone reading these words, for all those you love, and for everyone else as well.

I will never tire of imagining peace, love, freedom for all, and a bit of kindness in this world: Let There Be Kindness.