In moments of despair, we may be suffering not from a failure of spirit, but a failure of imagination. The way out lies in exercising our creative capacities.

Enjoying our Youtube videos? Get full access to all our audio content, videos, and thousands of thought-provoking articles, conversation cards and more with The School of Life Subscription: https://t.ly/cfnni

Be more mindful, present and inspired. Get the best of The School of Life delivered straight to your inbox: https://t.ly/w8uJR

FURTHER READING

You can read more on this and other subjects here: https://bit.ly/2IvSflV

“It may sound strange to locate the problem here, but some of our most despairing moods are caused by failures of the imagination. We are not merely ‘sad’; we cannot picture any better life than the agonised one we currently have. What we really mean by imagination is the power to summon up alternatives. When we are sad, we can’t imagine finding another job; we can’t imagine retraining or shifting profession. We can’t imagine not minding what the gossip says about us. We can’t imagine finding another partner and letting ourselves trust someone again. We can’t imagine getting by in a wheelchair. We can’t imagine living on a very modest budget or relocating to another country. We can’t imagine having to make a completely new set of friends…”

MORE SCHOOL OF LIFE

Watch more films on SELF in our playlist:
http://bit.ly/TSOLself

SOCIAL MEDIA

Feel free to follow us at the links below:

Facebook:   / theschooloflifelondon  

X:   / theschooloflife  

Instagram:   / theschooloflifelondon  

CREDITS

Produced in collaboration with:

Gabriella Marsh
https://gabriellamarsh.com/

Title animation produced in collaboration with

Vale Productions
https://www.valeproductions.co.uk/