IDIOSYNKRSA

ACTIVE IMAGINATION is not hypnosis, contemplation, or meditation (but all three).

Hypnosis (is) … the world of unconsciousness. Contemplation … sharpen(s) the mind's reasoning ability. Meditation asks us to move away from the dream world and our everyday mind through focusing on a single word, our breathing, or our movement...

Elements of all of these practices are touched upon when practicing Active Imagination.

But, Active Imagination relies upon an alert mind, the non-rational, and a high level of inner creative fludity...

Events that bring a person to relax their everyday awareness (e.g. listening to stories, watching the flames in a fireplace, listening to the sea) can move us into Active Imagination. From Mystical Experience Registry. See also Wikipedia and Jung Resources.

“As a man who has devoted his whole life to the most clearheaded science, to the study of matter, I can tell you as a result of my research about the atoms this much: There is no matter as such! All matter originates and exists only by virtue of a force which brings the particles of an atom to vibration and holds this most minute solar system of the atom together. . . . We must assume behind this force the existence of a conscious and intelligent Mind. This Mind is the matrix of all matter.” ― Max Planck, The New Science

ESSENTIAL THING:

LIFE OF THE INDIVIDUAL...

“The great events of world history, are, at bottom, profoundly unimportant. In the last analysis, the essential thing is the life of the individual. This alone makes history, here alone do the great transformations first take place, and the whole future, the whole history of the world, ultimately spring as a gigantic summation from these hidden sources in individuals. In our most private and most subjective lives we are not only the passive witnesses of our age, and its sufferers, but also its makers. We make our own epoch.” – Carl Jung

FLOW...

...Happiness/ inner harmony might be described as a condition of "flow," achieved by:

a. setting personally challenging goals;

b. total immersion in reaching these objectives, thus even making small steps or common tasks along the way extremely engaging; and,

c. drawing the maximum out of the immediate experience to be really there "in the moment."

“Flow” is focusing on one’s core self, immersed in it, living true self-interest; purposely stepping outside one's own “ego” whose shortsightedness must be ignored.

“Flow” is learning by looking beyond sudden, disruptive negatives that only disorganize consciousness.

“Flow” is often experiencing the archetypal, caught in life's currents or patterns, like a rolling stone, sometimes affirming, other times churning.

"Flow" stretches the mind for accomplishing the difficult and worthwhile, automatically pushing aside all worries and even sense of time.

DON’T WORRY, BE HAPPY... "Now these problems either have solution - or they don't. Either you can do something here and now - or you can't. If you can do something here and now about them, then do it - even if it's just a step. It zaps your energy to be worried or anxious about a problem. Do what you can do - but don't be addicted to results or you will create more worry for yourself. If you can do something about a problem here and now, then why make yourself uncomfortable and drain energy by worrying about it? "It's part of the here and nowness of life. That's what it is - here and now. Worry, anxiety or other unpleasant emotions are absolutely unnecessary - and simply lower your insight and the effectiveness of your actions." --from Handbook of Higher Consciousness by Ken Keyes, Jr.

LIFE IS DIFFICULT... "This is a great truth, one of the greatest truths. It is a great truth because once we truly see this truth, we transcend it. Once we know that life is difficult – once we truly understand and accept it – then life is no longer difficult. Because once it is accepted, the fact that life is difficult no longer matters... " from The Road Less Traveled by M. Scott Peck.

EVERY PROBLEM, ANXIETY, OR STRESSful situation can be viewed (&, thus, more easily handled) as either a “challenge” or “inconvenience”.

If it's an “inconvenience”, it's temporary and easily handled.

If it's a “challenge”, it can be embraced as one more fascinating pursuit or lesson. In either case, it is conquered by immersion in "the flow” of life.