Positivity: Fantasy

Sometimes the mind needs an escape.

Fantasy is a wonderful means to that end.  Fantasy, in its many and varied forms, can not only provide an excellent escape for the mind, it can also awaken new ideas and deeper creativity.

I love being able to experience fantasy.  In addition to all the amazing and wondrous things we humans can create, we can develop stories in incredible places on worlds that only come to being from creative minds.

Throughout history fantasy has been a means of escape.  In ancient Greece Aristophanes was entertaining crowds with works of fantasy.  In Elizabethan England William Shakespeare was creating an abundance of comedies and tragedies.  Today, we have an amazing array of media providing us fantasy on a multitude of levels.

Books, theatre, television, movies and the internet offer us endless fantasy to escape from all the negativity of the world.  Sometimes multiple media can provide a different viewpoint on the same subject.  A perfect example of this is Peter Jackson’s movie variation of JRR Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit.  Another, and the inspiration for this particular topic, is George RR Martin’s Game of Thrones (Song of Ice and Fire) Series in booth print and television.

Since my childhood fantasies have sparked my imagination.  As a very young child it was Star Wars
(Episode IV), and the opening where a ship comes flying in from above being blasted at by a larger ship behind.  I was hooked.  As I got older I read and watched more fantasies, and between space operas and Dungeons and Dragons I found the best escapes from things that made me unhappy or feeling negative.

There is nothing like a great scene in a book to get your mind going; or that epic musical score to evoke emotions; or that amazing cinematography to spark the color of your own imagination and make you feel alert and creative.  Fantasy provides so many means to finding Positivity, it is a pity we don’t allow ourselves more time to escape and reset from the mundane world.

Beyond the places we can take our minds in fantasy, there are many places we can take the body as well.  Whether in a live-action role playing game, a Civil War re-enactment, events with the Society for Creative Anachronism, or some Con or other – we can choose to dress up as someone other than who we are, from a time or place real or imagined, and be someone else for a while.

One word of caution.  Like any drug or escape of any kind, it is possible to lose yourself in fantasy.  Within limits is all well and good to escape and give the mind something else to do, but leaving the real world and losing yourself in the bargain is not worth it.  Like all good things, moderation needs to be kept in consideration.

Finding positivity is not hard, it just requires action.  Knowing that you can turn to fantasy to escape the everyday for a time is a tremendous comfort.  Knowing that you can choose a fantasy to escape to, you can make time to let your mind wander and reset.  You are empowered with the ability to enjoy fantasy and allow for the creation of Positivity.  Positive attitude begets positive energy, and that is always a good thing.

This is the eleventh entry of my Positivity series.  It is my hope these weekly messages might help spread positive energies for everyone.  Feel free to reblog and spread the positivity.