Starting in April, I will be teaching my signature course – Living with Imagination & Optimism – at the School of Radical Imagination.

The school offers a new pedagogical model focused on live, cohort-based courses taught by scholars, artists, and practitioners to build systemic change. Courses are specifically designed for life-long learners who seek community and change by transforming their life and taking action in the world. All courses are certified and taught in small cohorts that nurture real dialogue and deep learning.

Here is a little more about the course:

Imagine having the courage to think and act more authentically, letting go of expectations. Imagine living each day your dream life and with a clear purpose. Imagine becoming the most influential leader because of your compassion and ethics. Imagine that your seemingly wild ideas are instrumental to addressing climate disasters. This is possible if you dare to imagine it.

Imagination is human’s superpower – it allows to see beyond current limitations to create unseen and hopeful realities. Optimistic imaginings can increase positive emotions, boost well-being, and lead to empowerment, fostering constructive individual and collective change and impactful action.

However, imagination is still mostly associated with children and artists, but unrelated to everyday adult life. As a result, our imagination has become constrained and underdeveloped. While we spend most of our time thinking about the future, our tendency is to imagine apocalyptic scenarios – e.g., worse pandemics – or negative situations rooted in current trends – e.g., AI takes over humanity. We struggle to imagine positive paths forward and often look at others for validation – that is, we follow the familiar and conventional, even if this path does not make us happy. This creates a vicious cycle of pervasive pessimism and hopelessness about the future that increases our insecurities and feelings of anxiety and loneliness which hinder our imaginative powers.

The good news is that imagination can be reclaimed, strengthened, and harnessed.

A Transformative Course

Sitting at the intersection of psychology, neuroscience, and well-being, the course is an invitation to explore the symbiotic connection between imagination and well-being, as well as to discover what is getting in between you and reaching your potential. In addition to inner development gains, reinforcing human skills — e.g., listening, imagining, conversing, empathizing, paying attention, collaborating — will better equip you to succeed as employees are increasingly looking for these skills in candidates.

Through a blend of mindfulness-based and reflective practices, experiential exercises (visualization, role-play, futuring, pretend play, sensory engagement), and hands-on creativity activities (drawing, sketching, collaging) you will journey inwards, slow down, identify your barriers, and experience the transformative benefits of imagination for the mind and body. In each session, you will practice tools and skills to unlock your barriers and deliberately tap into your imagination as well as to integrate and foster imagination skills in your life, your community, and your work.

By the end of the course, you will feel a sense of freedom, courage, compassion, and optimism. You will walk away with the inspiration and confidence to live with imagination – and to nurture it in others.