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Imagination is Our Home: How creativity and anxiety share space
“Imagination is the eye of the soul.” – Joseph Joubert
If you’ve ever wondered why creative people often seem prone to anxiety—or why anxiety itself feels so wildly imaginative—you’re definitely not alone. As a cognitive hypnotherapist trained at Quest, and someone who spent many years in the creative industries, I’ve learned firsthand how our imagination is the most powerful tool we possess.
In my previous career, working daily in environments that demanded constant innovation, ideas, and fresh thinking, imagination became an industrial resource—a tool that I used relentlessly to solve problems, shape strategies, and inspire teams. But I also experienced the shadow side of this gift. When your imagination is always switched on, it’s easy for creativity to drift into anxiety. What was once helpful and productive could easily spiral into worry and overwhelm.
One of the most powerful insights I discovered through cognitive hypnotherapy at Quest is that creativity and anxiety aren’t separate experiences; they’re roommates sharing the same imaginative space, often powered by the same ancient technology.
Your imagination is your natural habitat
You spend your entire life in your imagination. It’s where you rehearse conversations, play out worries, and imagine better futures. Creative people spend even more time here. That’s their strength, but also their vulnerability—because imagination is powerful enough to create both masterpieces and monsters.
Think of anxiety as imagination turned inward and sideways. It’s a story we tell ourselves—a story about something that hasn’t happened yet, but feels vividly real. It’s what can happen when we don’t have intentional guard rails on our minds. As Søren Kierkegaard beautifully said:
“Anxiety is the dizziness of freedom.”
Creativity and anxiety are wired together
Your imagination doesn’t know the difference between reality and fiction. When you imagine something scary—a presentation going badly, an argument with a friend—your body reacts as though it’s happening now. Your heartbeat quickens, your breathing grows shallow. Creative minds experience this intensely because their imaginations are especially vivid, cinematic in scope and sensation.
The good news is this same vivid imagination can become your greatest asset, helping you overcome anxiety and driving personal transformation.
Shifting the imagination from chaos to progress
At Quest, we believe imagination isn’t something to fear; it’s something to harness. Rather than being at the mercy of anxious thoughts, cognitive hypnotherapy teaches you how to gently guide your imagination, creating healthier patterns and positive emotional responses.
As Milton Erickson, the great hypnotherapist, famously said:
“Change will lead to insight far more often than insight will lead to change.”
When you actively guide your imagination, you start changing the way you feel from the inside out. Anxiety transforms gradually into something more useful—creativity, confidence, and resilience.
Listen to your body’s imagination
Anxiety isn’t just in your mind; it’s deeply felt in your body. When you’re anxious, your body stores stress as tension, restlessness, or fatigue. Cognitive hypnotherapy gently reconnects you with these sensations through imaginative techniques, safely exploring the stories your body tells.
There’s a beautiful old Sufi proverb I often remember:
“The body is the shore on the ocean of being.”
By reconnecting with the body through imagination, we process emotional stress, release tension, and begin to heal anxiety and past trauma gently and naturally.
Rehearsing a better story
Every time you intentionally use your imagination—by visualizing calm, strength, or compassion—you gently rewire your brain. Scientists call this neuroplasticity, but it’s really just rehearsing new, healthier stories. Cognitive hypnotherapy is a powerful tool to amplify this natural ability, which is why we use it at Quest.
With focused intention and practice, you can learn to manage anxiety spirals, creating new patterns of calm, optimism, and creative resilience.
Your imagination is never something to avoid
The beautiful thing about working with imagination is that it allows you to approach challenges safely. You can gently face things that once overwhelmed you—not by reliving painful experiences, but by rewriting them. Think of imagination as your personal studio for rehearsing positive outcomes—it’s a skill we can all learn and use. It’s about gently, playfully, and compassionately guiding your imagination from where you are to where you want to be.
From anxiety to authorship
The goal of cognitive hypnotherapy isn’t to silence anxious thoughts—it’s to empower you to rewrite your relationship with them. Rather than feeling fragmented by anxiety, you step into the author’s role of your own story.
When you harness your imagination, anxiety shifts from tormentor to partner, fueling creativity and personal growth.
Bringing it back to Quest
At Quest, our training emphasizes the incredible power of your imagination to transform anxiety. It teaches that your mind is not broken—it’s just creatively stuck in an outmoded model. And since imagination is where we spend most of our mental life, it’s the best place to begin your journey toward feeling better.
Whether you’re a creative professional, someone feeling stuck, or a sensitive soul experiencing anxiety, embracing your imaginative potential is the most important step toward lasting change.
As we love to say at Quest:
“You’re not broken—you’re human. And humans have an amazing capacity to change, because you already have everything you need.”
Richard Buchnanan
Hello, I’m a cognitive hypnotherapist trained at the Quest Institute, working with creative, thoughtful people who often feel overwhelmed by their own minds. Before retraining, I spent over a decade in the creative industries, where imagination was my tool—and sometimes my challenge – I am still working on it.
Now, I help my clients use that same imagination to shift patterns, ease anxiety, and reconnect with themselves. As with all good Questies, my approach is collaborative, grounded, and warm.
To find Quest practitioners please search using our therapist finder: https://www.qchpa.com/therapist-finder
