Goodbye 2025 — Hello Imagination

Posted on by Teagan Riordain Geneviene

Wednesday, December 31, 2025 

Goodbye to You, 2025!

Hello, everyone and happy New Year’s Eve.  As we kick 2025 to the curb, I’m not going to bemoan what an utter disaster it’s been… (Although I guess I just did.)  Nor am I going to sing the praises of what a great and glorious thing 2026 will be… (Because any thinking person should be able to see that it will take at least a decade to fix what has been destroyed during even half of this year.)  I guess I just bemoaned again…

What I am going to do is pledge positivity through imagination for the New Year.  My intention is that at least once a week, I will create an image that helps us imagine ourselves into a wondrous place. 

We don’t have to see the entire highway.  When one is driving at night, the car’s headlights only show 350 to 400 feet ahead.  Yet we can drive hundreds and hundreds of miles, as long as those lights keep shining.  Turn on the light of imagination to see as much as you can.  You might find that you can keep seeing a little more, and then a little more.

Author Mind for the Birds

Open the doors of imagination to all the extraordinary vistas we can achieve in reality, when we let imagination take flight.

In 2026, do not underestimate the importance of imagination.  It’s more than frilly, frufru, fantasy — it is valuable.  Imagination is essential.  Our imaginations, along with our inner speech today, will create tomorrow’s facts.

By that, I do not mean new age philosophy, or “alternative facts,” or “fake news,” or fictional delusions.  I mean like attracts like, so we have to be it to achieve it — and that starts in the imagination.  If the mind if bursting with negativity inside, then the outside will be the same.  So, horsefeathers!  Let’s imagine something wondrous.

“(Wo)Man must learn to believe in that which he does not, at the moment, see in order to grant himself that which he desires to have.”
― Neville Goddard, Imagination Creates Reality

“What you think, so you will become,” Napoleon Hill

” You become what you believe, ”  Oprah Winfrey

“You are what you think. So, just think big, believe big, act big.” Andrew Carnegie

“What you think you become.” Buddha

“Be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”  Romans 12:2

For instance, the collage/composite I made for the fantasy world of Dead of Winter shows companionship, cooperation, as well as beauty.   This is my “Wondrous World” image to conclude 2025.  Expect new wonders in 2026.

Happy New Year — and hugs!

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Dead of Winter Omnibus: All the Journeys

Yes, here’s the obligatory shameless self-promotion, along with something about why you might want to spend some of your time in this particular wondrous world:

Emlyn is only twelve, but the fanatic Brethren think she’s a threat, an abomination.  Why?  Emlyn has a talent — she can see ghosts.

The Brethren have taken over Emlyn’s homeland, took away women’s rights, and forbade most learning.  All beliefs but theirs are heresy.  Her family betrays her to the Brethren when she hears the supernatural warning, “Winter is coming!”

Now Emlyn and her teacher are on the run.  They meet and join with travelers belonging to the Deae Matres — a society of intelligent women who seek out and preserve knowledge.  Emlyn visits new lands with customs that amaze her.  But it isn’t fun and games.  She has a dire task.  The entire world is at risk.  The Veil between the worlds of the living and dead has been torn apart by evil nightwalker, Arawn.  He seeks revenge on the Society of Deae Matres for imprisoning him beyond the Veil in the Realm of the Dead.

As the Veil deteriorates, chaos ensues when the dead cross into the living world.  Even if Emlyn manages to outrun the Brethren, how can she escape Arawn?  Yet she has to confront the nightwalker and restore the Veil.

This richly detailed “high” fantasy will appeal to fans of Ursula Le Guin, Margaret Atwood, and Terry Brooks.

Universal Purchase link (e-book only):  relinks.me/B0FP9XL46J

YouTube (Book trailers and song covers): 
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoM-z7_iH5t2_7aNpy3vG-Q

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Copyright © 2025 by Teagan Ríordáin Geneviene

All rights reserved. 

No part of this work may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission.  Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights.

All images are either the property of the author or provided by free sources, unless stated otherwise.

56 thoughts on “Goodbye 2025 — Hello Imagination”

  5. Teagan, your post oozes with positivity and it is a great Ode to Imagination and the vital role it plays in our life! Thank you for the reminder – needed more than ever. Wishing you all the best for 2026. Annika

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  7. Very good thoughts about imagination. I once had a fortune cookie that I kept the little slip of paper. It said, ‘tap into your imagination, it provides interesting results’. … I wish you and the Scoobies a very Happy New Year! 🙂

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  9. What a strong and generous way to step into the New Year, Teagan. I love this idea of pledging positivity through imagination! Not as denial, but as a disciplined, courageous act. Your image of driving at night, seeing only as far as the headlights allow, feels especially true. We don’t need the whole map; we need enough light to keep moving, and the courage to trust that more will appear. I also appreciate how clearly you distinguish imagination from illusion. This isn’t wishful thinking or false narratives. Rather, it’s inner work, attentiveness, and responsibility. What we hold in mind, we tend and shape. In that sense, imagination becomes an ethical act as much as a creative one. Sending many hugs on speedy wings to you and the Scoobies!!

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    1. Hi, Rebecca. Yes, you get it perfectly! The kind of imagining I mean is in no way denial. It is meticulous and deliberate. Much like a rather mind-bending writings from James Allan’s 1903 work “As a Man Thinketh” where he said:
      “Mind is the Master power that molds and makes,
      And Man is Mind, and evermore he takes
      The tool of Thought, and, shaping what he wills,
      Brings forth a thousand joys, a thousand ills:—
      He thinks in secret, and it comes to pass: Environment is but his looking-glass.”
      *
      I can’t take credit for the night-driving/headlights analogy. I first heard in around 2005, and have heard other variations since. Apparently it was first used by novelist EL Doctorow in the 70s or 80s — and he used it in reference to writing/plotting a novel (you don’t have to see the entire story to get to the ending).
      I very much like your point that “imagination becomes an ethical act as much as a creative one.”
      A whimsical, shimmering, splendiferous New Year to you. Hugs winging back to you and Don.

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      1. Teagan, thank you!! Yes, exactly. Meticulous and deliberate is such a good way to name it. Imagination as attention, not escape. I love how you’ve woven in As a Man Thinketh, that mirror image feels especially apt. And I appreciate the lineage of the headlights metaphor through E. L. Doctorow and the practice of writing itself. A very Happy New Year to you and the Scoobies. Hugs coming to you on speedy wings!

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  11. Happy New Year’s Eve, Teagan!

    Yes, imagination works for me. In it lie the seeds of creativity, and I’m largely what I create.

    Thank you for being such a great blog pal!

    HUGS

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    1. Resa, you are a gem — I thank *you*
      I admit that I’m terrible at trying to imagine good things for myself, and that sometimes causes me to question whether good thoughts attract good things. HOWEVER, I’ve seen for a fact that my negative thoughts bring bad events and negative things to me — in abundance. So, for that alone (I mean to avoid that), it’s worth it (to me) to work hard at having positive self-talk and good thoughts.
      Your creations are filled with positivity and beauty and creative thinking, so I agree that you are what you create. I look forward to more of your sketches and art-gowns in 2026. Hugs winging back to you.

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  12. Teagan, I think if we have hope, we have exactly what we need to move forward in life. I also think being hopeful stimulates our imaginations as we look for any and every way to improve ourselves…and our world. Let 2026 be a year of hope…and imagination. Hugs to you and the Scoobies!

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    1. Hi, Bruce. Thanks for this mindful comment. I like your New Year’s wish. Being without hope is a truly devastating condition. Yes, hope is a critically important thing. Here’s to hope. ❤
      I have an additional thought for you. This summer I started working with a school of thought that suggests "hoping" puts the desired outcome forever in the future, unattained. So, the focus is on imagination — Imagining the outcome as already having happened, or even imagining that one is remembering the moment the desired outcome happened, as if it was in the past. Headache yet? 🙂 It makes my head hurt if I'm not in the right mentally open place when I try to get my head around it. Anyway, happy New Year. Hugs winging back to you.

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      1. No headache here, Teagan.😊I think you are kinda describing manifesting our destiny through projecting that we already “got there.” Hoping by itself certainly doesn’t get us “there,” but me thinks it is a valued partner riding with us along that journey as we work towards our goals and aspirations. We can lean on that hope when obstacles arise (as they often do!). Looking forward to riding with it in the New Year! Hugs.

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  18. “Let’s imagine something wondrous.”

    I like that, Teagan. We may have to turn to our imagination to avoid being pulled into a rabbit hole of anger and fear. I will continue to be optimistic in 2026.

    I wish you a wonderful new year, and success with whatever you can do to keep it positive.

    PS, I think “Boabhan transforms” is one of your best video snippets. I really like it.

    Happy New Year – hugs!

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    1. Thank you, Dan — for your positive feedback here and throughout the year. That might be my favorite animation too, although I haven’t done many. It’s flawed, but it has the right vibe for the story. A wondrous 2026 to you and yours as well. Hugs winging back to you.

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  19. I join you on that road to inner peace through imagination, Teagan. I can think of no better way to shut out the world’s negativity then to think of love, peace, and beauty. Looking forward to your offerings in this realm. Also I wish for you a Happy and Peaceful New Year.

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  22. Happy New Year’s Eve and let’s hope for a peaceful. inspiring, and kind year 2026. Thanks for the advice and for the images, and I look forward to many more of those in the future. Big hugs to you and love to the Scoobies. ♥

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