How does imagination lend meaning to our lives and experiences?

In one of the Twilight Zone episodes, "Walking Distance," the main character, Martin Sloan goes back to the town he grew up in to recollect all of his childhood memories. But when he goes there, all of the people that were there when he was little, are still there. In the park, he sees himself as a little kid and on the Ferris wheel. He also sees his parents but they don't know who he is because hes an adult. Going back to his hometown, Martin sees how much of his childhood he wasted and if he could do it all over again, he would. If he lived his childhood differently, his adulthood would be different. That's how his imagination led to the meanings of our lives.

In the story, "The Tell-Tale Heart" the "unreliable" narrator, kills an elderly man because the man supposedly had an "EVIL EYE". After he killed him, he was paranoid that he could hear the old man's heart beating. His imagination led him to turn himself in to the police. His act of selfish killing led him to regret his wrong doing. His conscious ate up his inside. That's how his imagination led to the meanings of our lives.