Psst. You Have the Power to Imagine it

I wake up this morning and the world is alive. I feel love pulsating through my body as the new day awaits. I feel all of life supporting me today and I sense the power within me to accomplish whatever task or project I set out to do. I am contributing to life and to others with my thoughts, words and actions and I am excited to be here.

But wait a minute. Is this how my day starts? Is this true? Am I seriously excited to be alive?

In truth most days start with my eyes opening, with the thoughts arriving soon afterwards. I

move around, stretch my arms and legs, go to the washroom and if my mood inspires me, I may say “Today is going to be an amazing”. The feeling in my body changes as I continue to wake up and start to feel excited about what the day will bring. Yet, the question remains, is life really this exciting or am I just imagining it to be so?

In the fascinating historical book “Sapiens”, by author Yuval Noah Harari, it is theorized that we humans have always imagined our own realities. That as much as we like to speak our religious, philosophical, economic, political, etc. ideas as absolute truths, at the end of the day everything that has ever been created, built, written, broadcasted etc. has come from our imaginations. We have literally just made up our reality and continue to modify it, on a moment, daily, weekly, and yearly basis.

This to me is a fascinating observation for its relevance and importance, as we navigate our way through this chaotic and transformative time of modern life. It seems that we need to give more respect and thus power to our imaginations and allow it to create better lives for us individually and collectively as we try to overcome societies present challenges?

We need not look far for evidence of a group utilizing their imaginations to their fullest. This would be the children around us. I personally see this on a constant basis with my 9-year-old son. He is conjuring and creating all sorts of realities with his toys and activities, both alone and with his friends. The way children express themselves allowing their creative minds to lead them, allows them to be more present in life with an easier access to those joyous and happy moments, than the adults around them.

Unfortunately, as adults we give less value and importance to our imaginations. The structures of responsibility and making a livelihood to support ourselves and potentially meeting a partner and creating a new family, becomes our dominant thought.

To be fair, imagination is still present to a degree in adulthood.

In the business world they call it innovation, and employees are paid handsomely for new ideas and creative thoughts. Religious leaders attract more followers when they share stories that inspire and expand the possibilities in people’s minds to see life beyond themselves. Politicians give speeches which tap into the imagination of the citizens to see the future in a better way. Marketers tap into our imaginations to how a particular product or service can make our lives better. Engineers and tech individuals have imagined the tech world we are experiencing today.

Which brings us to you who is reading this and me who is writing this…what is the reality that I/we want to imagine as I/we look to the future?

For me my imagination and daydreaming have brought me to a place as it has for many people, that there are always new possibilities, no matter how old you are. The ideas that we have rolling through our heads are valid and powerful and can change the trajectory of our life when we put them into action.

We can look at more well-known examples, such as individuals like Elon Musk whose imagination and implementation of ideas, has innovated a better way on for humans to move on the planet, through his Tesla car brand.

There are millions of people right now in the fields of health, wellness, politics, technology, and ecology that are using their imaginations to tackle some of the greatest problems that we are facing today. We are all participating in this life exploration with the power of our minds leading the way.

Now it needs to be said, as I am sure some of you are thinking, that there are people right now that are envisioning a society that is more secure through production of guns, bombs and military equipment or that is more comfortable or through the use fossil fuels. The consequences of these ideas is world where there is more war, famine, hardship and a planet that will become less hospitable for us the people and all of the species on the planet.

Yet let’s remember that many of these less desirable outcomes on the planet today are being created by the same imaginations that are thinking of a more positive equitable future.

A future that is fair for all of humanity, that is filled with sharing, cooperation, compassion, ecological sustainable businesses, and a human race that operates with the ideals of empathy and understanding for each other.

This may seem very distant if you look at the headline news. Yet a more beautiful world is being imagined by many humans on the plant today and is expanding to more human minds, as we move into the future. Will this cooperative, loving, collaborative type of planet become the mainstream narrative of the future?

I say a loud yes! as every new idea is like a wave that can lead to new actions. Even the bad ideas when acted on that produce poor results, through post analysis, also leads to new and better ideas. This wave is always happening, as it is being felt in the hearts of humans around the world.

What can we the individual, do now to put our imaginations to best use? Start by recognizing that our thoughts are truly powerful.

When we move our good intentions into action, we become part of the creative process in creating an amazing world for the humans of today and a better planet for our future descendants explore.