Imagination fuels our dreams and our fears. As a child imagination was an important part of our world. It nourished our play, and it also was the monster under the bed. Why do we have imagination? It generates our growth with pushing us to look beyond the known possibilities. It is what fuels our dreams. On the other hand, it is with us for protection. It is the early human that needed the protection. It is the primal instinct of creating fear for survival. To help those primitive humans from not get eating by the unknown bear in the cave. They imagined the horrible possibilities of going in and stopped. As we mature the imagination of play is diminished but, the imaginative fear is still there. The adult lets go of the dreaming with reality, through past experiences, failures, and others. So, we stay to the primal human because it is safer. We were given imagination to guide our creativity and it is important to our growth. We must recreate and nurture our power to be imaginative to fuel our growth. It is where we can dream of a better life and turn it into reality. How do we switch back on our creative imagination? You must first recognize the fear-based imagination, you must then turn the fear into possibilities, and then you let your imagination fuel your dreams. With these tools you will be able to turn those primal instincts into the dreams you need to grow to the life you have always wanted.
Recognizing the imaginative fear is hard because we are these primal beings trying to protect ourselves from pain. The pain of the unknown. When there is a moment in your life when you are presented with an opportunity to go in a new direction in your life, what happens? We stop, we postulate all the bad things that could happen, and we look for the negative outcomes. We are just trying to protect us from the hurt. The primal human says, “do not go into that cave”! We set ourselves up for a failure before we ever begin. When a moment like this occurs and you stop, take that moment to look at what is driving your decisions. Is it fear? A fear-based decision will almost never work to better your growth. When a new unknown path is in front of you while you are walking on the safe known path, take a moment and look down that new road. It is there for a reason to inspire you, to help you grow or to give you a better life. Nothing is random in this world and the new needs to be explored for our own development. What is driving your decision to stay on the known path? If it is fear, then change the imagination back to the possibilities.
When you can stop in the moment of your imaginational fear and turn it into possibilities, you will start seeing opportunities for your growth. Let’s say that you have a brand-new opportunity with a trip to a place where you have never been. The problem is you will be travelling alone, and it cost a lot of money. The imagination starts to kick in. You start to say, “I am scared to go alone”, “I don’t know the language”, “it costs a lot of money”, “the plane might crash”, “the natives with treat me bad”, “I’ll get lost”, on and on and on your imagination kicks in. In reality you don’t know any of the answers to any of these thoughts. They are the primal human trying to protect you. Take time and switch the answers, “I have always wanted to go to the place”, “What a great adventure I will have”, “I have the money and this is something I might not get a chance again to do”, “I will be safe”, “The people will be friendly, after all they are humans like me”, “I know I can ask for help if I need information”. The change in the story of the imagination leads you to the possibilities. You will step closer to fulfilling you dreams and growth. The imaginational fear can be turned to possibilities if you take time in the moment to change the narrative. Look at it through a lens of not clouded by fear. What a great adventure your life would be instead of the routine. You are supposed to dream and look beyond the normal, it is where your wonderful life is.
Your dreams of your perfect life are fuel by your imagination. Take time to dream your wonderful world and put small plans in place to shift your life toward those dreams. It takes you going back to the child whose play was nourished by their unlimited possibilities. We created our boundaries for our lives and let the imagination die. Unbind your mind of the safe and normal. Life is lived beyond that and your imagination is the fuel. Write your wildest dreams down, let them sit and think about them. Then start thinking of small steps you can take to move a little closer to that dream. Do not be bound by the normal. Let you mind be freed to be the dreamer of possibilities not of restrictions. As a child my dad used to call me a dreamer, like it was an insult. Now I see it was the greatest compliment he could have ever given me. The dreamer is what the world is based around. It took lot of individuals to go beyond what was normal to create all the wonderful things in the world. It is in you as well. You can create the possible out of the impossible. The shift is when you let your imagination go and dream of a better world for you. We all have it in us. It is not only for the smart, the rich, the talented, or the crazy. It was given to all of us when we were born. It is what we chose t listen to around us and in us.
Break free of the imagination of the unknown fear and embrace the imagination of the possibilities. You wonderful life is waiting on you.