I recommend making it a daily practice to take time to spend time allowing yourself to imagine & visualize. There are two ways to carry out this practice. Both are important.

The first is conscious & focused. This is where you actively engage in imagining what something could be like. How does it feel? What does it look like? Who is there?

By using movement, sounds, colours & most importantly interaction & emotion you build up the experience of it being real already.

The second practice is unconscious & unfocused. This is passive day dreaming. By allowing your mind to relax it often comes up with its own ideas, answers & solutions. This is the classic ‘Eureka in the bath’ or ‘million dollar idea in the shower’ moment.

It may take a while of doing ‘nothing’. But by allowing space in your mind, passive imagination can produce the most profound insights.

Following on from the previous post…

How do you take imagination into creativity? Through visualization.  The more time you spend visualizing a new possibility, the more it will start to manifest in your physical reality. Although you still need to take action, the circumstances for fruitful action will begin to naturally unfold.

As with anything the more you practice using your imagination and visualizing the better you will become at it. Many of the world’s greatest minds have attributed much of their success to this process. I don’t know why this is not being taught in mainstream schools.

I wish to stress the importance of balance. Too many people I meet believe visualization is enough in itself. This is not good enough.  They live in dream worlds that never manifest.

Your imagination will come up with endless ideas & possibilities. You must focus your imagination. And give energy to & follow through with action.  Otherwise the ideas & possibilities your imagination gives you will remain just that.  Possibilities.

“Imagination is more important than knowledge. For while knowledge defines all we currently know and understand, imagination points to all we might yet discover and create.” Albert Einstein

Imagination & creativity give us possibility & potential. Without them nothing could exist. All the great accomplishments in this world were achieved by the start of an idea. A single spark of imagination, as to what could be possible.

When imagination meets creativity, that is the process of creation. Something new is then born. This entire existence is the creative projection of consciousness. It is imagination that keeps it alive, evolving & exciting.

If imagination is stifled or pushed aside then something starts to die. Imagination is the substance dreams are made of. The source from which hope springs. It is the essence which makes the impossible possible.

The mind is a tool we have created to use. Yet the mind has been confused with the master. Do not fool yourself into believing you are your mind. And that its current limits are your full potential.  This is not the case.

Your mind is perhaps best compared to a computer. It can be used to process all sorts of calculations. It can take in and organise data such as audio and video movement (from a mouse). It can feedback information to the user in the form of sounds or images. It can even learn to auto run certain processes.

The mind is where much (but not all) of our programming is stored. This programming is the software from which we operate.  This software is what defines our beliefs. And in effect, our reality.

Once you understand your mind, you can start to use it, rather than have the feeling it uses you. The mind is a powerful tool and should be treated with respect. As with any software, realize it can be altered, upgraded or replaced. Your abilities are only limited to your current version.

Do you have enough passion in your life?  Passion keeps us alive & gives us a reason to live.  It  When you start to become disinterested in your life it is time to create change…

Through my work with clients on this point, I have realized change can come in two ways. Either change what you do altogether or change your perspective.

Sometimes it may not always be the ‘right thing’ to create total change. We may just need to change the way we view somebody or a certain situation. In doing so, you can often breathe new life into that particular relationship dynamic. Other times we just need something completely new.

This is where intuition can help. It provides us with a connection to a higher understanding. It is all too common to try & use logic for making directional change in life. Logic is an awesome tool for understanding how things work in the human experience. It allows us to function on a day to day basis. Intuition however offers guidance & direction.

This is true for most decisions we make. It is emotion (energy in motion) that drives us. The logic simply helps rationalise our decisions.  So go create more passion in your life if your life is feeling stagnant!

In Taoist Philosophy the never ending dance between the two extremes (known as Yin and Yang) is well understood. For anything to exist there must be a relationship between at least two points.

Up cannot exist without down. Left cannot exist without right. Good cannot exist without bad. The observed cannot exist without the observer.

Each of these contrasts is made less clear when you understand this concept. While each is dependent on the other for its existence, each is also a matter of perspective.

If you take a ladder and stand at the bottom then the rung half way up is ‘up’. If you stand at the top then it is ‘down’. Tap water is ‘warmer’ than ice, yet ‘cooler’ than boiling water. Whether an event is ‘good’ or ‘bad’ is also a matter of perception.

For the world to exist there must be an observer. The moment an observer is created then a relationship dynamic is created. Therefore the world cannot exist without the consciousness to create & observe it. We must be both creator (participant) & observer.

As with anything we become heavily involved with (especially as a creator & participant) there is a tendency to lose the outside perspective. The point I’d like to make is to be careful… It is all to easy to become caught up & unable to see the bigger picture.

You can either go with it or fight it. I suggest you go with it - actively look for it & enourage it. I am talking about change. Change is compulsary. Something is either dying or growing - either way it is changing. Nothing ever stays the same.

This a a paradox for us. We fear change. Yet we need change - nothing could exist without it. So knowing that change is happening no matter how loud we may resist, what can we do?

Fighting an up-stream current is tiring. Why not make it easier for yourself by going with the flow of change? I’ve tried both methods & I personally recommend the latter.

The reality of changing your beliefs takes courage. You are inevitable going to come up against opposition from those closest to you - those who claim to have ‘your best interests at heart’. Often your family & friends are going to be the most resistant to you changing.

Why? Becasue it feels uncomfoartable for them to see you thinking & doing things differently. People like & trust what is familiar to them. If they see you changing, they may feel threatened. It challenges the way they think of themselves. Some may even take what you are trying to do personally.

By your wanting to change, your family & friends may feel you are criticising them. That perhaps they are under scrutiny. This is the time when you are going to have to be really tough.

This may be harder than you think. You may have to be ‘alone‘ for a bit while you adjust & become stronger inside. You may feel extreme discomfort & feeling abandoned by those closest to you. Remember these peole may feel jealous you are trying to better yourself & try to drag you back down to where you were before.

‘Before’ will feel familiar & safe - & therefore secure. Don’t fall into the comfort trap. You are going to have to decide whether it is worth the backlash you may experience against the rewards of changing what you think. Those who have successfully changed their thoughts & therefore their circumstances have never regretted living their dreams. Will you regret not trying?

It was Alan Ashley-Pitt who said, “The man who follows the crowd will usually get no further than the crowd.  The man who walks alone is likely to find himself in places no one has ever been.”

I encourage you to have guts.  And to attempt fearlessly.