Tag Archives: positive use of imagination

Your Most Powerful Weapon

All people have a powerful tool of the imagination. You can use this tool to achieve very positive results or a very negative experience. Each of us decides how our imagination is used and the benefits or suffering we receive from it. All of these things are a choice, and the power of our choice in using our imagination will determine our ability to reach our goals successfully and live a life of passion.

Or our imagination can cause us to spend our lives living in fear. It is one of the essential parts of our development as people, we look forward with hope and determination, or we look all around in fear. The choice is all up to you and how you choose to use your powerful imagination.

Start with The End in Mind

What is it that you want? This simple-sounding question is one everyone asks themselves at some point in their journey in life. The fortunate ones know right away and in great detail what they want to accomplish. Others struggle because our minds are clouded with thoughts of suffering, experience, and reasons we can’t do something. If you’re discouraged in your dream, tell it to someone else, and immediately they will tell you all the reasons you won’t possibly find success. But all of us can achieve, and it starts with the positive use of our imagination and knowing where we want to go.

Start with the end in mind. Think of where you want to be in a year from now. Create a picture in your mind of where you want to be living, what you want to be doing, who you want to be doing it with, etc. Then start moving your way backward to the present moment. What sorts of things have to happen to get you to that point. Maybe you see something that you are unsure how to happen, but that is alright because the steps will become more apparent as you move forward. When you get back to the present moment, take the first step to move in that direction. Continually do this exercise and use your imagination to create the end goal, and your purpose will start to take you there.

Purpose and Power

The purpose is the force that gets us moving daily to work toward our goals. It is the thing that makes life valuable and provides meaning to the movements we undertake daily. When you imagine the end goals happening, the purpose of achievement will drive you to take action. Each action will bring experience to your life, the price and reward of having a purpose. These moments of action between now and the accomplishment of what you imagine determine the joy you experience in life.

Many people have set their goals too short in their existence. Many have a retirement goal and then reach that without any purpose left for the rest of their lives. Without a purpose in life and a force to drive you toward something, life is filled with empty moments of activity. People do things to fill the time but not to nourish the soul. Always have a dream, using your imagination to create the favorable circumstances of your life, and you will always have a purpose in your life. Actions that have meaning. That is the power of purpose in life, always having a force behind it.

Overcoming Fears

Fear is a poor use of the power of your imagination. We have all done it, though. We are considering the worst-case scenario and worrying about the future and what might happen or what someone else will think and how that will affect us and our lives. Worry is a misuse of imagination because most things won’t happen. And if they do, worrying about them won’t make them any easier to handle. Somehow we all take the challenges of life one second at a time. Actions always defeat and erase fear.

Fear is an illusion. We all experience fear because we are afraid of suffering. But once you recognize it and how it feels, you can start to create some appropriate action steps to lessen or eliminate the impact the fear will have on your life. Then list the positive results from those action steps being taken, and the fear will most often fade away. Faith is the opposite of fear. When it is difficult to see past the fear because it is pervasive in your life, keep the hope alive in your mind. You will overcome it.

The Great Mind Tool

Imagination is one of our most powerful tools, and it can help you create almost anything in your life. Whether those things are good or bad will be totally up to you. Imagining your goals from the end and moving backward is a powerful method to master your dreams and goals. These dreams bring purpose to your life, and purpose is the fuel to the enjoyment of life. Imagine that.

“The man who has no imagination has no wings.” – Muhammad Ali

“The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination.” Albert Einstein

“What is now proved was once only imagined.” – William Blake

 

Better

I believe that all challenges in life bring with them the opportunity to grow and become better.  The pandemic times of today get an excellent chance to become better people. In the way, we think, act, and in the amount of compassion we show others.  One of the things I am working on today is understanding my mind to bring my best to the table, should this isolation ever end, and I am allowed to venture freely out into the world again.  I want to share four habits I am trying to practice in all areas of life to become a better person and to have the sacrifices we have all made have some intrinsic value.

I read about these habits as they apply to Navy SEALs training, which is some of the most difficult mental and physical challenges any person can face.  Looking at those that passed and those that dropped out, there are four mental habits that you can apply to your life and become mentally and physically more demanding.

  1. Focus on the Now

When you are doing a task, painful or not, focus on completing that as best you can and don’t time looking to the past, thinking of past failures.  It is also defeating to look at the 52 other things you have to do once this task is complete. Focus on the right now. If you are on a three-mile run with a full pack, focus on this one step, then the next, not the distance you still have to cover.

You can apply this idea to tasks in your life by focusing solidly on what you are doing right now and giving it your best effort.  I work in production right now, and it doesn’t do any good to complain about how long the day is when you are just getting started. It does do good to focus on completing the task at hand, one thing at a time.  Our focus is powerful when you do this. It can be challenging as others place demands on you but move methodically through your tasks one at a time, and soon you will have everything done and done well. Focus on the right now.

2. Imagine Joy

Challenges are complicated, and to complete them and maintain your positive attitude. It will help you remember accomplishments from your past and how good it felt when you finished them.  Just as you focus on the now, break your immense task down into smaller steps on a list and have an inner celebration as you check them off your list. Learning to transfer feelings of success from our experiences onto today will allow you to move with vitality and purpose through the functions of the day.

Each accomplishment gives your brain a hit of positivity, and this will fuel you through your day. Rather than look at the tasks you are facing and diminishing them or yourself, which will only bring you a negative attitude and a bad day along with it.  The more you practice the mental exercise of putting joy, success, and accomplishment in all things you do, the easier it will be for you in all areas of your life.

3.  Breathe

Breath in for 6, hold for two, out for 6, two between

When everything seems to be falling apart, and the pressure is getting to you, and you feel overwhelmed, take a moment and breathe.  Breath deeply for a count of six.  Then pause for a count of two and then exhale for a count of six. Pause for two seconds and do it again.  Do this three or four times.  Each in-breath will increase the oxygen to your brain and give you a chance to catch your breath.

It is a fact that deep, controlled breathing is a powerful method of improving your mood, thoughts, and attitude in just a short amount of time.  Try it right now and see what it does for you.  Too often, we are so wrapped up in our thoughts we forget to take the control we have in our breathing and focus our minds on the things we can do right now to become better.

4. Be Your #1 Fan

Too often, people let their negative thoughts about themselves and their abilities rise to the top of their thinking. Rather than allowing your thoughts to go into a negative spiral about life, thinking every aspect of your existence is terrible or boring, you can actively work from your greatness.   Instead of doubting yourself or the path life is taking you, have confidence it is taking you in a direction needed for growth. If you make a mistake, you will learn from it and be even more remarkable because of it.

Instead of listing all of your problems and challenges, make a mental list of everything that feels good in your day.  There are always things that feel good if you look for them.  It could be enjoying the people you work with, being better than you were the day before, doing something new, or just going home at the end of the day. Find the positives and think about them. It will improve your attitude and allow you to accomplish more than you ever believed you could.

The next time you face a difficult challenge in your mind, give these four habits a try, focus on the moment, Imagine how good you will feel, breathe deeply and be your own best cheerleader.  It is easy to dismiss these practices as so dull they will never work, but you have to decide if you want to struggle continually in life or take proactive steps to be more confident and find success in all that you do.

“Depending on what they are, our habits will either make us or break us. We become what we repeatedly do.” ―Sean Covey

“It is “easier to prevent bad habits than to break them.” ―Benjamin Franklin

“Our character is basically a composite of our habits. Because they are consistent, often unconscious patterns, they constantly, daily, express our character.” ―Ste “hen Covey

 “I have learned that champions aren’t born; champions can be made when they embrace and commit to life-changing positive habits.” ―Lewis Howes.

“You leave old habits bd by starting out with the thought; I release the need for this in my life.'” ―Wayne Dyer