Imagination to Reality By Shelley Roy

“Here in your mind...there’s no difference between what is & what could be.” Chuck Palahniuk

Great thinkers like Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Thich Nhat Han, the Dalai Lama, Napoleon Hill, Wayne Dyer, Socrates, Lao Tzu, Robin Sharma, Leonardo Da Vinci , Louise Hay, William Powers, Paulo Coelho and many more have all influenced my thinking. Although none of them provides a formula for a well-lived life, they all agree on some key principles to help guide you into becoming an imagineer.

Principles of Imagineering

Principle one - happiness is an inside job.

“A person can make himself happy, or miserable, regardless of what is actually happening ‘outside,’ just by changing the contents of consciousness.” (M. Csikszentmihalyi)

When you embrace this principle you recognize that you are really in control. It is up to you how you experience the world. It's all about what's happening inside, not outside. You learn to respond - not REACT. Imagineers understand self- empowerment. This idea is closely linked to principle two.

The second principle - you have the ability to master your thoughts and feelings.

This idea dates back as far as Confucian China and ancient Sparta. Throughout history, cultures have taken it for granted that a person wasn’t fully human unless he or she learned to master thoughts and feelings. The world happens and then you decide how you want to think and act.

…we are the masters of our fate, the captains of our souls because we have the power to control our thoughts.” (N. Hill)

If you are unable to accept this second principle your life journey may be rough and treacherous.

Principle three - what you focus on grows and expands.

Your energy no matter what form it takes -beliefs, thoughts, actions, feeling, etc.- amplifies and grows. Rather like a small ball being rolled until it creates a big ball. If you constantly think about what is wrong with your life, you will magnify more “wrongness” , becoming aware of what isn’t right and missing what is right. If instead, you are grateful for and believe you deserve an amazing, abundant life you will manifest more amazing experiences and abundance. The world around you may not change, but you will be - looking for - more of what you want- paying attention to what is working rather than what is not working for you, and letting go of things that do not matter.

“What you focus on grows, what you think about expands, and what you dwell upon determines your destiny.” Robin Sharma

Holding onto and believing deeply in these principles isn't always easy. Find ways to remind yourself on a regular basis. Teaching others is a powerful way to embrace these three principles embed them into your psyche.

“As you think, so you are. As you dream, so you become. As you create your wishes, so they create you.” Wendy Garrett.

Once you believe deep down in your soul that you have the power and that your thoughts shape your life you can become intentional in the process of creating your ideal life through imagineering.

Imagineering is about creating a clear image that includes feelings, beliefs, and attitudes that support your vision then going beyond the design phase moving into action. Although most folks credit Walt Disney for combining engineering and imagination into the term imagineering, the first recorded use of the term came from an Alcoa advertisement in Time Magazine in 1942. In part, the advertisement reads “Imagineering is letting your imagination soar, and then engineering it down to earth.”

Imagination involves creating thoughts and ideas within your minds eye. The magic of imagination is seen as you watch a child at play, where the mundane becomes a magical experience. A box becomes a covered wagon on the Oregon Trail, a rocket ship to the moon, or a submarine going twenty thousand leagues under the sea.

Engineering involves planning, designing, and constructing, or bringing about what has been imagined. According to David Dodge engineers require patience, practice and a life-long love of learning. They need to be able to think creatively, solve problems, and work alongside others. It begins with building blocks, cardboard, tape, and glue. Taking apart and putting things back together. Taking what you imagined and bringing it to fruition.

Here's How

Know yourself better than anyone else- creating your vision will require you to marry your passion with your current reality. Ask yourself what can I not help but do? What am I doing when I am so involved I lose track of time? When am I in a state of flow? What beliefs resonate with my soul? What's most important to me? If someone else knows you better than you know yourself you leave yourself open to being manipulated. Becoming an imagineer requires self exploration at a deep level.

Accept that you are worthy, competent, and confident enough to attain your deepest desires. You were born worthy, however social media, other people's opinions and the act of comparing yourself to others may have dulled your sense of worthiness. Competence comes with practice and study. If you need to gain skills and abilities, rejoice in the process of learning. your not lacking, your providing fertilizer for your soul. I’m not talking about the post-it note type of confidence from repeated affirmations, nor the unwarranted cocky type of confidence, I’m talking about the type of confidence that comes from knowing that your efforts will lead to results. This type of confidence moves you to mastery. Worthiness is about loving yourself.

“The growing ‘epidemic’ of stress, lifestyle diseases, and autoimmune diseases has no root cause according to mainstream medicine, yet that root cause seems simple to us: it's really an epidemic of not loving the self.” ― Louise Hay.

Eyewash - create the boldest, wildest best ideas into a compelling vision of your ideal life. There should be just enough tension between your present reality and your ideal life. As you expand your reality you can expand your ideal life. You can only stretch so far from where you are.

“The best moments in our lives are not the passive, receptive, relaxing times … The best moments usually occur if a person’s body or mind is stretched to its limits in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile.” (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990)

Focus on who you want to BE, rather than what you want to have, or do. Being kind, generous, centered, wise, etc. can be accomplished no matter what you do or have. Make a list of the three most important values/principles you want to live. You can live your values each and everyday in the smallest of ways.

Make it concrete -use words and images - write it, create a vision board, sketch, doodle, paint a picture, write a story, keep it in the present tense as if it is already happening

Be grateful for even the smallest elements of your ideal life - remember what you focus on expands.

“Gratitude is one of the strongest and most transformative states of being. It shifts your perspective from lack to abundance and allows you to focus on the good in your life, which in turn pulls more goodness into your reality.” Jen Sincero

Every day ACT in alignment with your vision. When you act in discord with your vision, beliefs and purpose you create cognitive dissonance which can become disease in your body. At the end of the day give yourself credit for even the smallest thoughts or actions that reflected your ideal life.

If you only imagine, your life becomes full of unfulfilled dreams and wishes. If you only take action without a vision you wander through life missing opportunities. It is through the blending of these two things of dreaming and taking action that you can manifest the life you want.