Does your imagination scare you?
Are you afraid to dream, or to turn your dreams into realities?
Change scares the hell out of people. It is the unknown, it is different, and that terrifies people.
This can be particularly difficult to wrap your head around, but change is inevitable. You can’t avoid it, nor can you stop it. But you CAN go with it, alter it, impact it, and work with change instead of against it.
Every time you put words to the screen or paper you are creating. Maybe your creation will have little or no impact, and maybe it will be tremendous. Perhaps the impact will only be felt by you, but perhaps it may be felt by other people in the world at large.
I was eagerly anticipating watching The Rise of Skywalker last week. No spoilers here, but like everything that has come since the original Star Wars trilogy, there are numerous criticisms of how the story has been told.
For my part, I can tell you how, given the opportunity, I would rewrite the prequels to improve them. By this same token, lots of people feel they could have done better by the franchise given the opportunity to write in this sci-fi universe.
Every time I share an original idea of mine, fiction or non-fiction, there is room for criticism. With non-fiction, you could easily disagree with my ideas, approach, writing style, and overall philosophy. With fiction, you could dislike the genres I write in, my narrative style, and how my focus tends to be on characters and scenes more than the overarching plot.
I still share my imagination with you. But if your imagination scares you, you might not be willing to leave your comfort zone. That will make inevitable change much harder than it needs to be.
Imagination is not just fiction
Every invention across human history began within someone’s imagination. The Wright Brothers imagined powered human flight. Dr. Jonas Salk imagined a vaccine for polio. Hedy Lamarr imagined WiFi communications. George Lucas imagined stories that became amazing movies like the Star Wars and Indiana Jones films.
Imagination is how change can be influenced, directed, and impacted. As Theodor Herzl once said,
“If you will it, it is no dream.”
Change can be altered, impacted, and even directed with imagination. But if you are afraid of your dreams becoming realities, maybe you should change your dreams.
Why? Because you are the only one who can be you. Only you are capable of being inside your mind, thinking, feeling, and acting for you. If you are not content with who you are, where you are, or other aspects of yourself, you have all the power to change them.
If you fear your dreams and turning any of them into reality, you stand in the way of your own change. If your imagination scares you, maybe you should see what it is that actually scares you.
What does that mean? It most likely means that you fear to leave your comfort zone, and are afraid of what may come of change.
To be fair, I can imagine things I don’t like about myself. They largely involve actions I would NEVER take, things I wouldn’t do, and terrible things I never want to see become reality. However, they are merely passing thoughts, flippant ideas, and not anything I give focus or energy to.
Focus, energy, empowerment
When you desire to change who you are, where you are, or what you are doing, you are empowered to do that. How? By using the practice of mindfulness to be aware of your thoughts, feelings, and actions. That awareness, in turn, allows you to be in the now, and see clearly how you have arrived where you are at this moment.
Once you recognize and acknowledge that, you can take steps to change it via your thoughts, feelings, and actions.
Any attempt to turn a dream into reality, no matter its size, requires focus, energy, and empowerment. This is, on the one hand, wicked easy, and on the other hand, annoyingly complicated. But it all comes down to you.
The focus, the energy, and the empowerment do not come from outside sources. All of them come from within. All of them come from you.
This is because you are the only one inside your head. Ergo, you’re the only one who can control your thoughts, feelings, and actions. Practicing mindfulness recognizes and works with this to give you all of your ultimate control in and for your life.
My imagination covers a broad range. One the one hand, there is all the non-fiction focus on sharing my work with mindfulness, conscious reality creation, and positivity to manifest the best life that I can. I imagine that as this helps me with my life it can help you with yours.
On the other hand, there are all the fictional worlds I create, explore, and populate with unique characters. Fantasy, science-fiction, Steampunk, and fabulous environments I need to get out of my head and in front of readers to enjoy along with me. I imagine you may enjoy reading these as much as I enjoy writing them.
Keep working to hone your craft
I believe that everyone has something they are good at. You have a specialty of one sort or other, a unique ability that you can do in a way nobody else can.
A lot of people disbelieve this idea. They say things like, “I have no talents” or “I am not creative” or “I’m a jack of all trades and a master of none” and the like. But the reality is, you have an imagination that provides you with a talent or talents you can make use of.
I find writing and speaking in public relatively easy. Doesn’t everyone? Of course not. For many people, writing is painful and speaking in public is terrifying. I could easily look at both and not see my own skills.
Note – mindfulness keeps you on the right side of the fine line between knowledge and arrogance. I have these skills, yes, but they continue to grow and change, and I KNOW I don’t know it all and am still learning.
You may be a writer, a painter, a photographer, an amazing cook, a singer, or you may just be that person everybody comes to for empathy and advice. You have a craft that is your talent and skill. Don’t be afraid of your imagination, and keep working to hone your craft and make it better.
Don’t be afraid to dream or turn your dreams into realities. You are worthy and deserving of having awesomeness in your life. Let your imagination take you to the awesome places you desire to be.
Thank you for taking part in my ongoing journey.
Thank you for joining me, and for inspiring me and my arts.
This is the thirty-ninth entry of my personal writing blog. Please take a moment to check out the collection of my published writing, which can be found here.
Please take a moment to explore the rest of the website, which I am working to evolve and change for the better…much like I am doing for myself. Also, visit Awareness for Everyoneto check out my weekly podcasts.
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