By Barb V
“Imagination is more powerful than knowledge; for knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.” –Albert Einstein
Imagination is the ability to create images in the mind and transpose them to any medium. Our ancient human ancestors developed language around 35 thousand years ago which is when the earliest cave drawings were created. These early humans expressed their thoughts, ideas and imaginations and recorded their lives and surroundings through pictures that we now know as Hieroglyphics.
Imagine this: a petroleum-based wax, a little bit of a dye, and a binder formatted together creates one of the world’s most powerful imagination tools… THE CRAYON! Billions of sheets of paper in every country in the world found in boxes, closets, attics, refrigerators, picture frames, and office walls, are covered with pictures and words created with the crayon. The imagination of the human race poured out like a river through the use of this petroleum-based imagination tool.
Records show that Europe was the birthplace of the modern crayon. The first crayons were made from a mixture of charcoal and oil. Later powdered dyes replaced the charcoal, making a rainbow of colors. It was discovered that substituting wax for oil made the sticks easier to use and handle. CrayolaÒ crayons were then developed in America by Binney & Smith in 1902. Edwin Binney’s wife, Alice, dubbed the crayons “Crayola”, a combination of the words “craie”—a French word for stick of chalk and “ola”—from the word “oleaginous”, meaning oily. Today CrayolaÒmanufactures and distributes over 3 billion crayons worldwide each year. It only takes one simple thought to create an idea combined with your imagination and action to create wealth. Entrepreneurs Binney & Smith used their inspiration to inspire young budding entrepreneurs, artists, scientists, and creative spirits to explore their limitless thoughts, ideas and imagination.
In today’s environment the imagination of the young is taken away from the end-user. The use of big and little screens, computer games, and simulators are negating free-thought and ideas of our youth who spend hours and hours of their lives intaking preprogrammed thoughts and ideas while limiting their imaginations and accepting only what the programmer wants them to think and do. During childhoods of years gone by, children were sent outside to play; they explored neighborhoods, interacted with each other, used their imaginations to create great adventure, conquer enemies, overcome fears, and save the world as they imagined it. A rock became a giant mountain; a pile of sticks, a fort; a small creek, a great ocean to save a damsel in distress. Free play was the only way. Today gamers are given ideas and tools to create a prefabricated end product where they have to create or defeat the heroes and enemies of the imagination of the programmers; thus, gamers of all ages can only react and use the tools the dictated by programmers and only at various gaming levels.
It is sad to think that as we grow older we lessen or lose our abilities to create and imagine as we did as children. Somewhere along the journey of life, adults appear to conform where children were free to imagine and create. Just think of some of the recent blockbuster movies where adults and children change places. It is encouraging to see that today adults are recharging their imagination and generating a surge in the sale of CrayolaÒ crayons and adult coloring books; perhaps they are taking back their creativity, too.
It is our expression of thoughts, ideas and imagination that allow us to create our own lives. Each one of us needs a reason to get up in the morning every day. I have found it easiest to get up with something to look forward to… accomplishing my goals. When we teach our mind to soar, we use our mind and imagination to shape the world we live in and change the world around us. All it takes is one simple idea to release the genius within you, to create unimaginable wealth. If imagination is stifled, the ability to find that one simple idea is nearly impossible.
From a neuroscientific point of view, we can change our brains simply by imagining. As an athlete and entrepreneur, I taught myself to close my eyes and visualize the outcome I wanted to achieve. This process lights up the primary visual cortex, just as it would if I were experiencing what my imagination was creating in real life. Brain scans show that the same parts of the brain are activated, regardless of if the situation is real or imagined. This is why visualizing can improve performance and increase creativity with vividness and depth. The richness of our imagination allows us to visualize not just the picture of something, but also how it smells, what it feels like, and how it sounds. Thus, it is possible to imagine or visualize the softness of a puppy, the warmth of a down quilt, the feel of a grandparent’s hug, and even the whiff of freshly baked cookies.
The brain changes based on what its owner chooses to do with it. Anyone can change their thinking to improve their life. We can all accomplish things in life that are important to us, often during extreme adversity. Our brains retain a capacity for change until the day we die. We can rewire the way our brain works so we can leap over life’s obstacles on our path to success. When you actively take charge of how your brain works, you have a better chance of influencing your future. How you think and believe will affect your brain, and changes in your brain can in turn affect your thoughts and behavior. The beauty is that everyone has what it takes to be successful, quite simply because everyone has a brain. You have the capacity to change your thinking, emotion, behavior and even the physical structure of your brain itself to reach your fullest potential instantly in the moment in which you choose to change. You own your brain and it is available for you to use free of charge, 24/7, from the moment you are born through the moment you take your last breath.
If you can envision the person you’re intended to be, you will rise up each day and never be the same again—share this with your friends and family so they, too, can be lifted by your thoughts, ideas and imagination, and in turn, empowered to envision the person they are intended to be. You can give anyone this gift that is a gift more powerful than money.