“Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.” – Albert Einstein.
‘Would you like to Supersize that?’ Before the “super sized” option was phased out in 2004, McDonald’s employees used to ask customers if they would like the largest size of fries or soft drink. Today, I’d like to ask you, what would you like to supersize? Your fries? Your Coke? How about your dreams?
Have you ever noticed how children have such vibrant imaginations? They naturally know how to supersize their dreams. We used to be like that too, until well-meaning adults taught us to be solely guided by the logical part of our brains. They told us to play it safe, stay within our comfort zone and strive for something relatively achievable. Society often encourages us to follow the tribal mentality and yield to cultural norms that dictate what is and isn’t possible.
Nevertheless, we are all born with a calling or a dream imprinted deep within our beings. The more inspirational literature I read, the more I notice a common thread: we are meant to have a big, bold vision for our lives. We are born dreamers and we are meant to stay that way.
I love this quote by Henry David Thoreau,.
“If one advances confidently in the direction of one’s dreams, and endeavours to live the life which one has imagined, one will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.”
.What holds many of us back from success and personal fulfillment is our limited thinking. As I wrote in The Fear Factor, many of us live imprisoned by our fears and by our lack of self-confidence. We don’t know we are born free and fully equipped to achieve our dreams.
Sometimes our dreams take a temporary hiatus because of what has happened in our past. Just as caterpillars struggle in their metamorphosis into beautiful butterflies, so too we often struggle in our attempts to break free and fly. We need to harness the power from our feelings of defeat and disappointment, and use that power to make the transformation into a fully realized life.
Our past difficulties are mere stepping stones which are essential in our journey. They are only mountains blocking our path if we choose to see them that way. Adversity can be a wonderful teacher if we are open minded. Consider for a moment famous inventor, Thomas Edison, who had only three months of schooling in his life. He failed more than 10,000 times when inventing the incandescent light bulb. Today, there are over 1000 U.S. patents in his name as well as numerous patents in other countries. Edison knew how to dream big. He didn’t let his past failures stop him.
We need to train our minds to continually expect the best and believe in our dreams even when nothing seems to be happening. Look at a seed planted in the ground. While our physical senses may not see the growth that is occurring each moment below the surface, in time, we see life break through the dark ground and eventually flourish. We recognize that something was indeed happening there in the darkness. The belief that nothing was happening was a misconception. In the silence (and with perfect timing) life transformed the seed into what it was created to be.
Remind yourself today that you are going places even if you have no idea exactly how your dreams are going to transpire. It’s not up to you to have life figured out. It’s up to you to keep believing and keep dreaming. On a daily basis, cultivate a bigger, bolder vision for your life.
Let the sweet fragrance of your supersized dreams permeate your thoughts so your mind becomes a dazzling bouquet of possibilities. Your destiny is yours. You can have what you imagine. You must simply believe in it fully. It is there, waiting for you.
