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Episode 446 – Making room for imagination

• Welcome my friends
• This week, maybe even next week, I am going to play with some shorter episodes
• I am working on refining some of my key ideas and I want to hone them into fewer words
• I want to work on really getting down to the essentials on some of these topics
• So – Lets see how I do
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• On a recent podcast where Deepak Chopra interviewed Jean Houston, she tells a childhood story of her encounter with Einstein
• She was only 8 and together with her class she had the chance to meet him
• She tells how one of the kids asked Einstein “how can we be as smart as you?”
• To which he answered – read fairytales
• Now – in case you didn’t know – I grew up with fairytales
• My grandmother read them to me almost every night
• I love fairytales
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• But The kids in Jean’s class didn’t like that answer
• So some else asked “how can we be smarter than you?”
• To which he answered – read more fairytales
• I knew immediately why Einstein recommended them
• Imagination
• he explained to the kids that his biggest quality is imagination
• there are quote from him expressing this more clearly
• like this one –

“Imagination is more important 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

• today looking back I strongly believe that my journey to this country was fueled by fairytales
• They sent me daydreaming for many hours of my childhood
• They gave me permission to believe that anything is possible
• they probably also clouded my vision of reality slightly
  • Especially when it came to the part where the prince always comes to the rescue
• But otherwise fairytales not only fueled my imagination, they we also a place for escape
• When my reality was bitter,
• When I couldn’t deal with the challenging situations going on around me, I escaped into fairytales
• I made up stories that would soothe me
• Stories that had a happy ending
• Where the world was in order
• And to this day, I dream
• When I wish for something better
• When I want to reach a new destination
• I always dream about it first
• In my imagination,
  • I climb huge mountains
  • I speak in front of thousands
  • I have a widely successful podcast
• These day dreams are not something I force because of a belief that my thinking will make a reality
• They simply come to me
• In the car, often, when listening to music
• Or at night when I am trying to fall asleep
• Its often During those idle and quiet moments that I dream
• Maybe because I did it as a child
• I followed Einstein’s advice – unknowingly
• And today, my day dreams are my fuel
• They motivate and inspire me’
• They give me ideas
• They allow me to take riskier steps than I normally would
• They help me believe that I CAN
• I strongly believe, to this day
• That the gap between what is and what could be is bridged by imagination
• Our knowledge is what is
  • Its what we know
  • Its all we know
• Imagination is what could be
  • What we don’t yet know
  • What we can see happen
• Imagination is the critical link between our tasks, schedules, routines and our ideas, dreams and hopes
• It connects fantasy with reality and it is the link we need to bridge that gap
• We must leave room in our hectic lives for imagination
• Because if we are only staying with what is
  • on the side of certainty
• how are we going to find out what could be?
  • The other side – possibility

• Because there is something magic that happens when we allow ourselves to dream and imagine
• Our mind doesn’t have limits
• It can narrow our view, but it can also expand it
  • If we let it
• Imagination is permission for our mind to roam
  • To run wild
  • To play
• Our existing knowledge is good
• It gets us through the day
• It keeps us safe and comfortable
• But it only reaches as far as it can
• As much as a we know is as much as we believe
• But there is more to life
• Recall when you were little
• There was little that we knew
• So our world was small
• As we grew up, we learned more
• And our world grew
• But there comes a point where many people stop
• They stay with their existing knowledge and add very little else over the course of years
• But that also means we stay in the same place
• Recall a time where you played with a new idea
  • Maybe you considered learning something new
  • Or traveling to an interesting place
  • Or joining a particular group
• Maybe you followed trough, maybe not
• But playing with the idea got you closer to the new reality
• Maybe you researched classes, read books about the new place or talked to other people
• You gathered knowledge
• New Knowledge
• Knowledge you didn’t have before
• You bridged the gap between what is and what could be with imagination
• When we make room for imagination
  • We are open to more ideas
  • We feel more motivated to start something new
  • We are closer to making things happen than before
• It starts with imagination my friends
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• Don’t wait to see the possibilities
• Imagine them, see them, and then you will actually see them

Much love