Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.
– Albert Einstein

Spiritual teachers throughout time have taught that as Divine Beings, our essential nature is pure consciousness. Quantum physicists have proven that the entire Universe is made up energetic information within which infinite possibilities are present. “Pure consciousness is pure potentiality; it is the field of all possibilities and infinite creativity. Pure consciousness is our spiritual essence. When you discover your essential nature and know who you really are, in that knowing itself is the ability to fulfill any dream you have, because you are the eternal possibility, the immeasurable potential of all that was, is and will be. There is no separation between you and this field of energy. The field of pure potentiality is your own Self. And the more you experience your true nature, the closer you are to the field of pure potentiality.”

Knowing this, actively engaging our imagination is like having our own genie in a bottle! I invite you to imagine …

Close your eyes and take a deep and cleansing breath. Breathe in the sensation of peace and settle your awareness into your heart space, into the wise and knowing space within. When you feel settled and calm, choose something, it can be an experience or an item or a feeling that you would really love to experience or to have. What feelings does it evoke? See it, smell it, touch it, feel it. Imagine it. Experience having it, doing it and being it now. What do you look like, what are you saying about it and about your life? How are you different, how has your life changed? Allow the images and visceral feelings to emerge and then explore how it feels and looks doing, being or having it now. Stay in this reality for a few moments.

Now, check in. How did that feel? Was it exciting, joyful, scary, challenging? Were you left feeling uplifted and optimistic or drained, hopeless? Did you wonder how it would happen, or what you needed to do make it happen? Were you inspired to take a “next step?” Did you bump up against any thoughts like “I don’t deserve that” or “I’m not smart enough” or “It’s too late.”

Not only is our imagination the vehicle by which we create the lives we love, it reveals that which may be blocking us from our own personal joy-ride. Imagination uncovers, with great efficiency, those thoughts and beliefs that limit our desires from materializing in form. When I walked through this process recently, allowing myself to fantasize about a dream I’ve had all my life, I almost immediately found myself thinking that I wasn’t smart enough and that I somehow didn’t deserve it. This is one of the imaginations most valuable gifts; it shows us where the work is! If I am truly willing to accept my dream as my life experience then I must be willing to release the fear or sense of safety that is keeping my false beliefs in place. And accept for myself instead, the Truth that even this is possible for me and that I deserve it!

“Inherent in every intention and desire is the mechanics for its fulfillment…intention and desire in the field of pure potentiality have infinite organizing power…And when we introduce an intention in the fertile ground of pure potentiality, we put this infinite organizing power to work for us.”
- Deepak Chopra

When you’ve allowed your Divine Self to pour forth through your imagination and you have formed your intention, the next step is to determine what the feeling tone is beneath that which you desire. Emotion is the fire that fuels our rockets of desire into manifestation. I have always had more success manifesting my desires when I’ve kept myself immersed in the emotion that the desired experience or object would bring me. By keeping our awareness on the desired feeling tone instead of on the specifics of what we think it should look like or how we think it needs to come to pass, we don’t limit the Universe but instead allow It to bring us what we imagined, or something even greater! For example, when I was calling in my beloved, instead of focusing on what he looked like or what he did for a living, I would spend time every day feeling the trust, love and joy of being together.

Centering ourselves in the feeling tone of that which we desire also supports us in the process of relinquishing the false beliefs that are barriers to our dreams becoming reality. Taking time daily to evoke the feelings that we believe our intention will bring increases self-compassion, provides much needed courage and gives direction as we face our fears and let go of that which no longer serves us. Even if we must fake it until we make it and act as if, every subsequent thought, action and choice fashioned from this positive feeling tone moves us that much closer to realizing our intention and making it our present day experience.

Everything without comes from within. I invite you to imagine …

Close your eyes again and take a deep and cleansing breath. Breathe in the sensation of peace and settle your awareness into your heart space, to the wise and knowing space within. When you feel settled and calm, choose something, it can be what you chose earlier or something else, but choose an experience or an item or a feeling that you would really love to experience or to have. Experience having it, doing it and being it right now. What do you look like, what are you saying about it and about your life? How are you different, how do you feel? What emotions does this thing or experience represent for you, or evoke in you?

Now, make a commitment to feel that at least once a day and watch as it becomes your reality!

If you were left with feelings counter to what you were imagining, for example, feelings of fear or disappointment “because that can’t/won’t happen for me” then ask yourself what false belief is lying beneath the surface. Get very clear about what it is you’re telling yourself and ask “is this really true?” Is it true or is it just an excuse that is keeping me safe? Is it true or is it just an old tape left over from long ago that needs to be replaced with a more positive life affirming one? What would you tell a friend or a child if they came to you with this dream?

Remind yourself every day that you absolutely deserve what you desire. Feel the feelings of having and being the dream a little every day. Promise that you will support yourself until you have released any and all blocks to making the dream your reality. Change is possible!

Taking our focus off the visible world around us and bringing our attention to the eternal power and grace of that which is one with all that is – our Divine Self within, is how we consciously create the life that we love. Like taking a deep breath, turning within to that which knows all is possible and relying on that which only knows limitlessness, is pure oxygen for the soul. This is the seat of our imagination. As children we were at home here, and creating fantasy worlds and imaginary friends was the natural by-product. But then as we grew up and many of us were acculturated in a society that has forgotten who they truly are, experienced disappointments and perhaps even suffered tragedies, we became jaded to the joy and pleasure of using our imagination. We may have even lost the hope to dream. Yielding to our imagination is an empowering experience, a healing balm….and its fun. It wakes us up to what we truly desire and to what is absolutely possible for us. I agree wholeheartedly with John Updike, “Dreams come true. Without that possibility nature would not incite us to have them.”

When we free ourselves from the restrictions and limits of the three dimensional world, when we let loose the chains of the past, releasing the weight of old memories, and surrender into the limitless potentiality of what is not yet visible, allowing our minds to wander and to fantasize and to dream — we soar to new heights! We discover things about ourselves – new lives, scenes and abilities – that we hadn’t even realized were within us. We uncover the places in which we are playing it safe or remaining afraid and we dare to dream and grow.

Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it we go nowhere.
– Carl Sagan

Deepak Chopra, The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success