Why Stay Stuck When We Can Imagine Possibilities?
Success is a very organic experience. Even world record holders cannot hold on to the climax of their euphoria for too long. There is always someone else around the corner waiting to challenge the record. Sustainable success comes in small doses. We can build one success on top of another and enjoy each small achievement until the next one comes around. But it keeps us conforming to the existing paradigm when we have the freedom to imagine possibilities.
Holding on to a successful experience cannot be a life goal. It would be like living on a small island, clinging to the one rock while the tides came and went. Eventually, life would pass you by while you focused on keeping the nostalgic “win” alive.
Imagine Possibilities That Free Us to Experience Life
When you are open to life, you learn more all the time. Your knowledge is constantly being updated through your experiences.
Imagination helps you expand your body of knowledge and tap into your creativity. If you stop right now and look around your physical space at every object that surrounds you, notice that each one—whether a hat or a mug or a book or any material item—came out of someone’s imagination.
Each is a combination of an idea and a vision, mixed with a desire to create something in our world. The glass you use to drink your water or the cup you use to drink your favorite tea or coffee uses a technology that was created by a human being, just like a smartphone, virtual reality, or the latest cool gadget. Do you know who invented the first drinking glass?
Innovation is all around us and isn’t just what lifts the stock market and makes shareholders financially rich. We have heart-filled people on the planet imagining the next wave of education, health, agriculture, food security, fashion, community, mental health, and so much more.
Everything and Anything is Possible When We’re Curious
Years ago, a grandmother stood by a window awaiting a visit from her three grandchildren. A big smile appeared on her face when she saw them arrive. They were excited to see her too. Simon, the eldest, gave her a big hug and then the other two took their turns.
She had prepared their favorite meal—dumplings with chicken—and they sat around the table chatting and eating. Hanna, the youngest, told her that they had some very exciting news. Their family’s company was creating the first building with seven floors. “Can you imagine, Grandma, how many people can live in one place, and that we can now live in separate dwellings but still be together in one building?”
Grandma Rose, who had never seen a two-story home in her life, couldn’t even imagine what they were talking about and wondered why on earth anyone would want to live that way. But she was excited for them and proud of their ability to envision another way of living that would benefit her family and community.
As they dug into her famous peach pie, they celebrated the anticipation of a new way of living their family was birthing. All thanks to their ability to imagine new possibilities.
For nearly half a century, from 1931 through 1972, the 1,454-foot Empire State Building in New York City held the title of being the tallest building in the world. In the rankings of today’s tallest man-made structures, the Empire State Building doesn’t even make the top forty.
The world’s tallest building today, according to the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, is the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, which soars 2,716 feet into the sky. Skyscrapers across Asia and the Middle East have been rising each year, with eight of the top fifteen tallest buildings in China.
Hope in Imagining Possibilities
The human imagination is abundant with an ability to see beyond what already exists. And it doesn’t always mean we are creating the healthiest ways of life. But when we tap into our imagination, we realize life is full of opportunities and possibilities.
When we’re making conscious choices, we discern and bring about healthy alternatives that serve us by not getting seduced by the latest and greatest fad. Can you imagine what’s possible when more of us leap out of conformity and imagine possibilities? I can and have faith that we slowly are shifting!
A book excerpt from Expedition 21: What’s in Your Heart? F❤️ck the Bucket List for the Health Conscious: Trusting Your Heart (Book 3).