What Box?^®

How often do you fantasize about your future? Do you daydream about something you want to create in your life? What about creating movies in your mind?

When you are using your brain to think up any of these things you are using the power of your imagination. Your imagination may be one of the most potent creativity tools you have. Whenever you imagine something you want to create in your life you are actually taking the steps to make that imagined visualization a reality.

When you use your imagination you are creating a mental picture of something that is not perceived through the traditional senses. Your imagination is so powerful that you can create the experience of a whole new world inside of your mind. Think about this for minute. Your imagination has no limits, no barriers; anything you think up is possible.

Your imagination is not limited to only viewing mental images. You can actually sense and feel sounds, smells, tastes, a physical sensation or experience emotions. When you practice using your imagination you start to unlock one of the great doors to making your dreams a reality.

It was Albert Einstein who said, “Imagination is more important than knowledge.”

My good friend and mentor Mike Munn, former head physicist for Lockheed, would go out into his car and sit imaging solutions to his challenges whenever he was stumped. By getting away to a quite place where he could let his amazing mind wander he would solve problems related to satellites and rockets. He would always tell me, “Use your imagination to create anything you want in your life or solve any problem.” Good advice.

The real key to turning your imagination into reality is acting “as if” the imagined scene were real and already accomplished. Instead of pretending it is a scene of the future, imagine it as though you are truly experiencing it in the present. Think of it and believe that it is an event happening NOW. Over history many great minds have told us, “Whatever you believe you become.” If you believe what you imagine with all your heart and soul, what you imagine has the potential to become reality.

Here is the challenge that many of us have. We tend to look at our lives through a scarcity mentality. That is we look through “eyes that lack” seeing what we don’t have and attach our imaginations to that lack. Remember what you imagine is what you create. If you imagine lack you create lack. Instead open your “eyes to abundance.” That you have and attract everything you need and desire in your life. This simple shift in thinking and imagining can have the most profound change on your life.

A developed and powerful imagination does not make you a lazy daydreamer or impractical. No way, instead your imagination strengthens your creative abilities and supports you to achieve what you want to create in your life. How amazing and it does not cost you a single penny. You have it, everyone has it. How are you using it?

When you start to practice and experiment with your imagination focusing on what can be, the positive, and abundance you start to put the power of imagination to work for you and the benefit of others.

This powerful creativity tool cannot be underestimated. You can prove it to yourself by taking one thing that is very important to you and imagining it as real in your life. Keep with it imagining when ever you have a quite moment. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain by applying this underutilized gift. Your creative abilities will blossom and flourish the more you imagine and believe what you are imagining. Don’t let anyone tell you it does not work. Experiment with it and never, ever give up. The world you imagine is waiting for you to create.

Let me know what you think.

Remember the only boxes that exist are the ones you create yourself

The idea that we own something is really quite strange if you take the time and think about it for just a minute. Because our lives are temporary as such, so are our possessions. You can’t take them with you. When we are overly attached to the things that we own or desire to own, we run the risk of identifying ourselves with those things. Things we own and money we accumulate can be lost in a matter of minutes. If we become so attached to things that we loose our own unique self in the process we are setting ourselves up for disappointment and depression. That is because our ownership is temporary just like us. The measure of our greatness is not based upon what we take from the earth but what we leave behind.

There is one thing that you have that is uniquely yours and you will still own no matter what is taken from you or lost. It is the most important thing you have and no one else has it except for you. No one can take it away from you. What is it? It is your passion for life, living your unique life in harmony with all life. This does not mean the drive for day-to-day lusts or the pursuit of self-actions. These will only prove to be short lived and unfulfilling, failing to bring any kind of lasting fulfillment.

Life is a great journey with ups and downs. Part of the process is living your life with passion and joy. Joseph Campbell liked to call it “following your bliss.” Here is what he had to say on the subject. “If you follow your bliss, you put yourself on a kind of track that has been there all the while, waiting for you, and the life that you ought to be living is the one you are living. Wherever you are — if you are following your bliss, you are enjoying that refreshment, that life within you, all the time.”

Living your life with passion has the ability to release the attachment of self-centered goals and aspirations that only fulfill the needs of your ego or self. Let’s face it. This is hard stuff. No one said the journey was easy. It is worth the pursuit because it means you are allowing your true self to arise and that nothing of real importance and value can be taken from you. When you are living your true passion, you become identified with your unique self not things, stuff or the limitations of the physical world.

So how do you discover your unique and powerful passion? Each and every moment of your life is an opportunity to uncover and live your unique passion. You will know when you are living your passion because everything will feel right. There will be no hesitation, no second thought. There will be nothing but harmony and bliss. You don’t need to do anything but let the harmony and passion flow through you. When you feel this kind of alignment with life, your unique passion, follow it, live it to the fullest and don’t stop living it.

When you are living and following your passion, you align with what has been there all along just waiting for you to start living the life you are suppose to be living. When you can become aware of this you begin to meet people who are in alignment with your passion and new doors of opportunity will open. Please don’t be afraid of what is behind these doors. Stepping into the unknown will allow you to open the doors to live the life you are meant to be living. Go ahead, step on through. Open the doors. It is here that you will discover the passions that have the potential for you to live your life to the fullest.

Living your life of passion in the end will come from within and not from striving for outer appearances, what people will think, or outer circumstances, what is happening to you. Nothing is more important or joyous than living and dancing the life that is uniquely you.

When you are living your life with passion you are quite honestly the richest person on the planet. No amount of gold or money can take its place. And here is the clincher. When you are living your passion, monetary rewards will flow through you more naturally. Your ability to detach will allow you to give more freely and in return gain greater rewards than you have ever thought possible. Just like a boomerang when you give without being attached to the outcome the rewards that come back to you are that much greater.

Go ahead. Align with “what is” instead of “what is not.” You are only here a short time. Make the most of it by “living your life with passion.”

Let me know what you think.

Dear Sean,
I read your article last week entitled “Being Responsible.” I was wondering what you thought now that George W. Bush has claimed responsibility for the lack of Federal response to the Katrina Hurricane disaster in New Orleans?
Just Wondering

Dear Just Wondering,
I was amazed at the Presidents revelation to take responsibility. It is good to see him coming from a humbled place and taking a more balanced approach to life. As my grandmother used to say, “Time will tell. The proof is in the pudding.” Thanks for the note.
Keep on Keeping on,
Sean

Remember the only boxes that exist are the ones you create yourself.

While taking in all that is going on in the world these days and watching local issues unfold, I started to think that the ultimate profession in the world has got to be a politician. I mean there isn’t any other profession that I know of that allows people to be so irresponsible and yet still keep their jobs. Now I am not saying all politicians don’t take responsibility for their actions. I know a number personally who do. Unfortunately it appears that a large number of politicians are able to get away without taking responsibility, and, in fact, flourish at being irresponsible.

A politician is able to quite successfully deflect and turn blame on others while avoiding taking responsibility. I just don’t get it, do you? If the political system was held up to the rigors of business responsibilities, I know for sure that the political system and our government would be out of business. Shareholders would not put up with the kinds of shenanigans and non-performance that takes place and would demand that someone take responsibility or they would be out of business. As voters we are the shareholders and we have the responsibility to put politicians out of business who do not take responsibility for their actions.

In business when someone is caught lying for any reason, they would be held responsible for apologizing to those involved, for one, and then fixing the problem if at all possible. In many cases it is grounds for termination. Politicians don’t even have to apologize for lying or being wrong about something. They just continue to speak out their finely tuned message and don’t answer questions related to the lie. What is this doing to our country, to say nothing about what this is teaching our children?

“I hold to the maxim no less applicable to public than to private affairs, that honesty is the best policy.” George Washington

It seems that more and more people and politicians work to avoid taking responsibility for their words and actions. In the end, only we can be responsible for ourselves and what we do. Just think how much better the world would be if everyone realized that they were responsible for their actions. Maybe we would think a little more before moving forward with something. Maybe we would take the time to really consider the cause and effect of the potential action we wanted to take.

If we and our world are going to flourish as we head in the 21st Century, we are going to have to start taking more responsibility for our actions or inactions. We need to take responsibility for our consumption of stuff; the effects that we are having on the environment; our influences around the world and in our communities, alone with our role as citizens of the world. We CAN do this and we CAN hold our political leaders to a higher standard because their actions affect our lives and the lives of people around the world in such tremendous ways.

In my life I have not always been responsible. I have gotten myself into more than my fair share of pickles, and, in many cases, I did not believe I was to blame. As I have gotten older, and some might say wiser, I have come to realize that I am the only person responsible for me. What I do or say is mine to bear. No one is twisting my arm, no one has a gun to my head, no one is making me do whatever it is that I do. This is why I work through the scenarios of the important decisions that I make. I think hard about what the impact and effects will potentially be and consider all my options, being open to things that are not always comfortable or what I may want.

“Our privileges can be not greater than our obligations. The protection of our rights can endure no longer that the performance of our responsibilities.” John F. Kennedy

What is your responsibility?

Let me know what you think.

Sean,
I am very persistent in my determination to buy a bigger boat to cruise around Grand Lake. However, my husband absolutely will not agree to buying another boat. What can I do to convince him to change his mind? He is being as persistent in his determination as I.
Determined

Dear Determined,
I suggest that you write out your reasons for wanting a bigger boat. Be honest with yourself. If you can honestly say that it is logical to buy a bigger boat then go for it, but if your reasons are mostly emotional, you may want to drop it. Another point of view would be, be happy that you have a boat at all.
Keep on keeping on,
Sean

Remember that the only boxes that exist are the ones you create yourself.

It is appropriate and timely that a Calvin Coolidge quote might inspire us in new ways through timeless words that demonstrate the power of persistence and intestinal fortitude. As President of the United States, Coolidge was witness to the devastating 1927 floods that destroyed much of New Orleans. Today, New Orleans and our nation are in more need than ever to muster up the persistence and intestinal fortitude to see us through the outcomes of the cataclysmic display of nature’s power and man’s relationship to it.

Calvin Coolidge had the following words to say on the subject of persistence, “Nothing can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.”

With New Orleans and the Mississippi coast facing what appears to be insurmountable odds it is easy to fall into the pattern of giving up or even worse inaction. One Senator has already said that New Orleans is not worth re-building. He has obviously given up. As we awake to the full devastation of last weeks events it becomes clearer and clearer we are experiencing our own tsunami. With parts of New Orleans sitting 20 feet below sea level it is going to take some real creativity to figure out new solutions to prevent this same kind of devastation from happening again. Persistence and fortitude in this case mean coming up with new and more creative solutions to solve the problems that lie ahead.

American history is overflowing with tales of persistence and fortitude in the face of hostile geography and punishing weather. From the struggle of the Mayflower Pilgrims to survive their first New England winter, to the desperate march of pioneers during the 1849 California gold rush through the baking desert of Death Valley. Books and television features regularly document our list of worst disasters such as the great blizzard of 1888 that sank 200 boats under five feet of snow, or the hurricane that caused the 1900 flood in Galveston, Texas that killed 6,000 people.

Historically Americans have always had a “can-do-spirit” believing that they can overcome all odds. For better or worse our nation is being tested on many fronts and the outcomes are ours to bear. We can choose to turn our heads or give up like many have already done or we can choose to keep on keeping on and showcase what is possible.

In my life I have been blessed with many gifts. The gift of foresight, the gift of artistic expression, the gift of enrolling and motivating people to action, and the gift of giving back. These are just a few of the gifts that allow me to expand and grow each and every day. But there is one gift that stands above them all and that is the gift of persistence and intestinal fortitude. Some have said that it is my strange desire to be tortured. Some have said it is just my youthful inexperience. And some have even said that it is ignorance. None of these are true. It is, in fact, a deep seated desire to showcase what is possible and to make a positive difference.

“If I had to select one quality and one personal characteristic that I regard as being most highly correlated with success, whatever the field, I would pick persistence and determination. The will to endure to the end, to get knocked down seventy times and get up off the floor saying, “Here comes number seventy one.”
Richard M. Devos

As New Orleans sinks deeper and deeper into despair and savagery a symbolic test is taking place. That is the test of our will, our persistence and our intestinal fortitude to make the unimaginable horrors we are experiencing into the brightest example of all that is good in humanity.

The choice is ours. The question is, “What will we choose?”

Let me know what you think.

Dear Sean,
My daughter is very creative and expressive. She is just starting back to school and I’m concerned that her teachers will try to stifle her true self. What can I do to help ensure that my daughter is supported in reaching her full potential?
Concerned

Dear Concerned,
One of the best ways to ensure that you daughter is given opportunities to express herself and to increase her creative abilities is by being involved at the school. Let her teacher know that you are interested in being of help in the classroom and how much you appreciate the opportunity to be involved. By participating in your daughter’s educational experiences, you will learn what she is exposed to and be able to support enriching her experiences outside the classroom more fully. You may also want to consider enrolling her in outside activities that will give her further opportunities to allow her creativity to flourish when what she is exposed to at schools isn’t enough to challenge her.
Keep on keeping on,
Sean