How good is your imagination? Can you easily visualize? Can you feel a feeling without something external happening in your world? Can you smell an odor without an actual odor present?

I believe that our imagination is one of the best tools that we have as people. I’m not sure animals have imaginations. I’d like to think my kitty imagines playing with a ball of yarn, but I don’t think she does. Yet we imagine all the time. In fact, your imagination is the best way to access your unconscious mind!

The term Imagineering comes from Walt Disney’s combination of the words imagination and engineering; which represents the ability to combine creativity and experience to produce a result. In NLP, when you can be an imaginer in your own life, you can have an intention and get to the desired state.

When you can become an Imagineer in your own life, amazing things can happen! In fact, everything in the world happens at least twice:

• First, in your imagination.
• So, in reality.

I have heard from clients and students that they do not have a good imagination. Well, imagination is not just about creativity; Before you get dressed in the morning, you have to imagine what you are going to wear that day (even briefly). Before choosing something to eat, imagine eating it.

When I hear that someone thinks they don’t have a good imagination, what I hear is “I don’t trust my imagination.” Sometimes as people get older they are taught that only what is REAL is good and they somehow squash their belief in imagination. However, it is present all the time. The more you can trust him, the better.

By the way, another way of saying I don’t trust my imagination is “I don’t trust my unconscious mind,” which can stifle creativity, motivation, desire, intention, possibility, health, and even dreams.

Let’s try some imagination tricks to get your imagination imagineering…

To do this, read the question and then simply give an answer… by the way, there is no wrong answer… if you guess, again this shows a lack of confidence.

1. In the story of Goldilocks and the 3 Bears, what color were the bears?
2. In the Little Red Riding Hood story, what’s in her basket?
3. In the story of Hansel and Gretel, what color shirt does Hansel wear?
4. In the ugly duckling story, how many ‘ducklings’ were there?

I used stories that most people will know, and parts of the stories that we have to imagine or create. Each of us may have different answers to these questions, according to our own imagination. And, according to your imagination, your answers are correct!

Why did we do this little exercise? To remind you that you have an active imagination and that you can use it. If that task was challenging, spend the rest of the day reminiscing about old childhood stories and coming up with new endings! Start building a strong relationship with your unconscious mind and your imagination. After all, resistance is a sign of a lack of relationship. Yes, you can relate to your unconscious mind!

Let me tell you about a study conducted by Drs. Guang Yue and Kelly Cole in 1992. They wanted to conduct a study to test the power of imagination to create physical change; the idea is that simply imagining yourself performing an act (in this case, a muscle movement) will create a change in your neural pathways.

The experiment was extremely simple in nature, but the results have surprising implications. Two groups were used; One group did a physical exercise and the other group imagined themselves doing that exercise. Both groups exercised a finger muscle, Monday through Friday, for four weeks. The physical group performed trials of fifteen maximal contractions, with a twenty-two second rest between each. The mental group simply imagined doing fifteen maximal contractions, with a twenty-two-second rest between each, while also imagining a voice yelling at them: Louder! More difficult! More difficult!

The results: at the end of the study the physical group increased their muscle strength by 30%. The imagination group increased their muscle strength by 22%.

Sometimes when people say “It’s all in your mind”, they’re right! When you are imagining, remember, if it is possible for someone, it is possible for me.

dream on!