“Imagination is more important than knowledge. For while knowledge defines all we currently know and understand, imagination points to all we might yet discover and create.”

~ Albert Einstein

Visualize. Envision who you’d like to become, all the things you’d like to have, do and be. While listening to some peaceful music, close your eyes, breathe deeply, and picture your ideal life. Dare to dream.

Think about places you’d like to go. How will it look and sound? What are some of the tastes you will experience there? Try to imagine specific events using all five senses.

Is there something you’d like to own? Create an image in your mind so you can virtually experience having that object in your life right now. Feel the delight and joy that come with having this possession as a part of your daily experience.

Is there a character trait you’d like to develop? Once again, do this exercise and bring to life an image of how it would feel if you truly had mastered that particular trait. In your mind, see yourself treating people the way you would like to treat them and feel how they respond to you. Picture how you speak, move, and interact with those around you. Enjoy it as if it were your current reality.

Every morning as I’m waking up and, in the evening, as I’m going to sleep I try to focus on what’s going right in my life. I mentally review how far I’ve come and how my life seems to just get better and better. I truly believe the best is yet to come. I visualize it. I feel it. I plan for it. I’m counting on it!

I was driving a gold minivan that was on its last leg. When I took it to my mechanic for a repair one day, he advised me to start looking for a new vehicle because the repair my van needed would cost more than it was worth. I decided to drive the van until it died. For years I’d dreamed of owning a truck, I’d even been socking away money in my savings account. When I got this report from my mechanic, I knew it was time to get the ball rolling. I started by pulling up a picture of a red Toyota Tacoma truck and making it my screensaver. I cut out a picture of my dream truck and pasted it on my vision board. I enlisted the help of my kids to help me look. Each time we were driving down the road and they would spot a similar truck, they would yell, “There’s your truck Mom!” We started seeing them everywhere. I quit spending change, one- and five-dollar bills and started putting them into my savings account labeled “Truck”. Every week I would look on the internet to see what trucks I could find in my price range. On Saturdays I would go to the Toyota dealership and test drive the exact truck I dreamed of owning one day so the smell, the feel and the experience would always be fresh in my mind.

I found a beautiful truck that was just a few states away, but they wanted more than I was willing to pay. The dealership had the perfect truck, but I hated the color, and it was way out of my price range. Finally, my van was literally dying, and it was obvious that I needed to make a decision within the next couple of days. The urgency prompted some creativity. One afternoon my son and I drove around the mall parking lot and through a few neighborhoods putting my business card under truck’s windshield wiper. I wrote a note on the back of my card that said, “I am interested in buying your truck if you’re interested in selling it – please call me.” I received several calls, but none were within my budget. The next day when we were sitting in church, a man on the pew in front of us turned around and said, “You put a card on my truck yesterday, are you really interested in buying it? We just decided to sell it two days ago.” The truck was black instead of red, it was a Nissan instead of a Toyota, but it was in my price range and within two days I was driving my dream.

As you create these images mentally, your mind can’t help but manifest them in real time. Give yourself permission to experiment with visualization. You’ll be delighted with the results.