Developing an Active Imagination

We all want a better life. More money, more freedom, more connection with loved ones. Yet we tend to trudge through the chaff and debris of life, our eyes focused on the horizon. When we are kids, we want to be teenagers because, in our juvenile minds, there are freedoms that we see that we aren't yet eligible for. Teenage "freedom," though, does not bring to fruition what we hope; instead, our development is continuing, and naturally, our eyes become focused on the next barrier to our happiness, crossing the line from childhood into adulthood. Yet that, too, does not satisfy; we either move into the working world pursuing that desired condition through menial efforts and drudgery or set another arbitrary threshold on finishing college or university.

When we finally achieve economic stability or extended education, we have arrived. Right?

No. Not by any means. Stability only prevents economic ruin, and education only prevents ignorance. Instead, again, we move the goalposts and set another course toward the mountains in the distance. Marriage and children, perhaps, we feel will fulfill us. Or the post-graduate degree. Advancement into management or incremental increases in take-home pay. Did that get us to the heights?

Once again, no. We set our sights on retirement. The empty-nest nature of rearing our kids toward their own success? Maybe, when we finish that "great American novel" or the "great American dream" of home ownership? Again, disappointment arrives instead. But what if there is an alternative?

The Quantification of Common Conditions.

Humanity lives on its belly. We take sustenance from the land, we feed on that which we scratch out of the earth. We are terrestrial, after all. We even named our world rather unimaginatively "Dirt." Euphemistically, the terms earth and terra before it are synonymous with this most basic material.

So, what happens when we lift our gaze ABOVE the horizon? We certainly see any high points to which we might set our course. This is, after all, what goal-setting is about, why we move toward these high places, both realistically and metaphorically. Arguably, this is the central motivational force. But this is only a part of the process of becoming successful. We have to find a way to get ourselves to that higher ground, that higher point, more quickly.

We have, in our arsenal, an even more powerful force than hard work, diligent learning, and familial support combined. We have imagination. We can transport ourselves instantly to those places where success resides, if only within ourselves, and perhaps only for moments at a time, but we can experience these heights in all their glory. But how do we take advantage of these experiences?

Introducing the Overview Effect

A term coined in the heady days of the American Space Program, the Overview Effect applies to all of us within our ability to activate our imagination. The term, as defined, is the state of awe with self-transcendent qualities, precipitated by a particularly striking visual stimulus". Most of us have heard about the concept of intent and how our ability to visualize the world we want can guide us, perhaps mystically, but certainly motivationally, to achieve the greatness we desire.

What I propose is an amplification of that process, from mere visualization of those success principles to this stronger paradigm. When we activate our imagination, when we use the transcendent power of thought, we can create in our lives today the reality of the future to such an extent that we can embrace that future in the present.

I have a five-step process that I implemented almost a year ago, and now I am experiencing a different kind of existence. I live virtually in the world I see and experience that is still in the future. Beyond that, I am constantly in that head space, experiencing the kind of thrill and exhilaration of viewing every concern, every challenge, with a clear awareness of not only where I will be and what I will accomplish but have the perspective to overlook the difficulties between the present and that desired future in a healthier, more dynamic way. In the next few newsletters, I will outline these five steps in detail. If you want these five steps now, subscribe to this newsletter, follow me and like this post, and drop me a comment, and I will send you my five steps to experiencing the Overview Effect for yourself today.

In closing, I want to thank you all for reading these posts. I want to make clear the benefits I have experienced, and I want each of you to achieve them as well. I hope you reach your objectives and that your challenges will be manageable. I can't give you more time in your life, but I can help you get more life out of the time we have.