You Have Amazing Powers of Creativity

Last night I dreamed that I was walking down a street in a town I had never seen before. Across the street was a building that appeared to be about 100 years old. It was a 2-story building with a stone facade and a high arching entrance-way. Was it a school? A prison? A museum? Something about the archway caught my eye, and I stopped to look. It seemed to bend a little, which I thought was odd. Then, suddenly, the archway and much of the building on both sides collapsed into a heap. Later in the dream I was with some other people as we explored the inside of the building, trying to find our way to the collapsed center. At some point, I looked up and saw a person on the second story looking down at me from an old iron bed. A strange medical apparatus hung from the ceiling, and I realized it was some kind of primitive hospital. We continued walking in search of the rubble.

The thing about the dream...

• Nothing like this had ever happened to me
• Nothing I saw was familiar
• Everything I saw in the dream was incredibly detailed
• After the dream, I remembered everything in detail

Here's the point - My brain did this for me!

Woohoo! How about that for creativity? The human brain's ability to create all-new images is amazing.  It can create detailed scenarios that have never happened before.

I know for a fact that this creative power is a normal part of every human brain. Years ago, I used to do programs about the brain, and when I got to explaining how creativity works I would illustrate with an exercise. I would ask the participants to close their eyes and imagine the pop singer Madonna. Imagine that she has bright red hair. Imagine that she is dressed in combat camouflage fatigues. Imagine that she's holding a huge 3-foot-long lollipop, holding it as if it were a flag. Now imagine that she leans forward to whisper something to you. Listen carefully. What does she say?

It was fun to listen to what the participants heard. Each message was different. And everyone was able to do the exercise. Everyone was able to see an image and experience something in their mind that had never happened in the history of planet Earth.

Did you do the exercise? What did Madonna say to you? You have amazing powers of imagination and creativity. Acknowledge that you have this capability. Use it!

A Fortune Cookie...

Release your imagination, and your dreams will soar.

More Fortune Cookies...

Post by Dennis E. Coates, Ph.D., Copyright 2011. Building Personal Strength .