I Can't Imagine

In our culture, I think there is a tendency to ignore the imagination as a tool and as a sense.  As a tool when we can use our imagination and focus it to bring things to us.  As a sense when we imagine but are actually sensing something.  

I've found humorous whimsy to be predictive in so many instances.  It's amazing that we see things and don't see them at the same time, but crack that joke and reflect on it after it seems to come true.

The mind does not function according to linear logic, but people can make it appear that it does. 

We rarely try to bring something into our lives by thinking about it in a regular disciplined way.  Every night for a few minutes, pretend that what you want is real and in your life, forget about it, don't look for it.  

Just keep working at it.

There is a story of Milarepa who used magic that involved the use of visual imagination to control the weather to obtain revenge against some relatives of his.

I believe it was hail and rain, but don't quote me.

Unfortunately, in order to practice that particular form of magic, years of meditation were required to train the mind to focus so that when it came time to create mental images, the thought forms created would have enough energy to go off and change things.

I believe there are two kinds of meditation: active focus and passive reception.  Active focus imagines something such as a candle flame or some other image or sound, and passive reception is leaving the mind open while quietly paying attention to your breath.

I'm not quite sure how to categorize a quiet focus on feelings of joy and gratitude, but it's one of the most beneficial things you can do for your mental state.

In this culture, we literally don't know what we're doing with our minds.

But we do use an alternative imaginative process where we are able to imagine how we can achieve something by seemingly juxtaposing different ideas so we can see a path to where we want to be. 

But there is a school of thought that says that imaginative thought is the precursor of reality.  In which case all the angst and disgust you vent at the less positive aspects of your life are far more than wasted energy.

Increasing your focus on things that are irritants merely reinforces them in your life.  

Imagine that the part of your life you are living is merely an extension of  what you are imagining, so that if you turn your mind to a new grand vision, eventually, it will filter into the life you are living. 

In developing systems, I would think about the end goal, and things that I could do to achieve it simply appeared in my mind.   When I started, I had no idea what I could do to create a system, and then as if by magic, ideas would start to come, unexpected, unpredictable ideas. 

What could be more magical then that?

Think about what you desire, and don't throw it out because you believe it to be unreachable.  Change your mind and simply say, "I don't know how, but let me think about it."

I've always found that persistence, thinking about something every day, not looking for it to show up, but admitting to my self that I wanted it, focusing on it every day, eventually paid off.