Grow Your Imagination

Published: October 5, 2022
Souther Marin Mother's Club - Crier

Children use the power of make believe to explore the ways the world works. Often, they mimic everyday activities. Fantasy play is their way to figure things out. It’s their opportunity to explore their newfound truths while accessing their background knowledge. They easily believe in what they cannot see. And this leads to all kinds of magic.

Last month our oldest daughter asked my husband if the tooth fairy is real. She is at a fragile and amazing intersection (she just turned 7) where her mind is going from blindly believing to curiously questioning. She’s exactly where she’s supposed to be: questioning “the truth” to decide “her truths.” He responded with a question to get a temperature check (and to create some time to think). She quickly changed the topic and that was the end of the conversation…for now. 

Adults play with make believe too—it’s called manifestation. There are so many ways to tap into the power of our minds. We actually do find what we are looking for as hard as that is to admit sometimes. It’s contagious, so choose wisely. Prayer and meditation are a couple of ways that I have set time aside to manifest. No matter what you call it, the simple truth is that I am believing in something I cannot see, yet. Some call this faith; others call it intuition. My favorite people to be around lift my spirit. They are extremely kind-hearted and very optimistic. They inspire me to work toward a better version of me.

Here is the hard question, what are you manifesting or taking inspired action toward and do you make believe that it is real before it actually is? If I think to myself that writing a book is too hard or that the field is too saturated, am I going to continue writing? When I lean into that resistance and identify my true fear, I unleash the possibility of “what if.” What if I actually finished the book; got picked up by a publisher; and influenced women’s hearts around the world? What if I earned a living and continued writing more books, spoke at conferences, and held workshops? What if I kept dreaming bigger and bigger? Here is the thing: I can dream all I want, but if I don’t write…then there will never be a book. That is why manifestation has to be paired with inspired action. Inspired action is the hard part. I just need to take the first step.

So, what do you do with your child’s growing imagination? How do you allow it to run wild, but also answer questions truthfully? One of the things that I feel humans have always struggled with is answering, “I don’t know.” What would happen if those words were said more? What changes would happen within our political system, friendships, and even with our children? Would we lean into the discomfort of discovery? Would we let go of the layers of resentment, resistance, and fear that make us averse to “other” people who are different from us? Would we stop protecting our egos and start living in our essence? What if we learned from our children how to play make believe again and then watched our lives unfold? They are learning through their play. You can too. Keep showing them how to believe and let them remind you of what magic that belief can bring.