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Chapter Two
Dare to Dream, Dream to Dare
Imagination is your power to go
beyond the known and the unknown to create your utopia. Artist Paul
Gauguin stated, "I shut my eyes in order to see." It's lamentable
that our focus is always on what exists rather than on what could
exist. To that we say, become an imagineer! Pay attention to your
imagination, intuition, insight, and inspiration, the flashes that
come from out of whatever divine blue, for this is the stuff that
dreams are made of. Be alert and sensitive to the finite notes that
strike a chord and rock you. Listen to it. Grab hold of it. Shake it
and see what falls out.
Then, and this is paramount,
quickly write it down before it shifts, alters, and goes thud, never
to return. Francis Bacon advocated, "A man would do well to carry a
pencil in his pocket, and write down the thoughts of the moment."
Splendid advice, since the spark of one idea gives birth to another,
which in turn creates another idea that can support, enhance, and
empower actions that help materialize the idea into a reality.
That's the magic of awareness. Ideas have a wonderful symmetry. You
embrace an idea because you need an idea and because it needs you.
With this very much in mind, keep a notebook handy at all times. Or
a legal pad. Or a day planner. Or 3x5 cards. A microcassette,
digital recorder, or text messager. If you have a handheld computer,
good for you. I have one but found that the lunatic thing works me
more than I can work it. Not important. What is important is that
you provide a space for ideas to land when they come around
circling.
Because an idea is a thing with
feathers.
They can fly away as easily as they
come, never to revisit you again. What enlivens and excites can be
momentary and ephemeral, if it is not acted upon. Take this on
faith, when God in all Her wisdom decides to provide you with
creative unfoldment, do not let it get away. Get it down. Record it
before it leaves you.
Aside: Rolling Stone and crypt
kicker, rock god Keith Richards wrote the forever famous guitar riff
for "Satisfaction" after waking up in the middle of the night in a
hotel room. When he crawled out of bed the next afternoon, he had
forgotten he'd written a song until he played his cassette recorder
later that day and heard himself muttering the now rock-classic
tune. End of aside.
Be a thinker-upper/writer-downer.
The point to be polished here is
that even if you have an elephant's memory, by writing down your
idea, and this is crucial, you create its existence in tangible
form. You can see it, feel its charge of energy, and go back to it
again later to review and consider if it still excites and fills you
with positive feelings and purpose, because, in time, some ideas
stiffen, while some remain such wonders the next time and the time
after the next time.
Keep an idea log. Maybe it's a
journal or whatever name you honor it with, do not deprive yourself
of this vital instrument of manifestation. An idea log is a powerful
tool to assist you in building the foundation and framework for
empowering your dream. And if this seems like some off-the-wall
suggestion, know that museums, universities, and private collections
the world over, house the imaginative jottings of Archimedes,
Michelangelo, da Vinci, Copernicus, Picasso, the Wright brothers,
and Einstein, just to name hardly any. Truth to know is that there
exists a lengthy written trail of providential bursts, cultivated
revelations penned by the hand of their creative greats. Tangible
reminders of ideas recorded to ensure that they didn't get lost in
the tumult of daily events. No wonder that since 1978, the
Smithsonian and Rutgers University have been hard at work archiving
the over 5 million pages of ideas, notes, and other papers that
Thomas Edison left behind. Fortunately for our hyper-inattentive
world, Edison knew that a sharp mind deserves a sharp pencil.
So when you luck into an idea,
write it down. That's the best basic advice for empowering your
dream. Keeping an idea log is, at once, a very important way of
knotting together action and reaction. A process for allowing
connectives to click, which can bring into form ideas that can
create energy, thoughts that can lead to actions, dreams that can
turn into living realities. An idea log is, in sweet reality, a
portfolio of possibilities. When geeky Billy Gates began to
visualize the software that would change the daily revolving of the
world, he made his mark, pressing pencil to paper, recording his
bright efforts, delivering destiny. William Wordsworth said, "Fill
your paper with the beating of your heart." Giving your idea a
palpable presence is the very first step in looking at what wants to
be looked at, transforming it from a flash of mental energy into a
charge of physical energy. You will find it amazing, fascinating,
reassuring, and absolutely faith-building when you begin to document
and keep track of how many good ideas you have. Imagine the
unimagined, ideas come from a new way of thinking.
And believing.
Excerpted from Tiger Heart,
Tiger Mind: How to Empower Your Dream -- A Zentrepreneur's Guide®
by Ron Rubin and Stuart Avery Gold
Copyright © 2004 by Ron Rubin and Stuart Avery Gold
Reprinted by permission of Newmarket Press, 18 East 48 Street, New
York, NY 10017, (212) 832-3575
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