Imagination is the Key to Life!This is Day 3 of The Suitcase Entrepreneur’s 30 Day Blog Challenge, today Natalie asks “What’s your definition of freedom in business and adventure in life?

This is something that I’ve thought about quite a bit over the past few years, because I believe that Imagination is the Key to Life, and that Reality is Shaped by Our Dreams…

But far too many of us stopped dreaming during our transition from childhood to adulthood, we learned to limit our imagination and set our dreams aside, in an effort to conform to the demands which friends and family imposed upon us.

I openly admit that I’ve only recently begun to allow myself to look upon the world again with childlike curiosity, and allow my imagination to explore the concept of what I really want to do with the rest of my life… somewhere in the middle of my training as a Strategic Intervention Coach, I realized that there was more to life than merely drudging through each work week, in hopes that I’d have enough energy to truly enjoy the weekend.

And it was at that time, that I began to redefine my belief structure about freedom as it pertains to life and business. It was at that time, that I began to allow myself to dream again, and reconnect with my true purpose, which actually has nothing to do with being trapped in an office building all day! Shocker.

Part of this process (and it is a process) was to evaluate the hierarchy of my six principle human needs: Certainty, Variety, Love / Connection, Significance, Growth and Contribution (listed here in no particular order), which I’d been introduced to by Tony Robbins and Cloe Madanes during my training as a coach.

Upon doing so, I quickly realized that mine were “out of order” in that my need for variety and significance, were inhibiting my desire for love, growth and contribution. I worked with another coach, to figure out all of the ways that I fulfilled those needs in ways which were not improving my life, and developed new ways to fulfill those  needs in ways which were positive.

Using a Vision Board to Create Your Vision:

Once I restructured the priority of my six human needs, I set out to create my vision, my expectation for the new life that I wanted to create for myself… at this point, I was not yet a student of the Law of Attraction, and didn’t really have an understanding of what is really possible.

Chipmunk proposing with purple flowerSo my vision board was filled up with pictures of vacation homes in exotic locations, like Hawaii, Mexico, Costa Rica, all of them have ocean views, and most of them have pools. There were pictures of new cars, money, a guy wakeboarding at sunset, scuba diving, surfing, and a chipmunk handing a purple flower to the special lady in his life, which I put up there as a symbol of love.

Unfortunately I don’t know who took this photograph, but since it’s one of the most important symbols on my vision board, I hope that they don’t mind my posting it here as a visual example. It’s just something which I found on the internet while I was searching for pictures to focus on each day as I went about my regular work day… I hung my vision board to the side of my desk, so that I’d be able to look at it throughout the day.

The traditional method of making a vision board is to sit down with a bunch of magazines, scissors, and a glue stick, and build a collage that represents all of your goals and dreams. I’m way to OCD and tech minded for that, I searched the internet for photographs that represented the life that I wanted to create, saved them to a folder on my computer, edited a lot of them in Adobe Photoshop, and then printed them out on 5 x 7 photo paper, and then pinned the photographs to a cork board.

One advantage to building a vision board in this manner, is that I can change the photographs quickly as the vision for my life evolves. And it has definitely evolved over the past two years! The further that I go on my journey of personal development, the fewer material objects are there and the simpler my personal quest for freedom becomes.

What I want from life right now:

Whenever I ask one of my newer clients to write out a list of their goals and dreams, it seems like money is always high up on the list. Most people think that having more money will make them happier, but I’ll argue that money itself will not make them any happier, it simply provides us with more options, money is a resource, not an emotion.

And if you want to get into a really deep discussion with me one day, we’ll sit around a bonfire on the beach with glass of wine, and talk about how money isn’t even real…

What I want most from life right now, is the freedom to spend each day with somebody who shares my passion for love and life! I truly believe that learning how to love unconditionally, and to allow another person to love us unconditionally, is one of the greatest gifts which we can give ourselves and the world.

So the business model which I am in the process of designing for myself, enables me to work from anywhere in the world where there is a decent internet connection. I enjoy the freedom to be able to work a little bit most days, and not at all on others, but most of all, to spend time with the people I love.

And we have some pretty amazing conversations… We laugh, we dream, we talk about things which most people are afraid to talk about because they closed themselves off from their true purpose in life, a long, long time ago…

This is a pretty cool story…

I was getting my haircut yesterday, and talking about all of this with my stylist, who asked me whether I’d heard the story about the two brothers… It goes something like this:

A young mother walked by the baby’s room, just in time to overhear her five year old son, who was leaning quite closely against the side of the crib, softly ask his little brother, to “remind me why we came here, it’s been so long that I’m beginning to forget…”

If you close your eyes, does it almost feel like nothing changed at all? The life of your dreams, lies just beyond the realm of your imagination… all you have to do to get your life back on track, is take the time to redefine your priorities, recapture your belief structure, and take steps towards building a business which will support your adventures and dreams.

Money and the Law  of Attraction by Abraham HicksOne of the most important steps that I’ve taken towards fulfilling my dreams, is to become a student of The Law of Attraction, and one of my favorite teachers is Abraham Hicks. I have downloaded several of their books on my iPad, and quite often listen to them while I’m falling asleep and throughout each day, to subliminally reprogram my belief structure to accept the reality that I can manifest wonderful things into my life.

I also really like The Astonishing Power of Emotions by Abraham Hicks, which helped me to recognize some of the emotions which I was experiencing, and provided me with alternative ways to perceive events in my life, so that I could move past them and manifest a better life. Once you realize that we create most of the feelings and events in our life, you’ll be able to experience a better life.

I hope that you’ll order these books for yourself, and further your study of the Law of Attraction, they have been invaluable resources for me as I move forward along the path of personal development and enlightenment. You can order them from your local bookstore, but if you order them using the Amazon affiliate links above, you’ll be helping me with the operation costs of running this web site, and will be helping to pay for the time which it takes me to write these articles…

And that’s a big hint, for those of you who might be looking to supplement your income, affiliate marketing is a key ingredient of funding my lifestyle, and we’ll be discussing it more in-depth in the days and weeks to come… stay tuned! And by all means, if you haven’t already picked up a copy of Natalie’s new book, The Suitcase Entrepreneur, Grab a Copy Now!


About the Author

Todd Gray is a Strategic Intervention Coach who studied Strategic Intervention at Robbins-Madanes Training under the Mastery of Anthony Robbins and world renown Psychologist Cloe Madanes. Todd is passionate about empowering people to reach for the stars and get the most out of life! Todd is motivated to empower people to overcome mental obstacles and live with passion so that they may enjoy incredible lives! Todd's primary focus is Personal Motivation • Passionate Relationships • Conquering Adversity • Peak Performance • Financial Abundance • Grief and Life After Suicide. Because of the challenges which Todd has faced in his life, he is especially driven to help people who are suffering from the loss of a child and people who have lost a friend or loved one to suicide, or other acts of violence.

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