“There’s a fine line between imagination and reality and no one knows for sure where that fine line begins or ends.”

I spoke the words shown above twenty years ago in a Psycho-Cybernetics training, and today I find no reason to alter them in any way.

All your goals, all your actions, all your habits, are nothing but mental pictures. At first they are nothing but imaginary ideas seen upon the invisible screen of your mind, then they become reality if you move with them.

Contrary to the saying, “Just do it,” no one ever does. Those who think they “just do” are unaware of how quickly their brains process information that is acted upon.

Some people’s minds work so fast they are convinced they take action before imagining doing so. Sorry, that’s not the way your brain works. You see it first, then you do it.

You don’t laugh, frown or cry before seeing a mental picture of something that brings forth that emotion.

You choose your vocation, your hobbies, your to do list, what you eat and where you go on vacation, based upon what you see in your imagination.

Your imagination is real and how you use it can make your or break you.

Yes, you can imagine that your imagination is only imaginary, yet even that idea is a mental picture that you are imagining to be true.

Here endeth the lesson.

Matt Furey

P.S. Pure imagination is what I’ll be teaching in my next intensive on Theatre of the Mind. I imagine that it’s going to be a breakthrough experience for those who get to attend. You may be one of the fortunate few who attend. Drop me an email at goals@psycho-cybernetics.com to show your interest.

Two young boys who grew up in the same neighborhood pick up a crayon for the first time and begin to draw.

The first boy has parents who offer encouragement, regardless of whether he colors outside the lines or draws straight lines.

Whenever they see the slightest improvement in his drawing, they make note of it and tell him he’s getting better. They live in the present with their son, giving him realistic, achievable daily pointers. They refrain from comparing him to others his age. Instead they focus on helping him be a little bit better than he was yesterday. If he isn’t, no sweat. Just keep drawing everyday, if that is what you want to do.

Forty years later, the boy is a famous artist. Asked how he got so good, he says, “I did so gradually, step by step. There was never any pressure on me to become good, so I enjoyed drawing and kept doing it. Then one day I woke up and realized I was really good.”

The other boy’s parents were quite a bit different. The first time he picked up a crayon to draw, they immediately began telling him how much talent and potential he had; they even began talking to him about how he needed to “work hard” at this if he wanted to become a famous artist; to be the next Vincent Van Gogh, or Salvador Dali.

Instead of giving easy pointers to their son, they pointed out what he was doing wrong. They showed him the drawings of other boys and girls in his age group, and point out that his drawings were not as good as theirs.

The boy retreated into a shell, thinking that he could not draw. He gave up.

Forty years later, this boy remembered the mental pictures from his past, the ones that were the supposed proof that he “cannot draw.”

For the first time in his life, he wondered if his mental pictures were wrong; he asked himself if he was taught wrong.

He decided to give himself another shot with another teacher who would take things step-by-step; one who put no pressure on him to be as good as the great ones.

One year later, the “little boy” inside this grown man is stunned because he now sees a new reality. He CAN draw. He can draw in spite of the fact that he was convinced for most of his life that he couldn’t.

Here endeth the lesson.

See it. Feel it. Be it.

Matt Furey

P.S. Small incremental improvements without pressure is the way to go. There’s tremendous power in the flip side of the coin; the opposite of the “think big” approach. And this includes learning how to see yourself and what you want out of life in a new way. Many people have the erroneous idea that they cannot visualize, that they’re doing it wrong. It’s the same as growing up thinking you cannot draw. Yet, learning how to visualize is no different than learning to draw. And this is why I teach a simple approach, one where you don’t compare yourself to others, or to a fictitious standard of how you’re supposed to do it. I reveal this procedural method of visualization, and much more in my Theatre of the Mind Intensive, to be held Wednesday, February 19. It will be a “level one” training, containing key elements that even the most advanced practitioners have never learned. The fee for this intensive is $247.00. Interested? Email me: goals@psycho-cybernetics.com and I will send you the link to enroll. It’s going to light you up!