Be Who You Want to Be (WD)

The greatest gift that any of us are granted is the gift of our imagination. Every single thing that now exists was once imagined, and the corollary of this assertion is that everything that is ever going to exist in the future must first be imagined. In my role as a father and a teacher, I felt it was incumbent upon me to help my children understand and apply the phenomenal implications of this basic notion. “If you want to accomplish anything,” I would tell them, “you must first be able to expect it of yourself. If you can’t imagine it, you can’t create it.” 

What I have noticed in my life is that most people do not have even an inkling of the power that exists within them if they learn to apply the extraordinary capacity of their own minds. Whenever my children and I would be driving and looking for a parking place, they frequently heard me say, “I have a spot to park—be on the lookout for it.” They never once heard me say, “With my luck, we’ll never find a place to park.” 

From being able to produce a parking place to creating a one-on-one meeting with Oprah Winfrey to manifesting a perfect relationship, it all boils down to how one uses this Divine gift of their imagination. There simply are no limits. I told my children repeatedly and incessantly that when they place something into their imaginations, and hold on to it as an inner vision as if it were affixed with superglue, that is how they align with their source of being. It is a way of being a co-creator with God, who is responsible for all of creation. This is how they connect with their senior partner, and this is how the whole process of manifestation unfolds. 

I learned a long time ago from one of my mentors, Dr. Abraham Maslow, that self-actualized people never, but never, place anything into their imaginations that they don’t want to harden into an objective fact. They use this great gift of their imagination to keep it always centered on what they intend to have manifest into their lives. 

Living as if you already are what you would like to become is really tapping into the spark of God that exists within. In the book of Romans, Saint Paul speaks of God, saying that “He calls those things which do not exist as though they did.” This is living from the end, which is the great secret of manifestation. Acting as if that which is placed in the imagination is already an accomplished fact, and never letting go of that inner picture, is what I want all of my children to understand. 

The use of the two magic words I am is a wonderful technique for aligning with one’s source of being. These are the words spoken to Moses when he asked for the name of the spirit that spoke to him in the form of a burning bush that was not being consumed. The use of these two words to declare what you want to materialize, such as I am perfect health or I am in a Divine relationship—even if your senses tell you otherwise—is how your highest self operates on this earthly plane. Albert Einstein once made this observation about the power of our imagination: “Logic will take you from A to Z. Imagination will get you everywhere.” As a parent, I want my children to get to places where so many refuse to contemplate, and this is why I encouraged all of them to use the greatest gift they’ve ever been given, and to be in awe at the endless possibilities. 

— Dr. Wayne W. Dyer