When Think & Grow Rich, by Napoleon Hill, is studied with a mastermind group, it helps you to find the treasure buried deep within yourself. Discover YOUR treasure by signing up with the 30 Day Mental Cleanse. Each week we read a chapter from the book, and then write down our thoughts, comments, and lessons learned.
Here are my thoughts from this week’s chapter.
Chapter 6 – IMAGINATION
Who hasn’t watched a child’s imagination at work? A tiny truck in the hands of a small boy is the real thing in his eyes. A doll cradled in the loving arms of a little girl is a real baby to her. Nothing is “garbage” to my own 10-year-old son, who fashions all sorts of amazing contraptions from bits and pieces that any adult would toss out as trash.
“It has been said that man can create ANYTHING that he can imagine.”
As a child of eight, I kept timothy grass in little match boxes, pretending it was real live caterpillars. My brothers and I jumped off the low stone wall into the grass, pretending we were diving into a swimming pool. I lined up my stuffed animals and dolls in rows, pretending I was the teacher and they were my students. I pretended my dolls were a family of real babies and small children.
What happened to that vivid imagination I possessed as a child? Somehow, somewhere along the way, it just sort of fizzled out, and I’ve never been able to get it back again.
But wait. Hill tells me it isn’t dead. Imagination does not die…it just becomes weak through inaction. WHY did I stop using it? And why do I feel like I can’t get it back again?
At the end of March a blue Mustang sat at the front of a farmer’s property on the highway, with a FOR SALE sign in the window. Great condition, not a dent or scratch on it, 2005, good tires, only one previous owner, odometer reads low, and reasonable on gas. I fell in love with it. “That’s MY car,” I told Ian. When asked what I wanted for my birthday in May, I said, “The blue Mustang.
The car has been moved several times, a couple of times…we’ve gotten out and looked at it more than once…Ian wrote down the phone number…the price has been slashed a couple of times from $1299 to $9700…and it’s STILL AVAILABLE!!!
We need a car. It’s perfect. It’s been for sale for three months. I know that car is mine. So why is it not sitting in my driveway?
So what happened to my vivid childhood imagination? In thinking about it this week, I realize it was just TOO vivid. For two years after my father’s death, I lived in my imagination. I was frustrated that I could not WILL that timothy grass to be real caterpillars. I SO WANTED that stone wall to be the edge of a swimming pool. It frustrated me no end that my stuffed animals couldn’t answer the questions I put to them. But most of all, I it hurt so bad that my dolls were not a real family. I believe what I was really doing was trying to WILL my father back into my life again. I wanted him so bad I could taste him. But no amount of imagination or determined effort would bring him back.
As a seventh grader I would wish with all my heart and soul that I could live inside someone other girl’s body and mind for a while…to see the world through her eyes, and live her life. I hated being the stepdaughter of the town garbageman, who was also a drunkard. I wanted my own father back.
All of this is being processed as I write. I did not hate my stepfather…he was a good man despite his faults…but he was not my own father, whom I obviously missed so very much. And I think there is a lot there that I have never really put behind me…it still has a strong bearing on my life today. The things I wanted were things I could not have…and there was precious little I COULD have of what I saw others had, because we never had the money for it.
And so I gave up. I would never have what I really wanted, so I stopped dreaming…stopped wanting things. Evidently I did not deserve them…I was a second class citizen…second rate Christian…never measuring up, never good enough for what I wanted. I must be wrong to want them. It isn’t that I never ever went after what I wanted, but the general pattern of my life has been never to let myself DARE to want anything beyond the most basic. That’s why most of my children have never been to other side of the country to see my hometown…and why I have only seen most of my family once in the past 26 years. If ever a desire dares to begin to make itself known, there is a chorus within me that says, “BASH IT DOWN!!!”
Well, this lesson is ‘way too late…and much too long. But I felt I needed to get it out on the table where I can see it, and know what exactly it is that’s holding me back. I don’t know if the Mustang will ever really be mine…but it’s sure been a great exercise, seeing it as mine for the past three months. Other than the slash in price, we are no closer to having the money to buy it…but at least I see now that there is no shame in wanting it, or believing I deserve it. I am gaining SOME clarity on this matter of bringing new strength and vibrancy to MY imagination, so that I can put it to use helping me to achieve my dreams.
This whole personal growth thing is painful at times, but I wouldn’t give it up for anything now.
Willena Flewelling
Many leaders, including myself, say that the 30 Day Cleanse is the #1 reason for their success in network marketing. We’ve heard it said many times, “To make more, we have to become more.” When we take back our thoughts, we are becoming more.
You can register for the 30 Day Cleanse mastermind group here…it’s free…as is all of our skills training at Mentoring For Free which begins with downloading and reading “Success in 10 Steps” by Michael Dlouhy, founder of Mentoring For Free. I would be happy to walk through the skills training with you just as my coach and mentor have been helping me all along. Make it a great day!!
