It all begins with imagination! The World Book Dictionary tells us: "Imagination is the ability to create new things or ideas or to combine old ones in new form; the power of forming pictures of things in the mind." Inspiration is "the influence of thought and strong feelings on actions, especially good actions; a sudden brilliant idea." Imagination and Inspiration!

In speaking of imagination and inspiration, let’s first take a look at the mind-body connection. The mind is a powerful tool. What we choose to think about affects our body. Our body and mind are interconnected. In fact, did you know that science is pointing towards the fact that the mind and body truly are ONE?!Imagine that! The mind is in every single cell in our body!

Try this experiment: Close your eyes, relax and imagine yourself holding a lemon. As you squeeze them lemon, feel the ridges of the lemon in your hand. Imagine you bring the lemon to your nose and smell the sweet citrus lemon scent. Then imagine you slice the lemon in half and you bring half of it to your lips. It touches your lips and you feel the wetness of the lemon juice on your lips. Now imagine you take a big bite of the lemon and swish it around in your mouth. Then, after you have gotten a good taste of the lemon, open your eyes.

What did you discover? Chances are, that you found your mouth puckering up just like you had really taken a bite of that lemon! See how the body is affected by the mind?

Just as our thoughts affect our bodies, they also affect our sense of well-being. To understand this further, let’s imagine our mind as a computer. We can program it in any way we choose. We can choose to "open" any of the programs that have been “downloaded” into our computer. For example, if at one point in our lives we perceived: "I am not good enough”" That belief has now become a program in my mind’s computer. I can choose to continue to tell myself "I am not good enough," opening that program in my mind, or, I can download a new and improved program where I begin to empower myself with new messages: "I am awesome!" "I am worthy and worthwhile." "I love and accept myself."

Knowing how our thoughts affect our well-being, it is important that we ask ourselves: What we are telling ourselves? Do we choose thoughts that limit us or hurt us or keep us down in some ways? Or, do we choose thoughts that empower us? What are we teaching our children? Are we nurturing and nourishing our children to choose thoughts that will support them to believe in themselves? Do our words encourage them? Do our words and actions strengthen our children’s confidence in themselves? Do we feed ourselves or our children ‘toxic’ thoughts?

We know how important it is not to feed toxins to our body. It is just as important to not feed our mind ‘toxic’ thoughts. We can start to pay attention to what we are thinking and recognize when we are feeding our mind ‘toxic’ thoughts, thoughts that keep us down in some way. We can use our minds, our imagination, to make new choices. We can ‘feed’ ourselves with thoughts that will uplift us, rather than with those that keep us down.Toxic thoughts versus Loving thoughts. Hmmmm, which shall you choose? The empowering factor is that it does come down to a Choice.

The time is now to create positive programs in your mind and in your children’s minds! Be an Inspiration to your children! Teach them how to use their minds, their Imaginations, to love and believe in themselves and grow the confidence to succeed in reaching in their dreams! As you choose to focus on loving thoughts, a miracle happens: Joy fills the minds and hearts of your family. In turn, Joy is reflected in all that comes your way!