Kevin Mullani, Stephanie Mullani
Imagine That! Planting the Seeds of Possibility
language
(Tru Publishing March 26, 2013)
A Guide to Help Children Bring Their Ideas into Reality!
Deliberately using our imagination to help co-create the life we desire is a fundamental skill-set that is underutilized by the majority of the population. While many authors are brilliantly expanding this knowledge in adults, there are very few books that sow this concept in the roots of the future – our children. Imagine That! explores the creative and fertile ground of the mind and helps children put in place a process for developing ideas from thought to reality.
Imagination is a universally appealing topic and a skill that needs to be cultivated in our children. With the help of Imagine That, parents will have a fun way to educate their children about growing their ideas into reality. This book compares the similarity between bringing ideas to life and the process of growing seeds into plants. The concept of planting an idea seed is delivered in a simple, playful rhyme and the illustrations that accompany each verse visually reinforce the steps. Useful concepts are discussed such as clearing the mind of negative thoughts, taking action toward your end result, focusing on joy and gratitude, and learning to ignore the “bugs” that may not want you to succeed.
The back pages of the book are designed to be used as a discussion generator between parents and kids. All 9 verses of the metaphorical rhyme are expanded upon to help children understand how to apply the concepts. Here is an example how the first verse was expanded:
Imagine that an idea is a seed, Where would you plant it, What would it need
Consider focused thought to be a seed that you can grow into reality in the future.
Imagined concepts, or ideas, are literally the first forms of existence before anything becomes reality. Before this book was written, it was an idea. Before the computer was created, somebody imagined a “computing machine”. Nothing is ever created without first being an idea. A good discussion to have about this verse is how an idea is comparable to planting a real seed. Your mind is the planting ground for all idea seeds, your joyful emotions are the sunlight it needs to grow, and the actions you take to achieve your goals are equivalent to tilling the soil, pulling weeds, and watering your plant.
It’s also valuable to discuss the level of focus that is placed on an idea. It’s important to understand that just because information pops into your head does not mean you are planting an idea seed. You have to choose to focus on it. You have to maintain a desire to bring it into reality. And you have to take continual action to care for your seed as if you were planting and raising an actual plant. We can acknowledge an idea, or thought, without choosing to focus on it which will usually result in forgetting the thought after a few seconds. We can also ponder the thought, mull it around in our mind for a while and make a conscious choice to forget it, or grow it. Finally, once we wish to grow our idea, we can focus on it intently, visualizing every aspect of what it would take to bring it into reality, and begin taking action toward our desired end state.
Grab your copy of Imagine That! now
…and help your child understand how important it is to cultivate and sustain their imaginations as they grow. We hope your kids (and you) enjoy the book and we thank you for imagining a better world!