In this post, I advocate for making 2026 – the 250^th anniversary of the United States – a year where we emphasize the importance of positive thought and imagination.

While I am not a proponent of New Year’s Resolutions without the commitment and work necessary to succeed in making any desired improvements or changes, the turning of the calendar is an excellent opportunity to adopt some broad concepts aimed at improving our personal and professional lives.

Americans are celebrating the 250^th anniversary of the United States this year, a country built on the tremendous imagination, vision, dedication, and tireless efforts of our forefathers. They imagined a republic whose citizens are free to pursue lives of liberty and justice, and while maintaining that ideal is a never-ending endeavor, we continue to live in a land of opportunity.

As such, I am advocating that 2026 be not only our 250^th celebration from sea to shining sea (and beyond), but also the year where we collectively emphasize the importance of positive thought and imagination. We must continually encourage imagination and innovative thinking for good purposes in all levels of our schools, as well as in our businesses and organizations. What’s more, we must reward those who imagine their way to success.

Why this emphasis on the imagination? Psychologist and writer Dr. Wayne Dyer taught me (and millions of other people) many years ago that a thought – an idea – is the ancestor to every action. When we understand the power in our thoughts and imagination, he advised, we realize we must become aware of and careful about the things we think about and imagine.

Dr. Dyer was not suggesting we limit our imaginations, but that we focus our thoughts and attention on doing good for ourselves and for others.

The famous American author, Kurt Vonnegut, put it like this: “We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.”¹ It is time we see ourselves in positive ways so those thoughts and ideas can become actions that make our lives happier, healthier, more fulfilling and prosperous.

In his book, The Power of Awareness, Neville Goddard wrote, “Man lives by committing himself to invisible states, by fusing his imagination with what he knows to be other than himself, and in this union he experiences the results of that fusion. No one can lose what he has saved by detachment from the state where the things experienced have their natural life.”²

Can thinking about and imagining the outcome of something you want to accomplish really make that thing happen? Is it possible to manifest our dreams? Statesman Nelson Mandela said, “The power of imagination created the illusion that my vision went much farther than the naked eye could actually see.”³ And scientist Carl Sagan said, “Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it we go nowhere.”⁴

In his fantastic and wise book, All I Really Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten: Uncommon Thoughts on Common Things, Robert Fulghum wrote, “I believe that imagination is stronger than knowledge. That myth is more potent than history. That dreams are more powerful than facts. That hope always triumphs over experience. That laughter is the only cure for grief. And I believe that love is stronger than death.”⁵

Much more to come on the topic of imagination this year, so stay tuned.

Imagination alone won’t get us everywhere we want to go, nor everything we want to do, but it is the all-important first step. So, take some time to stop and think about your goals and the type of person you want to be.

That is definitely a step in the right direction.

REMEMBER…

◊ The famous artist, Pablo Picasso, said, “Everything you can imagine is real,” and Albert Einstein said, “Logic will get you from A to Z; imagination will get you everywhere.”⁶

◊ Henry David Thoreau stressed that imagination paired with hard work creates an energy that enables manifestation. “The world is a canvas for your imagination,” he wrote, “You are the painter. There are no rules. Get to work.”

◊ Visit davidajolley.com for additional blog posts, other interesting content, and updates on future book releases and appearances.

1. Vonnegut, Kurt, Goodreads, https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/imagination ↩︎
2. Goddard, Neville, The Power of Awareness, ©1952, 1954, Jeremy P. Tarcher/Penguin Publishing, NY, NY. ↩︎
3. Mandela, Nelson, www.brainyquote.com/authors/nelson-mandela-quotes ↩︎
4. Sagan, Carl, www.brainyquote.com/authors/carl-sagan-quotes ↩︎
5. Fulghum, Robert, All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten – Uncommon Thoughts on Common Things, 25^th Anniversary Edition, ©May 4, 2004, Ballantine Books, NY, NY. ↩︎
6. https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/imagination ↩︎