How to use your mind and imagination to take a vacation or generate creative ideas for your business
IT'S SUMMER VACATION TIME How long has it been since you've had a vacation? I mean a real vacation. Webster defines vacation as: a period away from work or home for the purpose of recreation. Technology has made our work easier. This should give us more leisure time. In fact, just the opposite seems to have happened. While technology has made much of our work easier and more efficient, it has also made it possible for us to work twenty-four hours a day from wherever we happen to be. Many of us take our work with us wherever we go via our laptop and cell phone.

Let's look at the definition of vacation again: a period away from work or home for the purpose of recreation. When we think of recreation, we think of activities which we enjoy such as golf, tennis, bike riding, sailing, spending time at a hobby or attending a ball game. Many of us, while we think about doing those things, find it difficult to set aside the time we would like to pursue them.

What if we were to think of recreation as re-creation, meaning creating again. Getting out of your everyday environment and placing yourself in different surroundings can trigger the mind to create new ideas. If you are sitting on the beach watching the waves and the seagulls rather than sitting in your office, your mind may generate different thoughts. If you hold a business meeting in a park filled with playing children rather than in the boardroom, you may get a different outlook on the issues being discussed.

By taking our mind off work issues and focusing on simply enjoying a game of golf or a ball game, we allow our minds to be open to sudden spurts of genius. Some call them lightbulb

Meditation relaxes the body, releases stress and renews energy. Getting out of our normal working environment renews our spirit and can charge our spirit. If you really find it impossible to get away for a few days, how about fifteen minutes? Just as we can do business anytime, anywhere, we can take a vacation anytime, anywhere through the process of meditation and creative visualization.

There are many audio tapes which have soothing sounds such as the ocean, birds chirping, waterfalls, etc. Put yourself in a quiet, relaxing surroundings, close your eyes and let your imagination take you to a faraway destination. Add a second dimension by using an aromatic candle.

If you want a visual experience, take a few moments of uninterrupted time to watch a video or look at pictures of a favorite geographic area. Let your mind create the vacation of your dreams. Close your eyes. See yourself on that African safari. What are the smells? What do you taste? Watch yourself climbing that mountain. What are you feeling in your body? What do you smell and taste?

It's summer time. It's vacation time. It's time for re-creation. Where will your imagination take you?

About the Author

Sandra Weaver is a motivational speaker and seminar leader. Her focus is helping businesses and individuals create the success they define for themselves. She demonstrates how to use the tools of thinking, imagining and choosing to overcome fear and move forward with confidence and commitment.