When I lived in Toronto, there was a TV commercial for the nation’s lottery, the 649. Its tagline was simple yet alluring: “Just Imagine.” Just imagine what you could do if you won millions in the lottery.
My family and I often played along, dreaming aloud about the possibilities. My husband and I still do. What would we do if we won the lottery? While some of the details of our dreams differ, the essence remains the same—we would feel free. Free to explore our passions, free from financial obligations, and free to create the life we truly want.
While winning the lottery is a long shot, the act of imagining it offers something far more tangible and accessible. What that imagination does is reveal what’s truly important to us, what we value most deeply. When we allow ourselves to imagine a great life, unencumbered by everyday constraints, we gain clarity about the ingredients necessary to make that life a reality—lottery win or not.
Of course, winning the lottery would be amazing. There’s no denying that. But if we look deeper into those dreams, a pattern emerges. It’s rarely about material possessions; it’s about creating a life that feels aligned with our values and what truly matters.
For me, imagining that life often centres around my family. I’d bring my parents closer to me geographically and ensure my brother and his family would never have to worry about finances.
These dreams aren’t just about helping the ones I love—they reflect what I need: connection, time with the people I love, and the peace of mind that comes from knowing they’re cared for.
Imagination as a Gateway to Inner Wisdom
Imagination isn’t just a way to pass the time or escape reality. It’s not frivolous. It’s a powerful tool—a gateway to inner wisdom. Through imagination, we uncover what’s calling to us and gain insight into what might be missing in our current way of living.
This isn’t about fast cars, luxury holidays, or mansions with champagne on tap. Those things may be nice, but when the champagne runs out, what’s left? What do we actually want? Often, our deepest desires are about connection, freedom, and a sense of meaning and purpose.
Visualisation is a form of imagination—a way of stepping into a mental image and cultivating belief. Athletes do it, performers do it, and anyone who wants to get into the right frame of mind to succeed does it. That image carries an emotional charge, a feeling that permeates every part of our body and directs energy to where it’s needed most. When we inhabit that energy, we take up space in the world unapologetically and focus on what truly matters to us.
Trusting Our Inner Voice
The accomplished producer Pharrell Williams once told me in an interview, "that kid that's daydreaming, that's the next book or building. That's where all the great stuff comes from." Children instinctively know the power of imagination. Their inner wisdom guides them effortlessly. But as we grow older, we begin to suppress that wisdom. We let the opinions of others take up valuable real estate in our minds and squeeze out our own. We stop trusting ourselves.
So, when we dare to let our minds wander, even for a moment, we often chastise ourselves. “Stop being silly,” we think. “Be realistic.” But realism, as it’s often defined, can keep us trapped in a life that feels hollow. Instead of dismissing these moments of mental freedom, consider them as a gateway to something more meaningful—something beyond the limits of “realistic” expectations. Allow yourself the space to explore without judgment, knowing that even small insights can open the door to big change.
The next time you’re walking the dog, doing the laundry, or making dinner, try this: let your mind wander. Ask yourself simple questions like:
What do I value most in my life right now, and why?
When do I feel most alive and fulfilled? What am I doing in those moments?
If I could design a perfect day, what would it look like?
What activities or people energise me, and which ones drain me?
What have I done in the past week (or month) that felt deeply meaningful or satisfying?
What would I do if I knew I couldn’t fail?
How would I describe a “good life” in three words?
What is one small step I can take today toward a life that feels more fulfilling?
You don't have to answer all of these questions in one sitting. Simply allowing yourself to mull over one or even two can ignite something inside you. A feeling that is worth exploring further with a simple action.
A Personal Realisation
When I was a little girl, I remember being at a friend’s house for a playdate. Her parents were expats living in Hong Kong so they were living in a beautiful part of the island where there was so much greenery. And it was quiet. I could hear the gentle rustle of the leaves and see the softness of the sunshine weaving into the rooms. I remember it so well like it was yesterday. I remember that that was how I wanted to live—amidst the quiet greenery where I could actually hear nature sing. I was maybe 5 or 6 years old and that feeling stayed with me.
This feeling would become the core of my imagination when I would daydream about how I would live if I won the lottery. I would feel so frustrated when I felt my life veering away from that dream—even despite the amazing success I had on the surface. Until I was forced to stop—through redundancy because I sure as hell wouldn’t have stopped on my own. And here’s the thing, when I was forced to stop I didn’t jump right back onto that same track. Something inside me just wouldn’t let me. I tried to rationalise it. I called it many things including burnout which, to some extent, it was.
I like to think of myself as a fairly rational person but this time logic and rationale went out the window. I didn’t want to have anything to do with them because logic and rationale would dictate that I would have to jump right back on to that train out of fear of being left behind along with everything that I had built that was deemed “successful” by the outside world.
When I gave myself the space and the time to consider my next move what was so clear to me was that the quiet I had longed for since I was 5, was the only path I needed to take. This wasn’t about languishing in a country estate or retreat. This was about a radical shift in everything I knew to be true including how I wanted to live and how I wanted to work. Those days when I would sit in my London flat looking out my window and imagining the open space beyond the terraced houses in front of me was my inner wisdom nudging me to consider how I had been living.
Choosing Your Hard
I know what you’re thinking—that not everyone can just upsticks and move to the countryside as there are “real life” obligations and responsibilities. Trust me, I thought about all of those things and still do at times. But I have now built a life from which I don’t necessarily need a vacation. Every day I wake up I feel I am exactly where I am meant to be. Are there struggles and worries about bills and the future? Hell yes! I am human after all. But I know I am solving them from a place of peace rather than a place of angst, anxiety, and a general dissatisfaction of living a life that looks great on paper but actually is far from it on the inside.
Bruce Lipton, author of The Biology of Belief, writes: “You know why it’s hard to be happy? It’s because we refuse to let go of the things that make us sad.”
When we’re caught in the rat race, reacting to life instead of intentionally designing it, we avoid quiet moments of reflection because they might reveal our dissatisfaction. If we see what is causing us such distress and we don’t do anything about it, then what exactly are we doing?
Yet, it’s in those quiet moments, when we don’t run away or distract ourselves, that our inner wisdom speaks. As Suzy Welch, professor of management at the NYU Stern School of Business says, "you have to get existential before you get tactical."
It isn’t always easy. It takes courage and it forces us to make tough choices. It takes being brave amidst the judgement of others who don’t understand what you’re doing or why you’re doing it. But I’d rather face the challenges that come with staying true to myself than those that arise from letting others dictate my life. As Prof Steve Peters, author of The Chimp Paradox, says: “If someone’s in a good place, nothing touches them. If someone’s not in a good place, anything can touch them.”
Imagination as a Starting Point
Being honest about my values and aligning my life with them has helped me get to a good place. And it all began with imagining a life that felt true to me. The power of imagination isn't about disregarding logic or practicality; rather, it’s about creating a foundation for envisioning possibilities and tapping into deeper insights that guide us toward the life we want—logically and practically.
Our internal visions, the dreams we may have dismissed, can guide us toward meaningful change. Even if we don’t win the lottery, there’s great power in understanding the why behind our dreams and what we value most.
There is a reason why everyone loves Pixar films. They are born from someone's imagination. As adults, these films tap into a part of us we force to lay dormant out of a need to "be realistic" or "logical" in life. But it's that part of us that is the essence of what makes us who we are on a fundamentally pure level. It makes us feel alive. All of life's great art, novels, ideas and inventions didn't just come out of a need, they came from someone's imagination and I'm sure the architects of those inventions and dreamers of those great ideas would have been told in the beginning they were crazy. It's the same for when we are imagining our own lottery life.
Here's the thing, we only have this one life. We may have just 4000 weeks to live from the time we are born to around 80 if we're lucky. Imagining what that life could be isn't a tall ask. And taking small, simple steps to get closer to that feeling of what that life looks and feels like isn't moving mountains but it's worth every minute.
Remember, logic is limited by pre-defined parameters. Logic "will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere”. Don’t take it from me. Take it from one of the most influential scientists of our time who said those words in the first place--Albert Einstein.
So just imagine...
Monita xo
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