Challenge Day #25

Walt Disney

Most winter Sunday nights my family would gather around the fireplace in our house – sometimes roasting hotdogs over the fire and watch The Wonderful World of Disney.  The only other show I can remember us all watching together on a regular basis was Bonanza.  I loved those nights sitting at the black TV tray with the painted flowers and seeing what adventure Walt would take us on that week.   

In 1968 my family moved to California and every weekend for six weeks in a row we went to Disneyland. Mostly because friends or family came to visit, but also because my father’s company had an event at the park.  I’ve always felt a strong connection to Disney it may have something to do with the fact that I was born in 1955 the same year the Disneyland opened in Anaheim California. Perhaps it was because the only movie my father ever took me to, just the two of us, was Old Yeller. Maybe because, Disney also produced my favorite movie of all time Pollyanna.  For whatever reason I loved Disney.  When the movie Saving Mr. Banks came out I went the day it opened. 

When watching The Wonderful World of Disney I especially loved when we got to go behind the scenes.  Either behind what was happening in the park or especially when Walt would show us about how they made the movies.  The creative process has always peeked my interest.  So when Glenn Smith and I began to develop and refine the Transformational Life Skills we taught in the jail I started thinking again about all those nights as  kid I was taken behind the scenes to watch the creative process. 

For me there was no better teacher than Walt Disney a man who had not only been creative but brought his creations to life for the pleasure of so many.  Although he did not invent the term Walt is usually credited with the term imagineering.  It was the term he used to describe his creative team - imagineers.   What I love about this word and the man who brought it to life for me is that it is both art and science combined. 

First you imagine (art) and then you engineer (science) and best of all you act as if it already exists.  Imagineering is not an idle process it doesn’t just say come up with some great dreams it implies that ideas are only great when they come to fruition.  Adding to the power of imagineering happens when you act as if it already exists.  When you operate from this perspective you are in a continuous process of creating yourself and the world around you.  Wow! 

Those of you familiar with the four life skills we teach, Letting Go, Imagineering, Mindfulness and Healthy Self-evaluation can understand why Disney and the creative process go hand and hand in my mind. Much of the BE-Print; Drafting Your Personal Blueprint for Living book is about how you can begin to imagneer the life of your dreams.  If you are interested in some i

magineering exercises I highly recommend the book The Imagineering Workout by the Disney Imagineers. If you want to begin to imagineer your life feel free to email for a copy of the BE-Print book.