When we use our imagination to project our aspirations (or our worst fears) onto the future we're doing more than just daydreaming. We're leveraging the radical power of hope (or despair, as the case may be) to chart a course into the future of our choosing. The direction we're facing is the road we'll travel, so it matters where we set our gaze.
Vision galvanizes us with conviction when we set our sights on a hoped-for thing and navigate toward it with clarity and purpose. People with a vision don't need bosses to direct us - we see where we're going, and we move in the direction of our goals and dreams with empowerment and autonomy.
Here's what vision looks like in practice:
- Setting clear goals for ourselves and reviewing them regularly as they become real.
- Paying attention to where we are historically and charting a course into the future that's good for humanity as a whole.
- Becoming mindful of mass media as one input source among many, centering our own capacity to imagine solutions beyond its influence.
- Paying attention to the impact we have on others and prioritizing stewardship over self-seeking or self-sacrifice.
Vision is how we transmute the choices we make based on our inner compass into practical steps along the road toward making them real. When we cultivate vision, we move away from anxiety and fear into a world of abundant possibility.
