Imagination is the ability to form images or scenarios in your mind's eye of things that don't exist, or to see thing that do exist in a different way. In your imagination you can be anything you want to be, go anywhere you want to go and do anything you desire. There are no obstacles or limits in your imagination, absolutely anything and everything is possible.

Imagination isn't only limited to visual images. You can also imagine smells, sounds tastes, feelings, emotions and physical sensations.

It is imagination that has allowed mankind to invent and develop everything that has ever been invented, from the first wheel through to the latest spacecraft. It is imagination that has brought about the great works of art and music; scientific developments; and incredible works of architecture and engineering, from the ancient wonders of the worlds, to the super skyscrapers of today. It is also through imagination that we can watch hundreds of TV channels in our homes, listen to thousands of songs on our iPods, and why you can read this article on your computer, to mention but a few of the now more commonplace technological advances that continue to change our lives.

Ever single achievement in the history of mankind was a thought in the mind of someone before it become reality

We all use our imagination everyday of our lives, even if we don't think about it. You may not use it to the same degrees as people involved in some of the above mentioned developments, but even in the most mundane job, you will be required to use you imagination to a degree.

When dealing with problems and the things we face in everyday life we automatically use our imagination. You also use your imagination when planning a social gathering, a weekend away, a meal you want to cook, your annual vacation, when buying clothes, and countless other ways.

Creativity and imagination go hand in hand and we are all born with strong powers of imagination and creativity. You only have to think about yourself as a child, or look at children playing together and see the endless things they come up with to keep themselves amused. Even when alone, children are able to create fantasy worlds or even imaginary friends that are very real to them. Children also have natural curiosity and want to know how things work and why.

Through the process of growing up these natural abilities are usually suppressed as we are told to 'act our age' or 'grow up' and so on, and the imagination and the creativity we are born with can be all but lost as we are made to face realities of life and be more responsible.

Tests have been carried out that rated 95% of children between the ages of 3 and 5 as highly creative. When the same children were tested as teenagers, only 5% were considered highly creative.

Education does not generally encourage original thinking, as conformity is expected and usually enforced. Peer group pressure and the need to be accepted and liked also take their toll on our creativity.

It's an accepted scientific fact that most people only ever use a small fraction of the capacity of their brains. This figure has been calculated by some experts to be as low as 1%! Experts don't seem to be able to put an accurate figure on the capacity of the average human brain, but the complexity of our brain appears to be beyond anything we could actually believe or even imagine. All brain researchers agree that we have virtually unlimited mental abilities. When you think about it, it really is incredible that we have this amount of unused brain power.

Worse still, when we get into the habits of not stretching our mental abilities they'll no longer work as well as they used to, just as our physical muscles will atrophy through lack of use. A simple example of this is the number of people who now automatically use a calculator for even the most basic calculations.

But the great news is, that although this happens to most of us, it doesn't mean that our ability to use our imagination is gone forever. It's never too late to rediscover the creative abilities we were all born with.

Many people may consider themselves to be not very imaginative or creative, but the reality is that we all have the ability to be more much creative if we really want to and are prepared to put in some effort.

'The man who has no imagination has no wings.' - Muhammad Ali