I was always a dreamer. I had lofty dreams, big ideas and absolutely no way to rationally figure out how or if any of them were going to come to fruition. When I was in elementary school, I dreaded report card day. I wasn’t a particularly good student. Not terrible, but not good. The fact is most of what was taught in school was of no interest to me. I mean, what was the point of learning Texas History? I knew the most important story. Everyone died in the Alamo.

I got by. But I always knew that when I came home with my report card there would be a rather stern “discussion” about my grades. I couldn’t walk home slowly enough. Eventually I would have to go inside and eventually my step-father would come home. It was torture. It was shame.

My mother blamed herself. I was put in school a year early because my mother thought I was so smart. Well, I don’t think my issues had anything to do with my intelligence. But the day that report cards came out was cause of major tension at my house.

As if that wasn’t enough, grades were not the only concern my parents had. The grades were listed on the right side of the card. English, math, history, science, physical education. They were all listed. And I passed, for the most part. (I even did well as I got into junior high and high school.) But on the left side of the card was “Deportment.” These didn’t require a grade, only a check mark if the term applied to you.

Tardy: No check. I was pretty good about being on time.

Copies others: Okay, occasionally that would get a check mark, but I was quite astute about monitoring the eye lines of my teachers, so it didn’t get checked very often.

Talks back: I was polite, so that never applied, though it didn’t mean that I wasn’t full out screaming in my mind.

Whispers too much: That was about a 50/50 possibility, but, hey, I’m all about communication.

And then the one that ALWAYS got checked. Daydreams too much!

Yep, they had me on that one. I would stare out the window let my mind wonder, occasionally pulling it back into giving the class attention. I was the Walter Middy of my elementary school. I had a rich inner life, did amazing things, had incredible adventures and traveled the world.

I have come to appreciate that more and more, and I am actually quite proud of earning that check mark. Because now, I have come to understand that what I was doing is so powerful. I was a creator. I didn’t know to call it that, but I do now.

Now I learn how to do that from the masters. And I teach it. To think is to create!

It’s all about the pause. We need to get lost in the reverie. Contemplate. Ponder. Feel the emotion of our desires manifesting. Knowing that we create our life that way, by marrying emotion to thought, by using our imagination to expand and enrich our lives, these are the ways we create lives worth living.

So what would the world be like if children were all given the assignment to imagine, with gusto, what they want for themselves. To see themselves as having it and to believe that it has already happened and enjoy the process of seeing it manifest? What an amazing shift we would have in joy on the planet.

I think it would be awesome if, on the deportment side, there was a place to check EXCELS IN CREATING!  Or INDULGES IN REVERIE!  It may take Texas a while to catch up, so I think I’ll give them a boost by daydreaming it into reality.

Ramey Warren

Ramey Warren : Media Savvy“I’ve always been fascinated by how celebrity weaves its magic spell on us all. Turning the chemistry of talent into a positive media personality is an art form.”

A native of Texas, Ramey Warrenwas destined to think big. Her career in the realm of celebrity began on a grand scale working with the parade of entertainers and stars that passed through The Tonight Show during Johnny Carson’s reign. Her experience there introduced her to practically every celebrity on the planet and drummed into every cell the importance of media exposure – “the right kind of media exposure” – in moving a performer’s career forward.

Ramey moved forward herself, to talk and lifestyle series on Fox and ABC, and created and produced shows for Paramount, NBC, Universal and Twentieth Television. She also developed series for Fine Living, HGTV and Style.