"Why Are There So Many Songs About Rainbows...

...and what's on the other side. Rainbows are visions, but only illusions, and rainbows have nothing to hide. So we've been told and some choose to believe it, I know they're wrong, wait and see. Someday we'll find it, the rainbow connection. The lovers, the dreamers and me. All of us under it's spell, we know that it's probably magic..." (The Rainbow Connection)

Such a simple thing, rainbows. Simply the sun shining on small droplets of moisture in our atmosphere. Yet, they stand for so much more...they really are, almost a realization of dreams and imagination.

You show a kid a rainbow, and more than likely that either from school or from stories, their first instinct is to search for the end of the rainbow, looking for that pot of gold. It becomes an adventure, trying to figure out where it ends, where it begins, and why it's even there. It allows kids to dream this big adventure, to imagine everything that could happen.

A kids imagination is far bigger and more expansive than yours or mine I am sure. They come up with ideas that are far more incredible, far more magical and their dreams are far more fantastical and phenomenal. Yet it seems that there comes a point where this never ending imagination just ceases. Sure we all have brief moments of an insane genius imagination, but the are few and far between.

Why is that? Personally, I think a lot has to do with the boundaries that are placed on us. Boundaries and restriction and limitations, set by everyone from government to management to parents to advisers, etc.

How many of you out there remember being a young kid, and every week you wanted to be something completely different when you grew up? A veterinarian, a firefighter, an actor, a dancer, and list can go on and on. When we were six, seven and eight, that was great! Or how many of you, when you were asked "What do you want to be when you grow up?" knew the answer plus every other detail of your future life.

But as we got older we started to hear the "What are you planning to do with your life?" and "What do you really want to be when you grow up? questions. These are the questions that begin to limit our imagination. And now, "grown up" how many of you, when planning a project at work, or planning at home, are limited by restrictions put upon you. It's these limitation that hinder us. They don't allow us to use imagination to our full potential.

I guess what I am saying with this post, is try not to lose that inner child. Find ways, to keep the imagination and creativity alive. Granted, this is much easier if you have kids, but if not there are ways to. I don't have kids (yet) but I find ways, whether through hanging out with my friends kids, or cousins, or just occasionally going to the toy store, just because.