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Guest Author Terry Weaver

Jeff asked me to share something with you and I started to write something and then I thought of Dr. Disneyland himself telling his Park Bench moment and thought I would share a section from my book:

Making Elephants Fly: Getting your Dreams Off the Ground.”

You can get your copy own copy at http://terryweaver.com/mef

On a getaway celebrating our anniversary, I found myself at Disneyland sitting on a park bench waiting on my wife in the restroom. This is a practice that I am all too familiar with.

As I sat there on that park bench gazing at the beauty of the parks, the families laughing, the balloons being sold, the smell of cotton candy, Pluto greeting guests, the trolley bringing guests into the park, I thought, “Wow, none of this would have happened had Walt Disney not sat on a park bench and stopped.” Think about that for a minute. There would be no Disneyland, or Walt Disney World had he not sat down to enjoy his family and rest on a park bench. I have bought into the lie so many times that you have to be busy to create amazing things. If Walt was in the office that day, the happiest place on earth would not exist.

Walt Disney was spending an afternoon with his daughters, Diane and Sharon, at the carousel at Griffith Park in Los Angeles, sitting on a park bench, and thought that families needed a place to spend time together. So sitting there on that park bench, he dreamed up the idea for “Mickey Mouse Park,” which later became known as Disneyland. The bench is on display when you enter Disneyland. It may have all started with a mouse, but Disneyland started with a bench.

Had Walt put a film or creating another project before his family, you would not be able to splash on a mountain, no one would have told you that there is a great big beautiful tomorrow waiting for you, you would have never known that there are pirates in the Caribbean, you would never be able to eat corn dogs and then put yourself on spin cycle in a spinning teacup, or you may never have known that it was a small world after all.

Amazing things happen when we hit the pause button…if even for a moment. I had to come to a realization that as much as I would like to be, I am not a super hero. Which is good news because that means you will never have to see me in spandex. Bad news…I don’t have a cape, but it doesn’t mean that I can’t do what others thought wasn’t possible. Almost every great idea I have ever had came from a time where I paused.

Sadly, many times we get stuck on pause and never put into action what we heard in the silence. It’s not enough just to pause and dream. Anyone can do that. Walt Disney has taught me that some people sit on park benches and dream up the impossible, but some get off the bench and do the impossible! Today, pause and sit on a park bench. Dream up the impossible, then go and do it.

Jeff & Terry onstage at the Indy Disney Meet Fall 2019

Terry Weaver is a renowned speaker and ideapreneur from Nashville TN. He has spent the last 25 years helping others take their talents, gifts, and ideas to another level and accomplish the things they were meant to do. On his popular podcast, Making Elephants Fly he interviews leaders and creatives from Disney Imagineers, Circus Performers, and lots of Best Selling Authors. It’s pretty clear that Terry believes that the impossible is actually possible. He lives outside Nashville, Tennessee along with his wife Leslie with their miniature schnauzer, Walt. You can get Terry’s book, listen to his podcast, and find out more at http://terryweaver.com