Recently there was a special tour in Inventionland for a Carnegie Mellon professor who designs workspaces and studies the behavioral effects of the work environment on the employee. It was amazing to see his reaction to our design space. He was so inspired that that he invited me to experience something new and interesting at Carnegie Mellon University’s Entertainment Technology Center.

I had no idea what to expect while sitting in the hushed auditorium with hundreds of other curious guests. Then, a professor walked onstage and explained he had instructed his students one year ago to come up with a seemingly impossible idea, then “go and chase it.”

The students had come a long way while chasing their impossible dreams over the past year, he said. Ok, I thought… but how far could they get?

One by one, the students unveiled these amazing technological dreams they had created in the wonderland of their minds. All these outrageous visions were coming to life, and almost all of them worked.

They celebrated one that did not work but pushed the boundary farther than ever before. A vision that was about 80 percent successful won the coveted award.

What had grown and taken shape from the seeds of ideas in the minds of the students a year ago amazed me. One presentation used audience members to demonstrate how electronic games or educational programs can be made interactive using shadows. A young man in the audience was called on stage to test a game, in which he convincingly wrestled with a character on the screen.

Then, the whole audience got into the act. We were all leaning to one side and then the other to direct the non-stop action – it was wild! CMU is pushing that boundary – to explore the wonderland of the mind.

Just as they do after seeing Inventionland for the first time, people walked away from the event at CMU inspired and invigorated. I know I was. They got kids interacting with all this electronic technology the world’s never seen before.

The mind truly is a creative wonderland. When you are challenged to use yours to its full potential, it will take you places you once only dreamed of – places that your physical body will gladly follow.

I live by this every day, and I know firsthand what wondrous and surprising things can happen when your mind is open to creativity – impossible dreams can become reality.