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"Nothing much happens without a dream. For something really great
to happen, it takes a great dream." Robert Greenleaf
This quote has always been a compelling one. It stops you in your tracks as
you begin to ponder your own life. Do I dare to dream bold dreams
for my own life? Have my dreams gotten lost in the demands of working
over-time, paying bills, caring for aging parents, driving kids
in carpool, or fixing leaky gutters?
Time loses its energy, meaning, and power unless it moves us toward our dreams. Taking the time
to listen to our wishes, dreams, and fantasies opens up our unique
genius, talents, and reasons for being. It's very easy to get "too
busy" for dreams, and when we do, a very special part of us dies.
What Are You Passionate About?
Have you ever thought about the link
between passion and dreams? Where does the passion for life come
from that fuels our dreams? People find passion for their lives
in different arenas. For some people, it's a person-a new friend,
mate, grandchild, or acquaintance that instills in their lives fresh
vitality and meaning. For others, it's the blossoming of a new talent
or interest such as moving to a new city at twenty-seven, buying
and restoring an old house at thirty-seven, learning to tap-dance
at forty-seven, or going on a road trip at seventy-seven.
Passion also comes from a general enthusiasm for life-for learning, for
music, for government reform, and for whatever else might capture
our interest and imagination. People who dream big dreams seem to
live outside the bounds of conventional life. When they tell friends
they want to take up skydiving lessons, they are undaunted by their
friend's warnings that "you're crazy…you will kill yourself." They
have a relentless zeal for changing a law or traveling half-way
around the world to hear a favorite aria sung in its original language.
Plugging into this passion for life is essential to discovering
dreams for our future.
What is your dream or vision for your life?
Is it a practical, fairly easy dream to obtain, or is it a very
challenging vision that falls under the "in your wildest imagination"
category?
Without an inspiring dream, life loses its zest, its purpose,
its energy. Sometimes people become so busy helping others around
them achieve their dreams that they forget to generate any dreams
of their own. In addition, many men and women experience a midlife
crisis as they reach or fail to reach certain goals, then suddenly
realize that old age is fast approaching. They may either foolishly
try to recreate their youth or reestablish new and meaningful dreams
for the second half of their life.
Dreams and Purpose for Living
Viktor Frankl, a Jewish psychiatrist, discovered during his four-year
imprisonment in a Nazi concentration camp that of the prisoners
who escaped the gas chambers, those who had a life purpose (or dream)
were far more likely to survive. Those who didn't died. Bernie Siegel,
a surgeon and teacher at Yale Medical School and oncologist Carl
Simonton also report that having a meaningful purpose is a primary
factor for patients who successfully recover from cancer. In a field
called psychoneuroimmunology, we are learning that just thinking
vividly about an exciting dream or goal and imaging it as complete
with all its benefits can cause our body to create hormones (such
as endorphins) that balance our immune system, counter stress, and
seem to create new energy. Test this idea by recalling which people,
in your own experience, have the most dynamic energy and health.
Do they have a dream and does it seem to energize them? Is their
dream contagious to others around them? Martin Luther King's "I
have a dream" speech is a wonderful example of this quality.
In addition, dreaming is a safe way to test options for the future.
"If you can dream it, you can do it," said Walt Disney. In a film
clip from her early childhood, Sarah Hughes declared that she would
one day be standing on the top podium at the Olympics. A childish
fantasy? She didn't think so. She worked and played hard for years
to get to the Olympics. Then, she completed seven triple jumps on
her way to a nearly flawless performance, dazzling the world and
winning the gold!
Going to Work versus Getting to Make a Difference
Something profound shifted in me when I realized that I could do
work to earn a living or I could use the same time and energy to
invest my gifts into making the world a better place. The main difference
was how I thought about what I was doing and how much deep thinking
I had done around what I want to do with my life. By setting aside
time regularly to imagine the future and ask where I want to be
in five to ten years, and what I want my life to contribute to others,
I have significantly changed the way I think about each day, each
task, each challenge. I have discovered that even the most menial
event can be done as a chore or as a way to give back to others.
Learning to do everything as though those I love and respect were
watching has changed the way I work and live. Before I learned to
set aside the time to journal, plan and dream, I did a lot of going
through the motions and/or rationalizing and procrastinating especially
about work I didn't enjoy. I spent a great deal of energy dreading
certain parts of my work and getting by with the least amount of
discomfort, when I could have been fully alive. For me, having a
calling is less about what I do than how I do it. It's about learning
to fully engage both my head and my heart as I choose to bring my
best to each day. And as a result, I have learned to change my attitude
and look forward to most workdays. Sure the world is not rosy and
there are plenty of tough challenges in any job or day. Yet now
I realize that my opportunity to serve is about finding respectful,
creative ways to confront those challenges so that all benefit or
are well served. Learning to keep big dreams alive and working in
my life continues to make a big difference for me.
The Magic "Ten" List
Several years ago, we began making personal lists and business
lists of ten outrageous dreams. Then to our amazement, most of them
came true. We learned that writing them down and keeping them before
us energized and focused us. Some never happen but become like stepping-stones
to move us toward other horizons.
There is something very powerful about writing down your dreams. For one thing, they become more
real. The journey starts with acknowledgement. We make ourselves
take a position, claim what we truly want. We are so influenced
by a victim culture, it is just much safer never to define what
we want. That way, we can whine and complain when we never really
get to live the life we want.
The other, almost magical thing about
writing down dreams is that possibilities begin to appear that we
never saw before. There is phenomenon called "scotoma" that can
help us understand this. If we decide that we want to find a vacant
building to rent for a new small business venture, we begin to notice
signs on our morning drive route that we never noticed before. Were
they always there? Probably. Why did we not see them? We learn to
subconsciously filter out any data that we don't really need. So
when we actually tell our brain to start looking for a way for our
dreams to start happening, we begin to see data to help us.
As an experiment, try your hand at capturing your own special dream list.
Make a list of ten things you would really like to have happen in
the next few years in your life. Be bold. Don't let money, circumstance,
current job position, geography or other potential barriers hold
you back. Next, put the list somewhere you can see it each day.
Begin thinking about small steps you can take to make the dreams
a reality. If you dream of owning a sailboat, begin by buying sailing
books and magazines and enjoying them for a few minutes each day.
Go to a lake or bay and watch sailboats sail for the afternoon.
Do some networking and find an acquaintance who might invite you
sailing. Learn all you can about what you might like to buy. Start
a savings account for "the dream boat."
Whether your dream is taking an unforgettable journey on the Orient Express or moving to Hawaii,
entertain yourself each day with vivid images as though they have
come true in the best possible ways. Hold your dreams in your mind
and heart and enjoy the new energy and fun they will bring to you.
For additional information about Creating Your Dreams…
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