Life is for dreamers

When I was a little girl I had a lot of dreams. I dreamt I'd one day be a famous actress. A psychologist. An author. A doctor. I dreamt of white picket fences and never feared someone might try to fence me in. I knew all about glass slippers and nothing about glass ceilings. At night, I'd climb up the ladder to my top bunk and dreamland without worrying about the corporate ladders I'd one day challenge. When I was a little girl, I was a dreamer.

But, somewhere between make believe and I can't believe this is my life, I lost my dreamer's status. I lost my dreamy outlook on life and packed away the stuff dreams are made of as I sadly stumbled my way through everyday living without a dream to guide me through the dark days and the bright days of my living.

Who am I without my dreams?

Lost. Alone. Uncommitted. To living passionately. Fearlessly. Joyfully. Without my dreams, I stumble through the motions, never looking out for where I'm going. Without my dreams, I keep my eyes cast inward, protecting myself from the pain of feeling the sands of time running through the empty hourglass of my dreams. Without my dreams, I am footloose and fancy free without a goal in mind. I am lost.

Dreams are important. Napoleon Hill wrote, "Cherish your visions and your dreams as they are the children of your soul; the blue prints of your ultimate achievements."

Without dreams we lose our childlike wonder in a world of limitless possibilities. Without our dreams, our souls die with each echoing footstep we take through the empty hallways of what might have been, could have been, should have been, if only... we had dared to dream and dream big.

Thomas Jefferson once said, "I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past."

I like the dream I have today better than the emptiness of yesterday. I like the fact that today I am looking at my dreams and turning them into goals I know I can attain because I believe in my dreams. I believe I can achieve anything my mind can conceive. I believe that with my passion, my fearless attitude and my belief in me, my dreams can come true.

What do you believe? Do you believe in your dreams? Do you believe in you?

Today, I am committed to working on my dream board. I am going to begin the process of creating the life of my dreams on paper so that I can have a clear and distinct picture of where I'm going with my dreams. I've already started the process. I've written down my dreams. Created goals out of the essence of what I want in my life, and put timelines as well as steps to the framework.

Goals are dreams with a timeline. Diana Scharf Hunt

Are you ready to start? Are you willing to begin to colour your world with the brilliant hues of the rainbow. To fill in the blanks of your dreams with vivid pictures that say, This is what I'm striving for. This is where I'm going.

Are you?

Then I invite you to dream board with me. You'll need, scissors, glue, a large piece of poster paper (you know, the kind you used in school to create your displays of The Life of a Bug and Itsy Bitsy Spiders). Get whatever magazines you can find and begin cutting out images. Don't think about the pictures and words. Just cutout whatever you see. Get lots and lots of images and words. If a heading has a word you like, i.e. THE FUTURE OF RATS, and you like the word FUTURE, cut it out. Cut out the symbols you see on pages, as well as the photos. Cut out parts of photos. Just cut everything up and put it into a big pile.

Once you've got your images cut out, sort them into WORDS, HOME, HEALTH, CAREER, PLAY & LEISURE, GOALS, FAMILY, SELF-GROWTH.

Now, turn off the phone, the computer, the beepers -- turn off the electric static of life and tune into the steady quiet beat of your heart. Get comfortable. If you have a CD with soft music -- NARADA has great CDs with sounds of water, or rain, forests, etc. -- Sit quietly and let your mind float. Breathe. In. Out. In. Out. Imagine you're on a raft, floating on a river. The river is calm, serene, deep. The water is warm. You lie on a blanket on the raft. Feel the warm, soft fabric beneath you. Feel the air caress your skin. Let your raft drift on the water's surface. Effortless. Weightless. Let yourself drift into the quiet of the moment. Feel the air. The sun. The gentle breeze. Feel your heart beat. Feel your mind easing into the softness of the day. Breathe deeply. In. Out. In. Out. Let your body ease into peacefulness. Let your mind float on the water surface without effort. Be the peace around you. Give yourself at least 10 minutes to float into the peacefulness at your core.

When you open your eyes, look at the piles of images in front of you. Pick one. Perhaps it's PLAY & LEISURE. Sort through the images and begin to paste the images and words that call to you on your dreamboard.

Don't rush the process. Don't hurry through it. Let your body and mind guide you. Let the quiet be the river carrying your thoughts to the paper. Don't force them. Don't bottle them up. Let them flow.

It may take more than one evening's work (it should take more than one evening's work!). Give yourself the gift of time and space to really create a dreamboard that reflects you and your life and what you want to create in it.

I'll be doing the work with you. I'll be cutting and pasting and dreaming right along side you. Set aside an hour, a half hour, 15 minutes. Whatever the time you commit to creating your dream board, do it. Commit to the time and do it. If all you do tonight is cut out images for an hour, you've created a great start! I keep manila envelopes on hand to hold my sorted pictures as I don't have a space I can leave the 'mess' out day after day.

And remember, dream boarding is a gentle process. It's a gift for you to be able to spend time every day and visually see your dreams come to life on the paper in front of you. While you're working, be aware of your feelings. Are you feeling content? Frustrated? Anxious? Is your mind at peace or is it scurrying about, trying to force the images to appear. Don't criticize your thinking or your work. Breathe. In. Out. Let the process unfold as you unwrap the exquisite beauty of your dreams, as you uncover the beautiful magnificence of the life you are creating.

I'm looking forward to spending some time with you this evening. Happy Dream Boarding!