What would happen if we not only took our dreams more seriously as if they were eventual reality, but also made time for them regularly giving them ‘air time’ and breathing life into them? I’ll tell you what would happen… those dreams would become your life in the near future that eventually arrives. This is exactly what happened for one of my clients this week only a few short years later after talking about, planning for, taking action on, and progressing toward the dream vision for his life and career. He shared exuberantly, ‘I’m there, I’ve arrived at the peak of what I envisioned, this is it, I’ve done it.”
After our call, it left me in awe and also reflecting that what he had started in the pandemic a little under 3 years ago, had led him to achieving 2 milestones that were originally only expressed thoughts and ideas for the future, but were now his reality. This is one of the great joys of working with clients long term as I get to see where they have led themselves and their progress toward their life goals and dreams.
Of course like many of us do, I then reflected and assessed on where I was at with my dreams and wondered to myself if I was keeping them alive? Perhaps you can relate as I realized that man I have made a lot of progress and really made some life changing transitions where milestones that once felt far off had now become my current reality; however, even with this progress, I was asking myself, ‘Am I keeping my big dreams alive and if I am, do I actively pursue them giving them consistent time and energy?’
Do we arrive at a life goal or dream we have and then does it fade into a new one as we consistently find ourselves and our way as perpetual evolutionary beings?
Before I go on to share my newly weekly commitment to have a ‘date with my dreams’, i think its important to address the elephant in the room when it comes to the dichotomy of a mindset many of us struggle with around: our lives, happiness, acceptance, gratitude, and wanting or seeking more.
Here’s the first part of the dichotomy: when life is challenging, and let’s face it none of us can avoid the blessings of struggle as its part of the human experience, sometimes the most peaceful and mindful practice you can have, is to accept what is, rather than fight it. When we accept, we let go of the extra struggle and pain of fighting what is. Then we are told to be grateful and practice gratitude which is an extraordinary habit that can raise our energetic vibration and more importantly ward of a negative mindset. We absolutely need acceptance and gratitude especially when life gets tough.
Just this week i saw a video of a an elderly woman sharing her wisdom around, ‘don’t wait to be happy when’, as she went on to share that we need to let joy in now as we will always have ‘whens’, but we only have today. So, we must not postpone joy where we attach it to some future condition that limits letting us experience happiness in the now. We must embrace happiness in the todays, the now, in everything that is in this moment. This is so important and it brings us completely into the present moment which is a great way to live.
Yet, our dreams and goals for the future or even the desire of wanting something more, live in our future.
Here comes the second part of the dichotomy… as I hung up the Zoom call with my client who had arrived at his apex, I thought to myself, “Am I ambitious enough? I need to be more ambitious. I need to fight for, pursue, go after my dreams and not accept the present day reality for my future destiny.”
The dichotomy we need to be aware of is this pendulum or teeter totter balance of being too accepting of what is versus driving our dreams forward with an ambitious excitement of their eventual existence; an existence that is our dream life meant to be lived by us in the future.
My clients future started in the pandemic and now on the other side, he is at the apex of what he had set forth for his reality. As he said, he has arrived. Although all our timelines will be different depending on our dreams and how far along we are toward them, the point is that what we dream, start, and pursue today is creating our tomorrows; these tomorrows come sooner than we can grasp.
So, I ask you now, where have you been on this pendulum of ‘accepting peacefully’ what is with gratitude versus ‘actively, ambitiously’ keeping your dreams alive? This is an important question because first of all, your dreams need to be alive, not asleep or tucked away in a place that is only revealed when circumstances are just so. Second of all, as great as acceptance is, have you been too accepting at the cost of not allowing your future dreams airtime that would breathe life into them for the future you desire?
If you have been a bit too accepting or if your dreams have been lying dormant inside you, this is your wake up call. Put that oxygen mask on your dreams. What do you need to do to give your dreams ‘air’ so they can come alive today, not tomorrow or someday?
If we used the word ‘airtime’ literally and you were to have a conversation with your dreams or an interview with them as if they were going live on a podcast, what would they say and what might be expressed that just hasn’t had time or space to be explored?
I get it more than you know that life happens, priorities, needs, family demands, and loss or failure pull us into the dreaded zone of reality and present day circumstances; however, unless you are okay with your destiny being today’s circumstances, your dreams need some CPR to jump start a future that excites you where you are living your dreams.
This leads me to what I am going to be doing to keep my dreams alive and I challenge you to make some kind of similar commitment that works for you. I am committing to have a date with my dreams weekly.
When I say a date, that’s not just a date on a calendar, but an official ‘date’. When we go on a date, there is an exciting energy around it and a commitment to be present, make it special; it’s a time out where we create an experience with someone or in this case, our dreams and future.
Are you up for the challenge and are you in this with me? Let’s keep our dreams alive.
Breathe air and life into your dreams. Now over to you and your date with your dreams!
I would love to hear how it goes for you.
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