I have a dream…
How often have you heard that line from Martin Luther King’s speech?
It’s a powerful statement.
It’s powerful and at the same time vulnerable. Sharing your dream means that you not only have clarity around what that dream may be, but also that by speaking it or writing it down, you have brought it from your elusive, ever shifting inner world, that only you have access to, into our 3-D reality that others can witness.
How connected are you to your dreaming? Do you allow yourself time to access and cultivate it? Or does it seem like a waste of time and unrealistic?
I remember as a young teenager often being reprimanded in school for not paying attention, for staring into space, spending time in my inner world rather than being present to my outer world. However, this inner world has often been much more compelling and inspiring than what is happening around me. Being able to access my dreams and connect to my desires allowed me to create my unique and amazing life that I am excited to inhabit.
So, I keep happily dreaming away…
Do you?
I find it fascinating that we have this capacity. While I know animals dream as well, we humans are unique in being able to access that ability not only in our sleep, but at will in our waking state.
Not only is dreaming an enjoyable activity, but it actually is part of our evolutionary life force. It serves as an instigator to internally connect with something that lies beyond our current capacity and abilities. Dreaming invites us to stretch and move beyond our comfort zone, beyond what is familiar and thereby mobilizes our courage to take action towards fulfilling our desire. We carry endless supplies of dreams, there is always a new one waiting.
So, what is your relationship with dreaming?
Do you go through all the 5 steps required to realize your dreams?
- Do you regularly allow yourself some quiet time to dream? Bombarded as we are with so much external distraction, it becomes more challenging all the time to find the quiet places that allow some form of dialogue with your internal world.
- When something arises, do you allow yourself to feel, to see how it resonates within your body? When we take a dream and connect to it emotionally, it turns into a desire that we can then act on.
- Do you claim your dream consciously? Yes, I want that!?
- Do you bring your desire into 3-D reality by writing about it, sharing it or expressing it visually in some form?
- And finally, the crucial step: do you move into taking action towards that dream? With any dreams and desires we have, it may often be unclear how to do it, because it’s new and different, there is no pathway but we are bushwhacking into unknown – at least to us – territory.
This last step is crucial. It’s the place where the strength of your emotional connection to your dream gets revealed. When that connection is not strong enough, it is easy to downshift your dream. You go back into your logical mind: this is too much, not possible, you listen to your small self, to others and stay in the perceived safety of what’s known and familiar.
In order to realize any dream you have, the emotional connection is crucial to lift you up and over the boundary of what is currently going on and bring you into a state of curiosity and “what if”. That desire is what offers motivation, resiliency and the ongoing course corrections when things work out differently than anticipated or hoped for on the path. Life tends to throw a few curve balls. Can you stay with your dream when that happens?
We are naturally increasing our capacity all the time. What desire is next on your list?
Pick one and consciously move it through the 5 steps outlined above.
Create the clarity and emotional connection. What is that you really desire? Feel the inner expansion. Then take one small action step towards it. Allow yourself not to know each “how to” and detail – that clarity tends to reveal itself as you are moving along. Notice when you get side tracked and keep reconnecting consciously and intentionally with your desire.
Rilke said it well: “ … go into yourself and see how deep the place is from which your life flows.”
I’ll meet you there.
Feel free to share one of your dreams below, so we cam witness and support you in the realization of it.
If you find some challenges in creating this change in perspective for yourself, let’s have a conversation and explore how I can support you in making this happen.