Dreaming your Dreams

Dreaming

Dreaming Your Dreams 

What is your dream? Do you find yourself dreaming about your dreams? Will you achieve your dream in your lifetime? I’m certain this is your desire and I’m sure you hope that you will. But will you actually do it? What odds would you give yourself? One in five? One in a hundred? One in a million? How can you tell whether your chances are good or whether your dream will always remain exactly that – a dream? And are you willing to put it to the test?

Most people dream of who they’d like to be, where they’d like to go, what they’d like to do and have. What I have noticed is that some people are willing to describe their dreams with great detail and enthusiasm. And I get a sense that they will do whatever it takes to make their dreams into a reality.

Others are reluctant to talk about them. They seem embarrassed to say it aloud. They don’t know if others will laugh at them. They’re not sure if they’re aiming too high or too low. They don’t know if their dream is something they can really achieve or if they’re destined to fail.

Let me tell you this; a dream is an inspiring picture of the future that energises your mind, will and emotions, empowering you to do everything you can to achieve it. A dream worth pursuing is a picture and blueprint of a person’s purpose and potential. A dream is what you desire if anything and everything is possible. Which I believe they are.

If you read my last blog, Exploring You – Discover What Makes You Happy, you know what makes you happy and proud, and you’ve identified your needs and values. Now it’s time to have fun and dream your dreams!

What do you daydream about while you’re waiting for the kettle to boil or waiting in line at the supermarket? What comes to mind when you hear the phrase, “When I grow up, I want to be…”? Whose life do you admire (friends, family or famous people)? These are all prompts that you can use to bring your dreams to mind. Think about the different dreams you’ve had during your life.

Now it’s time to bring them all together, and to dream some more! You might like to think about:

  • The things you’d like to do in the future – maybe you’ve always wanted to skydive or start your own business. Is there a qualification you’d like to gain, or volunteer work you’d like to do?
  • The things you’d like to be – CEO of your own company, an adventurer, a great parent, or a dynamic community leader?
  • The places you’d like to go – have you always wanted to go to Sydney, Seattle or Seville? Or swim with sharks over the Great Barrier Reef, or visit Petra or Angkor Wat? Or perhaps there’s a retreat that you’d love to go on?
  • The things you’d like to have – is there a certain car you hanker after, or an apartment by the sea? A wardrobe full of designer clothes or a simple but absorbing work of art?

Struggling to get started? Here are a few ideas that you might want to include in your list of dreams. If you can include some ideas from each life area, that’s great. But not everyone will have interests in all areas, and that’s fine, too.

  • Artistic pursuits – dreams about creativity, for its own sake, or for fame and reward.
  • Career – dreams of how you want your career and work life to develop.
  • Education and self-development – dreams about gaining knowledge, qualifications and expertise, and how you’ll grow in the future.
  • Relationships – dreams of a happy family, and of being a great parent to happy children.
  • Finances – dreams of acquiring deserved wealth, of enjoying special experiences during your working life, and of having a happy, secure and enjoyable retirement.
  • Health and fitness – dreams of physical or athletic achievement, and of good health.
  • Passionate pursuits – things that would be fun and enjoyable to do, such as activities that you want to enjoy, places that you want to visit, or interesting experiences that you want to have.
  • Possessions – things that you’d like to own and enjoy.
  • Public service – dreams of things that you’d like to do to make the world a better place for people.
  • Spirituality – dreams of how you want to develop your mind, your soul, or your relationship with a supreme being or beings.

In the following Golden Nuggets, I’ll take you through the steps to help you imagine your dreams. I’ll show you where to focus your energy and how to choose your A-list of dreams, so you can dream those dreams into your reality.

Golden Nuggets

1. Let your dreams run wild

List your dreams and let your imagination and ideas run wild! Try to list 50 dreams, large and small. If you can’t reach 50, that’s fine, but at least try! And, if you have more than 50 dreams, just grab a pen and paper, and keep going.

Top Tip

Think about the situations, positions or things that might help you to meet your needs, so you can live according to your values, and feel happy and proud? It’s fine to come back to this list several times, if it helps. The trick is to forget the ‘how’ for now as this may inhibit you from going big.

2. Where to focus your energy

To achieve your dreams, you need to know which ones to focus on. And, to narrow down your dreams, you need to “dig deep” and decide which ones really matter to you. Be honest about the ones that don’t.

Top Tip

Look back at the long list of dreams that you wrote down. Consider which are the most significant, inspiring, longest held, support your values, and will make you happiest or proudest. The ones that absolutely make your heart sing are your “A-list” dreams. Write an ‘A’ next to these.

3. Choosing your A-list dreams

Earlier, I talked about different life areas:

Artistic pursuits – Career – Education and self-development – Relationships – Finances – Health and fitness – Passionate pursuits – Possessions – Public service – Spirituality

Make sure that you don’t focus too closely on one area. If there’s a life area that’s important to you which is missing, just add it in. Aim to have no more than 10 dreams in total.

You should now have a shortlist of inspirational, important dreams covering different areas of your life. Some of these may be big ideas (“Set up my own business”). Some may be very specific (“Visit Milan”).

Top Tip

Write your final list of dreams – do you have 10? Again, you may want to come back to this and continue to refine it. If you have just one for now that’s fine, this is a good place to start.

If you’re not comfortable with your decision, reflect on the criteria you used to choose your dreams, and the importance you assigned to each one. Then, look back through what you’ve completed so far, to see if you’ve missed out something important. You need to be happy with, and committed to, your dreams!

So, let’s summarise those Golden Nuggets again:

  1. Let your dreams run wild
  2. Where to focus your energy
  3. Choosing your A-list dreams 

I hope you had fun coming up with your list of dreams! This is your jumping-off point, for making radical change in your life, and for starting to make these dreams a reality.

Examining your dreams is likely to be both exciting and scary but don’t be put off by your own negative thoughts, or by comments from others. Remember that people just like you achieve their dreams every day, so there’s nothing to stop you doing the same. You are incredibly gifted, unique and limitless.

You can achieve a huge amount if it’s important enough to you, so enjoy spending time choosing which dream, or dreams, to focus on. 

Work with a coach

Sometimes we get really stuck when digging deep to understand who we are, who we want to be, where we want to go, what we want to do and what we want to have. And in knowing ourselves and how we can create a life that fulfils us on every level. When this happens, no matter how hard we try on our own, we might never be able to move forward and get to where we want to go in life. In these instances, working with a coach can help you.

A coach will ask the right questions to help you figure out who you are, what’s getting in your way to making your dreams into your reality and how to overcome these obstacles. They can help you to create a life you’ve always dreamed of. And yes, a life beyond your wildest dreams!

Coaching can be helpful whether you have just one issue or several; you may just need a few sessions or on a more regular basis, ongoing basis, depending on your needs. Sometimes asking for help can be the most hopeful and powerful step you can take to live a happier, healthier and fulfilled life.

If you have found this useful, then please share this with anyone you know who would also benefit to help them along their journey in life.

Thank you for joining me and I look forward to seeing you again next week for Pura Vida Your Life Happenings for insight, inspiration and more golden nuggets to help you live a happier and fulfilled life.

I invite you to come on a journey of empowerment with me – sign up to Discoveries to start taking steps to improve your life!

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Pura Vida Your Life – it all starts with you 🧡💙💛

Until next time – Pura Vida!