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Another surreal but going-to-make-it-happen post by Leonie Dawson: The Place Where Dreams Come True. ... I just read this, and you know my recent dreams post? Where I've forgotten all mine, or they've changed and run away? I think that because I, as a living soul, have grown and shifted and changed so much lately, that naturally my dreams will, too. It doesn't mean my old dreams were wrong for me ... they were perfect for who I was at the time. But I am not her anymore. I get to dream new dreams, bigger dreams! And I get the joy of discovering them.
Here is what I think. Aren't dreams always aimed at some vague moment in the future? For when we lose (5) (25) (50) pounds. Or quit our job. Or when we finally move out of this noisy apartment or get out of debt ~ then we can make our dreams come true.
If I am determined to keep dreaming, have I locked myself into a perpetual state of someday? What about actualizing those dreams? What if I were to stop dreaming? Would I bolt awake, sitting upright in my bed and shaking? Would my feet hit the floor and adrenaline flood every cell in my body? What is happening right this second? What choices can I make, this very day, to splash my life with the colors I choose?
Maybe, for me, dreams have been a crutch. Helpful, yes, like a gentle soul guide to carry me along and cradle me as I slumber. But the point is to wake up and find myself alive.
And to go ahead. Be alive.
Maybe alive is too vibrant and scary. Maybe the illusion of dreams keeps me drifting along. Maybe I couldn't face real before, but maybe I can now and that's why my dreams have gone away. Maybe I don't need them anymore, because I'm awake.
So it's not about my dreams.
It's about what I want.
What do I want?
I suspect there's a secret life to that, too.
Oh a warrioress tribe, deep thoughts, beauty, all this... Hi I 'm Star, and I will follow alongx
ReplyDeletelovely to meet you, beautiful. i look forward to seeing you again. <3
DeleteWhen I read your Secret Life of Dreams post on June 8th, I closed the tab pretty quickly. I could feel a visceral reaction to the idea of dreaming and I really didn't have time to unpack it in that moment.
ReplyDeleteWhen I first began to meander through the you-can-live-the-life-of-your-dreams blogs and websites, I remember feeling cheated. I wasn't raised to dream. I don't remember dreaming of what I would be when I grew up. The mentality was very much just making it through the present and next few moments. I felt like I was coming into the second part of my life with a huge handicap. I didn't have any dreams to live.
In actuality, it was my sense of lack which was the handicap. It was placing so much value on dreaming and feeling less than when I didn't have those that held me back.
I wish I could remember where I heard this but I was listening to a podcast one day and was talking about how we set our teenagers up with this idea of DREAMING big, what do you want to do with your life, imagine yourself in ten years mentality.
Really? What do you want to do with your whole life?! You are supposed to know that at 18? or 25 or even 45?
What if we asked ourselves, what do I want to do for the next six months? or even six weeks? or even just this week? And then what if we keep asking ourselves that question.
What makes us feel whole?
What makes us feel connected?
What makes us feel joyful?
Maybe if we engage in those activities for the next six days ... and then another six and another six ... we will come to the end of our life feeling like we lived the life of our dreams.
and now I have written this as a comment and think I need to write it as a blogpost!
LOL!
Thank you for your words. It is such a joy to witness your journey.
this was so, so good...and yes. i think we miss out on too much flesh and blood LIVING when we are focused on our dreams....if i want something enough to dream about it, why am i not simply doing it? i realize that there are some practicalities that need to be worked out sometimes, but we can make goals, too, and work towards those goals. you described it perfectly...
DeleteWhat if we asked ourselves, what do I want to do for the next six months? or even six weeks? or even just this week? And then what if we keep asking ourselves that question.
What makes us feel whole?
What makes us feel connected?
What makes us feel joyful?
Maybe if we engage in those activities for the next six days ... and then another six and another six ... we will come to the end of our life feeling like we lived the life of our dreams.
thank you for hanging in there as i work out what this all means for me. :-)
Love this Cynthia -
DeleteWhat makes us feel whole?
What makes us feel connected?
What makes us feel joyful?
- I'm carrying this with me.
YES! This is it Rain! This is another problem with our society! Another trend worth dissecting! This is spectacular. This is counter cultural, daring, introspective, practical yet deeply spiritual. I LOVED all your points. I need to read this to my hubby and recommend this feed.
ReplyDeleteWhole, connected and joyful...excellent question to start each week or even day! I would also add What do you do for others that consistently makes them feel full, connected and joyful. It's not fully about them but its not fully on self either- it's a mix of both (I think) to answer those questions. Part of how we make others feel points us in our giftings ( although that being said we will make some feel awful as they choose their experience of us but I am talking about a gift you own that you notice continually gets those around you thankful or such)
This is just wonderful. Now I can shed my guilt for not really having many dreams:) I want love and beauty and health so I can live fully in each moment:)
"Now I can shed my guilt for not really having many dreams:)"
Deletethat made me laugh out loud.
Isn't it silly that we carry guilt over that?
I believe that a lot of this has to do with who we are personally, how we receive and process messages. I know that many people need, want and love the cheerleading you-can-be-bigger-than-you-ever-imagined message. But for me, someone who is escaping the performance trap, I need something softer. I am learning how to give that to myself. Because, honestly, there's not a big market for self improvement books and products that encourage you to think smaller. LOL!
Beautiful :)
ReplyDeleteLove Leonie too! Just recently found her...she is adorable and so full of wisdom!
<3
Delete"Maybe alive is too vibrant and scary. Maybe the illusion of dreams keeps me drifting along. Maybe I couldn't face real before, but maybe I can now and that's why my dreams have gone away. Maybe I don't need them anymore, because I'm awake."
ReplyDeleteYES!
a new world
a new life
a new perspective
we move like the wind Rain
sometimes we stay in one area for a time, but soon
maybe sooner than we want
our spirit says it is time to move on, move forward...more is waiting for you
my life has taught me that all will come to me as I call it
and every change brings some sort of discomfort...now I see that discomfort as a blessing
because I know things are happening...it is what I asked for
you are unpackaging
you are unfolding
you are going to find out exactly what you are made of
and I have a feeling
you are going to be very ver surprised
and it is going to be wonderful!!!!
love to you dear one
love and light
i love this comment. :-) thank you for your enthusiasm and joy. <3 AND the way you see me. :-)
DeleteThis was amazing. Lately I feel I've been using my dreams as a crutch--but maybe something more, not as a crutch, but as an excuse not to get up. Since I'm dreaming, why wake? Shouldn't I continue the lovely dream for the dream's sake? But the dream's sake is to be lived, to gradually bleed into life until it's so mingled with aliveness that you can't distinguish the two, and so wanting to perpetuate the dream can only kill it.
ReplyDeleteso mingled with aliveness...YES.
DeleteI LOVE this!! I also seem to always dream in the future but I'm changing that. I'm deciding TODAY to dream for NOW. You are such an inspiration.
ReplyDeleteLove!! Not sure if my comment posted so I'm trying again. :) I'm just now learning to dream in the NOW. It's not been easy but people like you inspire me. You inspire me to.. "to go ahead. Be alive. "
ReplyDeletei am so, so very glad!!! :D
Deletein the past few days of living this, i have felt more free than i've felt in a long time...i will write about this more, but it's like since the PRESSURE to dream has lifted, i am exactly where i want and need to be...everything is so much clearer, and i didn't realize what i was doing to myself before....it is mindboggling.
<3
Whoah. Stumbled upon this prose and now my mind is reeling. Have I stopped dreaming? AM I awake? Sleepwalking? Living a dream. My dear, I am off on a writing reverie, spinning....lovely share. Prompt.
ReplyDeletethank you for your kind words. :-) so lovely to meet you!
DeleteSun is spreading warm over my feet and legs. I am awake and "Maybe I couldn't face real before, but maybe I can now and that's why my dreams have gone away."
ReplyDeleteLove this! And much love to you as you live. xo
Yes. Maybe. All in all, my dreams are always changing. I think my parents find it frustrating, because it seems like I don't stick to anything. But I do. I stick to me. And since I constantly change, my dreams should change as well.
ReplyDeleteHonestly? Right now, after 35 years of life, it is dawning on me that my greatest dream was possibly to be a mommy someday; And somewhere I realised that I would actually like to be a stay at home mommy. I am not there yet. But come July, I will be working only half a day. It is a step towards me and I know it is me, because of the absolute and intense joy this brings me.
Do you know how long it took me to make peace with that? Not long, actually. It crept up on me, revealing me to me slowly, probably to prevent any fleeing. Because we do. Flee. When the world says women have to work and the family says women have to work... Thank heavens for Sparky who says that we'll take it step by step until I no longer have to work. He knows this makes me happy. But in awareness, I know that this is me and this could not have been me before now. And in awareness I know that each day may present itself to me with new possibilities as I take more and more steps to being just me.