I am a dreamer, and so are you, but do you know the pivotal role that you play in creating the life you want? If not, then my asking you to dream about a life that you would love to live might seem odd. After all, most of us are used to people telling us how to live and what to do. They seem knowledgeable and wise so we look to them for guidance only to find that they don’t have what we want.
Typically our society or culture dictates what is right, wrong or even possible. For us to imagine something beyond that might sound interesting, but acting on it doesn’t feel safe because it hasn’t been validated from past experience or supported by proven techniques. Heaven forbid that we work on a dream only to appear the fool, or make a mistake and lose money or have our world come crashing down upon us because we dared to dream beyond what we knew intellectually to be possible.
When we dream big, we take a chance. When we dream REALLY BIG, we embrace a possibility that doesn’t yet intellectually exist. It can be scary and can leave us feeling at odds with ourselves because we have no known path upon which to place our feet. That uncertainty can cause us to back away from our dreams because we feel vulnerable. Dreaming big requires that we take chances. We may have to, in support of our dreams, take actions that require us to behave differently than the crowd. That can be intimidating. If we aren’t acting like everyone else we can easily be picked out, and if we make a mistake our worst fears will be realized, whatever those may be.
Dreaming, and dreaming big is not for the faint of heart. It requires courage, creativity, being open to new ways of doing something and facing the fears that have kept us living small. It often calls us to believe and act upon beliefs that are contrary to the way our family, culture or society believes. Sounds like a lot, doesn’t it? What value is there to dreaming when it may require so much from us?
Our dreams allow us to discover we are more than what we thought we were. We are so much more. They allow us to explore and experience ourselves in different ways which can be freeing. Engaging with our dreams simply feels right, deep within us. As we align and act with respect for our dreams we may have to let go of fearful thoughts, which while scary can also feel more expansive. These feelings of freedom, integrity and empowerment are a far cry from those of deflation, disillusionment and despair which often arise when we ignore what is being called from within us to be birthed in our world.
If it were not for the dreamers humanity as a species would not have evolved, period. It’s the dreamers that have enabled people to have experiences that were at one time thought to be impossible. But, because they dared to be different, they made real what was at one time only a figment of someone’s imagination.
Let us dare to dream and dream big. We are not alone. There are dreamers everywhere. We have not come to repeat the past but to engage within the present so we can create the future. Not just any future, but one that is inspiring, engaging and expansive; a future that is worthy of who we are.
Rebecca Victor and Your Joyful Path, 2012 to the present date: Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Rebecca Victor and Your Joyful Path with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.