By BWB Business Member Murray McEachern –
Dreams by their very nature, and I don’t mean the sleep kind, are impractical; in fact, they can be downright inconvenient.
Entering the Amazing Race, for instance, which, if you were selected, would take you away from home for 4 – 6 weeks, is exciting and exhilarating, but not without complexity. I mean who is going to look after the kids? How would they cope? Who’ll feed the dogs? Who is going to take Mom shopping? What if the goldfish dies, the little ones will never forgive us?
Gosh, and what if you took on that cause full-time that stirs you so deeply, and matters to you sooo much – that calling that just won’t seem to let you go? To help orphaned youth build their self esteem; rescue neglected animals from abusive homes; be a comfort to people in their dying days at the local hospice. Meaningful, yes; life giving, yes; the stuff of a lifetime legacy, yes! BUT, how are you going to let go of that fat corporate paycheck, the pension hit, and that ‘oh so welcomed’ annual Holiday bonus? And what will your friend’s say, not to mention your parents? Geez.
Nope, dreams are anything but convenient. No wonder we so easily fall back to the day to day mindset.
And then there’s that round the world trip you’ve been daring to conceive of – contemplation at the Buddhist temples of Bangkok; Breakfast at Wimbledon; skiing Whistler in British Columbia; diving the Great Barrier Reef in Australia; hiking the Samaria Gorge in Greece; the jungle lodges of Peru…..’Hold on, get real, this is ridiculous! What about our two full-time jobs; the year of school for the kids; the fortune it would cost to do this; we might have to sell the house; downsize when we get back?And how would we deal with being away from our friends and family for a year!’
Totally impractical these dreams.
Better to rationalize them away in the name of our day to day responsibilities.
Way more comfy, cozy and convenient.
You familiar with any of these mental gymnastics?
The heart sings the chorus of ‘yes’; the head says, ‘you’ve really lost it this time!’
No sooner do we begin tapping that wondrous and limitless imagination of ours than our fear mongering egos jump in with an onslaught of ‘don’t you dares’, dark imaginings, and bullying intimidations: ‘You’re going to get hurt, go broke, humiliate yourself! – Big Time!’
So how do we get over this, quite understandable, but ‘oh so life limiting’ day to day mindset and get on with a dream to dream one?
Good question.
Here are 5 tips to get you on your way:
Embrace Your Mortality
Look, I don’t mean to get all depressing on you, but for the sake of your dreams, I gotta remind you, ‘you’re going to die’.
Sorry.
Me too if it makes you feel any better.
And here’s the double whammy: you don’t know when.
Me neither.
Makes dream scheduling a bit tricky, wouldn’t you say?
If you want to shake yourself out of the limitations of a day to day mindset, you might want to remind yourself that your most precious resource – time – is ticking away.
Dream Bigger
‘Dream bigger Murray?!’
‘What, are you nuts?’
‘I’m having enough trouble getting in everything I need to get done in a week, and I’m just keeping my head above water as it is, and here you have the nerve to tell me to dream bigger?’
Yup, you heard me right. Sounds like quite the paradox, though, doesn’t it? Yet, there indeed is a strange and wondrous phenomena that happens when we dare to dream big, and really get ourselves excited in the process: Not only do we set into motion all manner of converging circumstances, we cause ourselves to step up into the larger life our dreams call for. Though, of course, we still must attend to the practicalities of life, they are made easier when they help form pathways to our dreams.
Believe
‘Geez Murray, are you the King of over-simplifications, or what!?’
Well, I have lived enough life to know one thing for sure: the actualization of our dreams begins and ends with the presence or absence of belief we hold about our ability to make them a reality. Yes, for most of us this is as complicated as it sounds. However, for the comparatively few others – you and I, I hope; those that get that what we think has everything to do with what we manifest – living our dreams becomes way easier. If you find yourself unable to think beyond the day to day, there is a very good chance your belief system needs an overhaul.
Never Underestimate Your Resourcefulness
Tell me, how much money do you think you’ve spend unnecessarily in your life? Is it a $100 a month? $150? Let’s say, conservatively, it’s $50 over the past 10 years (a coffee and a muffin a day can easily be $30 over a month).
You know what’s coming, don’t you?
The total – $6000.
Not to make this all about money because this would certainly be an over-simplification, but there is a sweet dream or two made possible by $6000, wouldn’t you say?
The tip here is to get in touch with the ability you have to figure out how to make dreams happen you didn’t initially think you could. Each practical choice we make can then have a higher purpose.
Rub the Lamp
Spot Quiz:
How do you get your wish granting genie to come out of the lamp?
Spot Answer:
Rub the lamp.
If I’ve been guilty of over-simplifications so far, this one’s going to be a beaut: My message: Ask for what you want. This presupposes, of course, that you know what you want (a whole other subject), but once you do, simply get busy asking. You’ll be amazed at what you can create, and equally dazzled by how many people are willing to help you. Start with something small, and begin proving to yourself that you can make things happen, even with limited resources.
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Blog Purpose & Intention
My blog explores and examines the significant changes of mid life, the challenging questions of clarity these changes give rise to, and the rich transitions that may follow them; this richness dependent of course on the decisions and choices we make along the way.
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