Happiness is Dreaming

If there is one thing I know it’s that we all need to have dreams in our lives. If we don’t, our spirit withers and dies.

It’s just that simple.

For a long time, I dreamed of being healthy again. I followed my guidance, took action, was patient with the process (okay, not all the time), and voila, here I am healthier than ever.

In the past few years, I dreamed of being a bestselling author. I wrote. I worked hard. I learned. I got rejected. I got back up. I put myself out there again and again. And then I followed the road to my highest version of publication. And voila, here I am.

I have other dreams, ones yet unfulfilled. I am sure you do too. And I nurture those dreams inside me like I do a new baby plant in my garden. I tend it with gentle care. I applaud it as it grows, and I darn well make sure I keep the conditions right so it can take off.

Are you dreaming?

It takes some daring, doesn’t it? When I was younger, I would have said, “who am I to think I could be a bestselling author?” I’m just a girl born in a small town in the Midwest whose first house was a trailer.

But who am I not to be?

Who are you not to be?

It also takes some pretty big dreaming. There is a boldness to big dreams. I watch Master Class by the awesome Oprah Winfrey, and over and over again, the actor or artist talks about having big dreams, dreams that didn’t seem possible. Dreams that person is now living. I am inspired by those people and am grateful for their stories.

Happiness is dreaming. Big. Daring to. Following the dreams. Living them.

What is your dream? If you don’t have one, reach deep. Put your hand on your heart and listen. If you don’t hear it
at first, do this again and again for the next couple of weeks. You might be surprised by what you hear. I know I was. I thought I had my whole life planned out. Funny how that works.

My entire life has shifted because my dreams would not be silenced by rejection, by a lack of acknowledgement by “the gatekeepers,” by the “impossibility” of them. Your dreams won’t be silenced either, and like Paulo Coelho writes so beautifully in his incredible book, The Alchemist, the Universe always rises up in support of us living our dreams.

The journey may be windy or straight, fast or slow, easy or difficult. We don’t know when we set out. We just know we must.

So, if you’re tired of following your dreams because you’re not “there” yet, take heart. It will happen if you keep going. If you don’t have a dream yet, then listen to your heart. It will tell you what it is and what to do. And if you’re living your dreams, tell others. We all need the inspiration.

The world would be a lot happier if we were all reaching for and then living our dreams.

Here’s to happy dreaming.

 

Images courtesy of Stuart Miles / FreeDigitalPhotos.net