Dream Like You Will Live Forever

Maiden... ocean has a maiden soulAs a child you probably dreamed about how you would change the world. You had the vision of Superman, the heart of King Kong, and the powers of The Incredibles. Even as adults we love these super heroes, because something in us still yearns to be like them.

We gain many things as we grow up, but we lose some as well. And the saddest of our losses is the courage to dream. We learn to settle, to compromise, to make do. Life becomes a drag, a burden of responsibilities, a shadow of what we had wanted it to be.

photo credit: lepiaf.geo

1. Dare to dream

“Nothing happens unless first a dream,” said Carl Sandburg. If you have no dreams today, your life one year later will be no different than now. Except that you’ll be one year older, adding another year of dis-satisfaction and dis-illusionment to your life record. And have one year less to chase your dreams when you finally find the courage to dare to dream.

Descartes wasn’t referring to dreaming when he said “I think, therefore I am.” Yet this is true in a general sense. We become what we think about everyday. The Law of Attraction dictates that whatever you think about, you will manifest in your life. Your thoughts will become reality no matter what. The problem is that if you’re careless, you will be thinking of problems instead of dreams, and attract more of the same into your life. So choose your thoughts carefully. Choose to dream.

2. Visualise your ideal day

Take a piece of paper and divide it into four horizontal segments. In the top section, write “Morning” and what you would ideally like to do everyday when you wake up. The second section is “Afternoon”, the third “Evening” and the last is “Night”. You can adjust the segments depending on how you view each day.

My ideal day was to wake at dawn, hear the birds sing while I lay in bed, then take my dog for his morning walk, have breakfast while reading the newspapers, and work from home till lunchtime. The afternoon was pretty much open for anything I felt like doing that day. Exercise in the evening before dinner with my family, then read all the way to bedtime.

Your ideal day could be a little more exciting, may not involve work, include partying at night and so on. It’s entirely up to you. This ideal day won’t materialise tomorrow (this post is about dreaming, not magic). But as you keep this mental image in your thoughts over time, your choices will be based on this vision. Every decision you make will take you one step closer, until one day you wake up and realise that you’re living your ideal day.

3. Have a dream book

I once journalled about one hundred things I wanted to do before I died. I didn’t read that page again till many years later, and was jolted by seeing how many of those had already come true. And this was just from writing it once, and not even thinking about it regularly. Imagine what my life would have been now if I had consciously looked at that page everyday! Dreams have a power of their own, whether you believe it or not.

You can buy customised dream books with spaces for pasting pictures, writing a short paragraph about each dream, target dates and a box to tick when the dream is realised. Or just get a simple scrapbook. Pictures help your dreams appear more real to your subconscious mind, so you may want to include these. Cut out or print pictures of places or things that you want in your life as you read magazines and websites. Not everything you put in this book will happen, but it most likely won’t happen at all if it’s not even in this book.

4. Focus on three things at a time

Here’s the catch. You have to work on your dreams if you want them to come true. It’s about having your head in the clouds and your feet on the ground. Dreams help you reach for the stars. Now for some legwork to get you there.

Choose three dreams to focus on this year. Most people can handle three things at a time, and get distracted if they try more than that. You can also choose less than three, but why settle for less when you can have more? Choose the three that will give you most satisfaction, or three from three different aspects of your life to help you achieve balance.

For each dream, set a specific and realistic goal to achieve by the end of the year. If you want to write a book, perhaps you could enrol in and complete a writing course, or aim to write ten pages a day to have a first draft by Christmas. If you want to start your own business, you could aim for a certain amount of revenue to be generated by the last day of the accounting year. If you want a romantic relationship, try to have a date booked for every Saturday night.

5. Trust in your brain

This is where the fun starts. Once you are committed to your goals, your entire reticular activating system (RAS) kicks into action. Your brain is designed to achieve what you focus on. You don’t need to understand how your RAS works, just know that it does.

This awesome RAS mechanism is like a big ship. It may take time to get moving, but once it does the momentum is unstoppable. Your job is to keep the rudder pointed in the direction you want it to go. You do this by continually visualising your ideal day, looking at your dream book, and reminding yourself of your three current goals.

Your job is also to pursue any opportunities that your faithful RAS points out to you. Things happen only when you take action. Track your progress towards your goals on a daily or weekly basis, but at least monthly. When you start ticking off small achievements, that provides a wonderful motivation to keep going. You will feel incredible, and you’ll love yourself and your life.

May you always be a dreamer, and may your wildest dreams come true!

This is Part 2 of the series:

Dance Like Nobody’s Watching
Dream Like You Will Live Forever
Live Like You’ll Die Tomorrow
Love Like It’s Never Going To Hurt

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2 Responses to “Dream Like You Will Live Forever”

  1. Pallavi
    February 5th, 2009 @ 11:42 am

    WOW!!!! what a blog…. i am a day dreamer… but never realized how dreams can be converted into reality… the idea of a dream book is really fascinating :)
    i really got motivated by your blog …. good job done :)

  2. Daphne
    February 5th, 2009 @ 6:15 pm

    Hi Pallavi,

    Welcome to Joyful Days, and thank you so much for your wonderful comment! It made my day. If you like the idea of a dream book, why not start one today? Your life could start to change just by one simple act. Hope to continue seeing you around here and learning more about you and how your dreams in life slowly start to come true!

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