Chasing Your Dreams
This weekend I attended the Phoenix Film Festival and saw “FUNNE-Sea Dreaming Girls,” an Italian documentary about twelve 70-90-year-old women who live in a small mountain village and dream of visiting the sea, most for the first time. They embark on an epic journey to raise money for their trip, including modeling for a calendar. As part of that project their photographer encourages the women to each pick one thing they have always wanted to do and to use that as the composition for their photos - ultimately building a Calendar of Dreams. At first the women stare at him blankly as if the concept of dreaming is totally foreign. Slowly each comes around and a beautiful story unfolds, which does (spoiler alert) end in them making it to the sea.
Dreams are the things that set our soul on fire. They are what get us out of bed in the morning. They inspire us and those we come into contact with. They help us to feel alive and to find fulfillment and meaning in this thing called life. As I watched this film I couldn’t help think,
Why do we so rarely follow our dreams? Is it because we easily convince ourselves that our dreams are silly and/or not practical or worth pursuing?
Is the risk of failure alone the thing that stops many of us from chasing after our deepest desires?
At a certain age do we decide that dreaming is only for the young?
Sit for a moment and ponder your own beliefs about dreams. Where did these beliefs come from? Do they still serve you? Is it time to rethink what you believe?
Next, turn your attention to one of your dreams - maybe one that has been tugging at you for sometime. If like the women in the film you were to take a photo to visually represent this dream, what would it look like? Close your eyes for a moment and see it vividly in your mind. How does this “picture” make you feel?
(For real, close your eyes for a moment and see and feel your dream.)
Now go out, quit your job, and pursue it! Just kidding. This is the piece that makes most people believe they will never actually be able to do anything with their dreams. Everywhere you turn there seems to be an inspirational story that goes a little something like - George quit his $150,000/year job to open a scuba shop in the Caribbean and is now “living the dream”. Most of us hear this and think “Wow! That’s awesome!” but see no relevance in our own lives as we have kids, aging parents, or some type of other responsibility that prevents us from recklessly quitting our jobs and running off into the sunset.
Instead, I would challenge you to begin (or continue if you are already on this path) manifesting your dream into your life. Begin by getting SUPER crystal clear about your dream (none of this vague “I want to travel someday” - Where do you want to go, who do you want to go with, what will you do there - you get the point) and then start truly believing not only in your dream but that it can and will come to be. Finally, be open. Sometimes our dreams are realized in different ways (and very often different timelines) then we had first envisioned, so it’s important to remain open so that God (the universe) can (as He will) assist you along your path.
Happy dreaming and manifesting!