Do you only feel alive, when you dream at night? Even though it’s not real it’s alright. Oh yes! This line is from the famous song “When I Dream at night” by Marc Anthony. For many of us dreaming feels surreal, isn’t it?
We all have dreams! We want to stay there and hang in a little while to feel that feeling of our dreams. And as we grow, we stop dreaming, we stop visualizing our better selves. WHY? Because our minds get clouded with fear, misbeliefs, misperceptions, and a load of doubts. Then we procrastinate and somehow like it being there. Procrastinating about the things we want to do, the life we want to live.
Have you ever taken that leap of faith to pursue your dreams? If yes, congratulations, and if not what stopped you, what held you back? What is that hurdle in your path? What belief comes your way? What are you afraid of? What will you lose?
Ask these questions yourself, and keep asking until you get the right answers from your inner self. Sometimes barriers are due to external factors and sometimes they are also mind-made. We unnecessarily cage ourselves in the ‘success conditioning’.
We attach a condition to every dream and desire, even our passion, and hobbies. We must earn money or fame out of it, we must be successful if we pursue them, and we should be perfect in them. Most of the time, we might not be successful and we might not even be perfect in what we do, but we do it because we love to do it. And until we do it, we can never master it.
Sometimes it is also because of the society and culture we are part of, we give up on our dreams. Sometimes it’s our self-belief, lack of confidence, and unhealthy surroundings that make us forget about our dreams. Ultimately, there comes a time when we give up on our dreams but we keep them alive somewhere deep inside us.
Self-discovery exercise for Day 4- Dreams
Do you remember your childhood dream? Do you remember your dreams while you were adulting? I have a 7-year-old daughter, who is a MARVEL fan, superheroes you know. She feels that she too will discover some superpowers within herself someday and she will save the world from disasters.
It doesn’t feel unreal to me, because she believes in her dreams and I let her believe them. It’s her vision. Or even if I dismiss her thoughts by saying things like superheroes don’t even exist and you cannot be one, I will take away her innocence and her temporary purpose from her. Isn’t it?
But will she stop dreaming, NO? She will continue to be a rebel and dream all about being what she wants to be. Then, why do we STOP DREAMING? Why do we stop visualizing a better life, a life we once painted through our bare hands with all the colours bright and umpteen? Right there standing below the sky and amid the fresh air without any fear of getting judged.
Why do we stop being ourselves and try to live the other’s dreams, and follow the other’s visual version of ourselves? Start with this, try to define your life in your own words. What is life to you?
It could be worse, good, cool, relaxed, pathetic, miserable, awesome, amazing, based on your mental state while you are reading this blog. Don’t judge yourselves, just define it in a single line.
Now, when you are done defining your life, answer the following question:
What does your dream life look like? Describe it in detail.
Let your pen flow freely, let it be your most difficult dream, silliest dream, weird dream, or impossible dream for you. But unless and until you acknowledge and accept your dreams, you will not understand what qualities you need to fulfil those dreams.
It is like preparing a meal, you see a delicious recipe and you immediately visualize the dish and feel the yummylicious taste in your mouth. Now to have the exact outcome, you will need all the ingredients, a proper recipe, and follow the step-by-step flow of work. Your dish will be ready in no time.
Now try replacing this visual map with your everyday dreams, and desires. I am sure it will help you to have a better picture of your life than before. See you tomorrow.
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