Pursuing Your Dreams

Artist Thomas Kinkade

Want to Reinvigorate Your Life? The Power of Pursuing Your Dreams
When was the last time you dreamed? I’m talking about dreaming and achieving something that you really want in your life. I bet, when you were younger, you dreamed all the time, but something happened and it didn’t turn out. That’s probably when you slowly gave up on dreaming. Or maybe you’re one of those people who achieved your dreams and didn’t bother to create new ones. Or you’re in the large pool of people who never really dreamed at all. Don’t worry. That’s common. Often people get busy in their daily lives and forget to dream. Or they’re afraid to dream because it brings up lots of emotions that put them at risk for being hurt or disappointed. It’s comfortable to live without emotional risk, but that’s not where the fun is in life. Having dreams engages you in your life, makes it more exciting, and connects you to yourself and what’s important to you.
Pursuing a Dream Puts You on a Shortcut to an Improved Quality of Life
As a life coach, I help people figure out their dreams and what they really want. There are lots of types of dreams and goals to achieve in your life. At the Handel Group®, we break down a person’s life into 18 areas. These areas are: relationship to self, relationships with another, character traits, family, career, time, body, spirituality, money, bad habits, community, sex, romance, home, personal space, learning, fun/adventure and health. When I work with a client, we tackle every area of their life to make sure they are dreaming and seeing the bigger picture of what they can really have. It’s about dreaming and being happy and healthy in every area of your life.
Start with a pen and paper and look at the list of 18 areas of life. Let yourself think deeply about what you want in your life and choose three areas you want to address and create a dream. For each area, choose one or two specific goals that you can accomplish in the next six months that would make you happy and proud. Once you have identified your dream, you are the one who can make it happen. For example, if you chose home as one of the areas you would like to improve, make a plan to find a new place to live that works better for you. If you are unable to move for financial or other reasons, redecorate your home or get rid of the clutter. There are many things you can do to create a better home for yourself, but if you don’t dream, nothing will change.
The Right Dreams Inspire the Right Actions
The dreams you pursue should be attainable and based on ideas that totally excite you. It’s important that you make sure you are creating dreams for you and not what you think you should do or achieve. Dreams are what you really want for yourself. And it’s important that you formulate your dreams in language such that you believe that they are possible to achieve.
One obstacle that you may encounter as you go after your dreams is cynicism, which may rear its ugly head with thoughts like, “I’m not talented or smart enough,” “That’s way too hard,” or “I can’t afford it.” Negative thoughts are excuses and need to be ignored. They are just keeping you from your dreams. Your actions are what makes things happen. Connect with people you know and ask for a favor, a loan or an opportunity for something. One phone call to the right person can change everything.
The Best Way to Stay on Track with Your Dream Is to Stay Faithful to It and Have the Confidence to Pursue It
Many clients stumble almost immediately when pursuing their dreams because they aren’t truly committed to them and don’t really believe they’re possible. It’s the difference between thinking you are going to do this and hoping you might. The uncertainty that comes with hoping leaves you more scared than energized and happy about your dream. Fear will stop any dream in its tracks. You must believe in it, want it and know it’s possible. Honestly believing in your dream is exciting and makes the work that you do toward attaining that dream much more fun.
Our actions follow our thoughts. Your actions must be consistent with your dream or you won’t achieve it. For example, if you want a healthy, fit body but you’re eating pizza four times a week, your actions are not consistent with your dream. Another example would be if you want to be a chef, but don’t sign up for a cooking class that is offered in your area. It’s all up to you. Your actions are the fulfillment of your dreams, and through your heartfelt dreams you can make lasting change in your life.
Life is about having real dreams that are special to you and going after them. please take some time now to think and feel about what your dreams are for 2012. Now is the perfect time to tell fear to shut up, debunk some dumb theories you may have about yourself and make some real plans for action. We’d love to help.

Lauren Zander
coach@handelgroup.com
Free Intro to Coaching!