A quick word of warning on this first post back. If you are certain of your path and goals, do not read this post. If you are committed and resolute to your wants, then stay the course and keep up the good fight. There are plenty of other articles that might be of interest on the Amor, Lux, Vitae blog.
For me, I know what my purpose is and I know the journey I travel. I am grateful for the life I have led, so far.This article is for those who wonder:
What if...?
Could you imagine what it would be like to achieve your dreams? What would you do to make that happen?
What if... you realized you only had one chance to make it happen?
Would you set your determination or would you just let go and settle? Many people would get deflated at that idea. It is a rare person that would do what ever it takes to make that dream happen.
If we just give up on what we want, we risk living an unfulfilled life. It can be a dull, boring life and it is possible we may one day regret having never tried.
Life is like that. We only get one life and if we want to live a fulfilled life, achieving our goals, we need to step up and do what ever it takes.
People use all forms of techniques to achieve their goals. Everything from prayer, to utilizing new age methods like visualization, and using the secret of tapping into the universe.
Perhaps you are more contemporary. Using faith is perhaps more valuable than we give it credit, these days. Still, a good plan with milestones is helpful. It can especially help us see progress. Not only can these milestones help us adjust as necessary, it can help show us where we may have stumbled and help us understand where we should make changes.
When we have a goal of what we want, we should be clear about that goal. Being vague doesn't allow us to know when we have actually reached the goal. We also don't know when to adjust nor how much. Like an airplane flying to a destination, it adjusts frequently to get to where it is going.
Achieving a goal takes patience. If we are impatient, we risk giving up only inches from the finish line. Determine how much time it might take and be prepared to adjust time lines if and as necessary.
And what if... ?
Have you ever had a feeling that something was interfering with your plan? How would you deal with it? Having contingency plans is helpful. Staying focused on one's goals is paramount to success.
And what if...?
What if something happened along the way to your dream? What if your dream takes a lifetime to achieve? What if you reach your dream and it isn't what you thought it would be? And what if that dream no longer serves you?
And... What if...
You forgot to live life?
Everyone benefits from having a dream. Even if we achieve our dream, it is very unlikely it will be perfect. We can determine that we will keep working on the dream to nudge it towards matching the idea in our heads. When we live life this way, we aren't doing much different than settling. Something we could have done from the very start.
What about just living life? What do we miss out when we are so focused on something, we fail to appreciate the things that are around us? What opportunities do we miss because we are driven to reach a destination that may not even be there when we arrive? Or worse yet, we arrive and find out that the destination is no different than where we were. Like the promise of that special feeling of buying that luxury home or car, only to realize the cost of time and money to not just maintain it but to improve it. What if it can't be improved because the specifications were different than you were promised.
The truth is, most people believe in their dreams. It is healthy to have dreams and some dreams are worth pursuing. And some dreams are over sold. And the thing about that is, we are the ones who sold us the dream and made the promises.
Dreams are fickle things. They promise to be everything we expect. They draw us along. They let us get close, to let us believe we are almost there. They give us more promises as time goes by, to make sure we don't loose interest. When we feel like giving up, sometimes our dreams stop and beckon us along. When we do give up, our dreams seem to move back into range or even give the appearance they are easier to reach. Our dreams will even enlist others to cheer us on. To support us when we are down and to lift us up when we stumble towards it. When our inner voice tells us we have had enough, someone will readily tell us to try just a little harder. The dream is, after all, worth it. Anyone that tells you different either hasn't achieved their dreams or is just jealous and wants you to fail, or has other ulterior and selfish motives, right?
Or maybe... What if... They know what it is like to reach a dream?
Ask the person who finally retires and they end up at the accountants office to go through the books to find out how to budget their retirement. Many accountants will readily tell people how terrible it is when their clients break down, as they find out their dreams for retirement are not fulfilled. They need to keep working.
Ask the person who has achieved their dream if their life is better. Few who reach their dream would say it wasn't worth it. Fewer still would be willing to admit to you their dream became a nightmare. And some dreams aren't easy to get rid of if they are not what we wanted. We can easily get stuck with a dream that we realized isn't what we asked for. And most dreams will tell you there is only one. If you miss out on the one you are after, there are no other dreams available, because dreams are scarce.
What if...?
What if the life that you want, is different than what you dream? What if you found out you could start living your dream, right now? What if you take a risk on yourself and simply appreciate what life has to offer, because the work you need to put into maintaining and growing your dream, can be spent right now maintaining and growing the life of your dreams.
Adventures and dreams await! Things you discounted before may be exactly what you want. Perhaps even better than you dreamed.
We live in a world of presumed scarcity, where only one dream exists for each of us. The reality is, we live in a world of abundance, where we can not only live a fulfilled life, but one that we can turn into our dream.
Dreams are no longer dreams when we reach them. What will you set as your dream after you reach it?
Ask anyone who has lived a fulfilled life and they will tell you not about the dreams they achieved but the life they have lived.
Achieving a goal is hard. Living a fulfilled life is much, much harder. And it takes great courage to let go something that feels desirable and safe and let the universe provide you with all the realized dreams you could ever want. Moments to be cherished. Heart breaks that are overwhelming. The little things that make us smile. And many, many opportunities to enjoy and share with others.
There are 2 great quotes that express this so well:
"Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away." - Unknown
and
"Life is about the journey, not the destination" - Unknown
A dream that is pursued is a project. A dream that appears out of the blue is a gift to treasure.
I am not writing this to tell anyone to give up on their dreams. I am writing this because sometimes the voices in our heads are correct. When we are constantly telling ourselves to try harder, perhaps we don't consider the universe is telling us we don't have to try so hard. The closer we get to our dreams is perhaps the most important time to consider whether our dreams are what we really want. I have seen far too many people stuck pursuing dreams, I have done that myself. I find myself getting entangled and empathetic with people with such passions and letting go and detaching is the hardest thing I can do at those times. I have yet to learn how to stay distant and objective. Sometimes I think I know what I want, only to realize that what I want, I already have. What treasures await, I anticipate.
If you are in the Winnipeg area on November 30th, 2019, join a bunch of ordinary people doing extraordinary things. I will be one of the ordinary speakers helping people understand what may be keeping them stuck and how letting go our paradigms could be the most important goal we could ever achieve. You may find that letting go is the biggest thing that helped other people like yourselves realize dreams they never knew they had or wanted.
It only requires changing 1 person. You.
For more information: #Change1: Personal Development Conference
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