Our dreams -- those inner desires that reflect our true passions and have the potential to bring us incredible joy -- are as mixed as the dreamers themselves. Yours may be to travel to Kenya, earn an MBA or simply get your driver's licence. "A dream doesn't have to be big; it doesn't have to be important to everybody," says Deanna Rosenswig, coauthor of Dreams Have No Expiry Date (Random House Canada, 2005). "It just has to be something that resonates with you, that's consistent with your values and that gives you hope and pleasure."
No matter what the scope of your dream is, or what stage you're at in terms of your life or fulfilling your heart's desire, these steps will help your dreams come true.
1. Name it
To get in touch with your dreams, sit down by yourself with no distractions so you can hear your own thoughts. Try to open up and be honest about what you feel. Expand your world to include all kinds of possibilities and let your spirit soar, says Ellen Goldhar, a life coach based in Toronto.
Then at the beginning of each training season, she writes down a dream, such as winning a medal. During this process, put the idea of fantasy behind you, advise Rosenswig and coauthor Laurie Gottlieb, because our dreams are only unreal until we articulate them, label them, validate them and make plans to implement them. So, whether you want to scale Mount Everest someday, launch a valuable community group or lead a campaign for a cause you hold dear, get a journal and jot it down.
2. See it
Now that you've identified your dream Goldhar suggests you sharpen your vision using an exercise she calls Vision 10: if whatever you want were to be a 10-out-of-10 experience, what would it look like? Picture it in your mind's eye.
3. Feel it
Once you can see your dream, it's time to feel it. "You've got to feel it to be it," says Goldhar. In What Would You Do If You Had No Fear? (Publishers Group Canada, 2004), Diane Conway writes that she knows how she would feel in her dream home -- once she finds it.
"I realized I'd like to have bright colours, so I painted my existing gate and front door purple. This makes me so happy, and it's a way of achieving some of my dream until it manifests." If your dream is to run a quaint bed-and-breakfast, is it possible to open the door of your current home to guests to get a feel for preparing gourmet breakfasts and offering directions to nearby attractions?
