Shooting for the Moon Dreams

Did you know that dreams created from the heart feel and look differently than dreams created from the head?

I experienced the dramatic difference in a recent vision mapping exercise my coach introduced to me.  After identifying the most important areas of my life and ranking them, I went back to one of them, my marriage, and began to sketch out dreams related to my relationship with my husband.

Spending more time with hubbie ranked high - not just time, but time spent in leisure and vacation pursuits.  I then quantified that - how much time do I want to spend?

Here's where I experienced my "a-ha" moment.  My first attempt to put parameters around this dream came from my head - to have a total of 4 weeks throughout the year to travel and spend time in leisure activities.  It was a "logical" dream.  After all, my husband only had 15 days vacation since he changed jobs.  He could eventually work his way back up to 4 weeks.

Then a strange thing happened.  Within a couple of minutes of writing down the "head" dream, something asserted itself from deep within me, and I found myself writing down an audacious, expansive version of this dream. 

Instead of 4 weeks, I want 3 months of days, scattered throughout the year, to travel.  Having lots of time to explore our beautiful world, to visit with family and cherished friends, to volunteer with organizations such as Habitat for Humanity, and Peak Potentials, to participate in seminars/retreats around personal/spiritual growth, to do things on the spur of the moment, to enjoy traveling while we are still healthy and agile.

Wow!  As soon as I wrote down that dream, I felt electrified with energy.  I felt more alive.  Talk about shooting for the  moon!  This version of the dream feels outrageous.  I don't have a clue how to make it happen.  Doesn't matter right now.  The important thing is to allow the dream to come forward AND to write it down.

In the short time since I birthed this dream, it no longer feels impossible.  How do I "make this dream happen?"  For now, my "job" is to relax and enjoy the dream, to feel the energy and allow it to expand.  An opportunity will present itself down road, inviting my husband and I to begin the linear process of tasking out the actions steps.

In the spring of 2002, I took an intensive online course that required me to write out and describe in painstaking detail everything I desired in every area of my life.  I find it mind-boggling that so many of those dreams I fleshed out on paper have come true.

For example, in May of 2002 I wrote down that I wanted to write a self-help book.  I wrote down 27 parameters for this dream, including that the idea for the book finds me quickly, I am guided in the writing and development of the book, I am guided on how to structure my day to write this book, my book touches people at a heart level, and my book reflects my truth and experience. 

In late fall of 2002, the timing felt right to begin the book.  I discovered all those descriptive parameters I previously wrote down unfolding in perfect timing.  I completed the writing in a few months, and held copies of my self-published the book, Tug of Heart - How to Trust What You Know, in my hand by November 2003.

In our linear, left-brained, techno-obsessed culture, a lot of us forget how to allow ourselves to create shoot for the moon dreams, dreams that challenge the status quo and expand the notion of what is possible.  We're too worried about the "how to" side that we can nip dreams before they have a chance to take that first breath.

If you haven't done this for awhile, create some space and time conducive to imagining a "shoot for the moon" dream.  Bolster that dream by writing it down, and soaking in these words from The Artist's Way, by Julia Cameron:

"We like to pretend it is hard to follow our heart's dreams.  The truth is, it is difficult to avoid walking through the many doors that will open . . . The Universe is prodigal in its support.  We are miserly in what we accept."

Have a shoot for the moon dream you want to share?  Inspire us - we can all benefit from witnessing the power of your dream.

Comments

[Alexys Fairfield]

Everything we are or will ever be is a dream. We only need to absorb the beauty and glory of dreaming. If we can dream, it then we can be it.

[Deb Call]

I surely second that Alexys! Dreams are much more than we ever "thought." They are our life.