Living the Dream

By: Kathy Nelson

Can you imagine living your life in pursuit of your happiness? As a Success Coach, I have the honor and privilege of working with people’s deepest wishes and dreams. I have seen so many dreams become life’s reality and create the happy story that they are staring in. I do know that dreams can and do come true. I don’t just think it; I know it deep to the core of my being.

There are many reasons that we put our dreams on hold or bury them deep within us, afraid to voice it or bring it up into the light of our full consciousness. We don’t quite own it.

We are afraid it can’t be ours. We have an illusion that we can’t do it or have it. “It is for other lucky people,” we tell ourselves. We think we don’t deserve it, or we can’t imagine how it could come true. Or we might have had a trauma or bitter disappointment and closed our “wishing power” down.

Somewhere we made a decision to not get disappointed and stopped wishing and wanting. Somewhere we might have lost our trust and belief that this was a friendly and supportive life. It just seemed to feel . . .

Impossible.

We get so busy and buried under our hectic lives and responsibilities that we stop thinking and stop wishing about what we want and we stop dreaming about what appears to be impossible.

Many times when I first ask someone, “what is your dream?” they look at me stunned. It is a shocking question. They really don’t know. It takes awhile to get back in touch with it. It might be a week or two when they come back with an inkling. You have to tease it back up to the surface of your mind. It has been locked away deep within the heart, sometimes for several decades.

I had a secret dream, but as a single mom it had been tucked away for many years. I wanted to go back to the city where I went to high school. I shared it while speaking about dreams at a network meeting one day. Finally, it was spoken. Finally, one day in an instant, it popped out and was exposed not only to me, but to others. My dream was shared. Once you speak it, you begin to own it. Then it seems to get an energy of its own as the Universe seems to deliver it to you. If we have the courage to want and to dream, we can let go of how it will all work out.

As we begin this summer, bright with its possibilities and opportunities, ask yourself, “what dreams are tucked away in me?” Do you have dreams, longings, fleeting thoughts of things you would like to do? Did you when you were a kid? Did you when you were just out of school? Did you before you were married? Before the kids? Or the job? Did you when you turned 30 or 40 or 50?

Dust the dreams off. Start to journal about them. Use a notebook or legal pad and just start to write down what you want to do, to be, or where you want to go. Let your inner child have some space to speak of the dreams you have carried within your heart. If you have a good confidante who is supportive and encouraging of you, share it with them. It is important that you share only with others who support and uplift you and are happy for your dreams. Don’t share it with the naysayers.

Your precious life is not intended to be a to-do list. Your life is to be an expression of your deepest dreams, the fruition of the gifts that were born with you, your wishes decorating your life in Technicolor. Those dreams are planted in your heart center for a very good reason. Give yourself permission and turn your “wishing power” on! This can be the year you begin to live your dream.

As an accomplished speaker and author, Kathy Nelson’s coaching work has been featured in a variety of blogs and ezines as well as Good Housekeeping, Copley Press, San Diego Union Tribune, San Diego Magazine, and most recently in the award-winning book “Heart of a Military Woman.” Kathy is recently published in, “The 365 Days of Gratitude”, by editor Donna Kozik. Kathy has appeared on ABC, NBC and CBS News and the Leeza Gibbons Show. Website: http://www.ontracksuccesscoaching.com/.