Within reason, I believe we’re all capable of making our
dreams come true. And I say within reason
not to put a ceiling on our ambitions, but because if our dream was to fly a
giant Neapolitan ice-cream cone into the Sun, or become the first person to
invent time travel and kill Hitler, then – however noble the notion – that
would be a poor investment of our precious creative energy and quite silly, to
boot.
The sky’s far from the limit when you consider more realistic dreams people strive to
manifest. Realistic doesn’t mean the fulfilment of these objectives can’t be
incredible. Men have stood on the surface of the Moon. Out there on this planet
of ours, right now, someone will be dreaming of being the first person to set
foot on Mars… and they’ll do it, with their whole home world watching in awe.
Andy Murray dreamed of winning Wimbledon, and he did it. It’s
taken a lifetime of gritted determination and dedication to get him into the
position of lifting that coveted trophy, and through that he’s achieved what no
other person in all of living humanity could achieve this year. All because he
turned his dreams into a plan and shaped his life the way he wanted it to be.
I believe we all have the capability to be Dreamsmiths – to
be able to forge the lives we want to live, rather than feel we have to accept
someone else’s pre-fabricated expectation of what we should and shouldn’t do
with our days of human consciousness. (Again, within reason… it’s naughty to
rob banks with guns, for example, and I think it’s best just to accept that
there are some rules that we really should abide by, unless we want total
anarchy.)
One of my pretentious quotes is thus:
“Turn your dreams into plans, but don't allow your plans to
turn into dreams.”
I doubt there’s a human alive who’s reached 21 without
seeing at least a single plan degrade back into a mere dream, but I think the
above is a good rule, when you apply a present perspective. The past is gone
and the future doesn’t exist, so even if you’ve fumbled and dropped dozens of
dreams over the years, it doesn’t mean you can’t give your all to making this
next one happen.
And, paradoxically, because the future doesn’t exist, we
have the power, still, to bend the Universe around us, so when the moment comes
and we step into that perceived future, we’ll find true satisfaction there of a
job well done. That moment may not be exactly
how we imagined it, but it would be a damn site different if we hadn’t toiled
with blood, sweat and tears to get there.
Is there really any truly valid reason why all of us
shouldn’t be following our dreams?
Perhaps we give up on them too early? Or maybe we set them
aside and get on with running the rat race or having children, then come back
years later to find them mouldy and broken? When the broken dreams start
stacking up, I guess we become weary of investing our hearts in such pursuits
again, and we stop dreaming altogether.
As with the case of world-class, professional athletes or
prospective astronauts, it takes enormous self-discipline to achieve their
dreams, but what I find interesting about that is we also have that same
ability of self-discipline, as part of our hard-wiring.
I’m rubbish at self-discipline, but, sometimes, I can do it
like a pro. That the times I do it like a pro are in a poor negative ratio to
the procrastinating, frustrated, brain-aching moments is undoubtedly the
biggest productivity issue I have in my attempts to squeeze words out of my
head and into the Interlands.
But understanding that I can sometimes do it allows me to see that the only thing stopping me
from doing it whenever needed is my
damn ego and all the crazy wiring in my brain, which, through present
awareness, I’m starting to unravel and connect back to the right places.
I imagine many people reading have experienced or are
experiencing a similar confusion in executing their dreams. I think it’s called
‘being human’.
Now, more than ever, I need to make my dreams come true, and
I want to write about it in a way that will inspire others, because I don’t
have a super-brain or any special mental or supernatural powers, and if I can
tip the action to procrastination scale far enough to showcase a burst of
creative sunshine that sustains and lights the path to my new way of life, then
I really do believe anyone can achieve the similar results and transformations,
respective to their own lives and ambitions.
With that, I’d like to invite others to join me in this
drive of renewed determination and resolve to change our lives for the better!
Um… we can call ourselves The Dreamsmiths, and maybe I’ll have some t-shirts
printed and posted out as a rubbish reward for reaching our targets and
fulfilling our dreams? We could have a special handshake, too!
I think sometimes it helps to bolster our intent by just putting
it out there and letting the world know what we want, and that we’re going to
get it. And then, when that initial enthusiasm evaporates - and, for example,
we’d rather stay in and watch TV, with a box of donuts, than go out for
that brisk walk we promised ourselves, with the objective of having those
entirely doable rock-hard abs next summer - we can use the public humiliation
and goading of our dear friends as a spur to get back into the zone and attack
our objectives.
So, if you want to share your dreams in the comments on this
blog, please feel free to do so – although, remember, there may be children
reading, so nothing weird! We can come back to it over the course of the next
year and congratulate ourselves for doing just (about) as we planned, offering
encouragement to each other in the meantime.
Here are a few of my dreams to kick it off…
My big dream is to provide instantly engaging, entertaining
video, audio and written material to people who are in the first steps of
getting help for problems with depression. I’m sure I share this experience
with many, but when you go to your local doctor with such concerns, it seems
the best they can do is throw you a prescription for antidepressants and, but
not always, arrange for you to see a counsellor/psychologist/community
psychiatric nurse.
The problem here is that it takes up to two months for the
tablets to kick in, and the appointment with the shrinks will likely take
around the same time to arrange, if not longer, so you basically leave the
surgery with the exact same issue you went in with, except, perhaps, for a
grain of hope in finally doing something about it.
What I want to do is have material available immediately to
these people, directing them to tools and techniques they can use to bring a
little light to their darkness, when they need it most. It can be a grim
moment, stepping out of a doctors’ surgery and realising you’re carrying the
same weight of mental shrapnel as before, and two months more of that perceived
pain may seem an unbearable, lonely ordeal. It’s a dangerous time.
I’m sure this plan would save lives, if I could do it
widespread, even internationally. It wouldn’t save everyone who considered and
then edged to the brink of suicide, but it would save some, and that would make
all and every effort towards achieving this dream very definitely worth it.
Of course, there’s a great deal of work to be done to even
have a chance of forging this dream, but I’ve already started. However messy my
grand plan may appear to others, I have it all mapped out… well, bits of it.
Another of my dreams, perhaps in years to come when even my
shaved hair looks grey, I’d like to run a refuge in the Scottish mountains, for
people who just simply need a break from their lives and an opportunity to find
or rediscover the light of peace inside them.
I’m sure many people in mental institutions around the world
would be far better treated in such a place of tranquillity – speaking with
experience as someone who has had two short stays in such establishments, though on a voluntary basis and without the need to wear the 'special tuxedo'.
You’re ignored for days and fed your meds, and, apart from the TV, there’s
barely any mental stimulation at all. Perhaps (and it’s very possible that)
things have changed in the two decades since I visited, but most people I met
were certainly not mad… just so damn tired of the negative dialogue in their
own minds.
However, since I can’t control government policy on mental
health affairs, I will go for one big, friendly, welcoming, open house – a
converted hotel or farm – under a mountain, on the edge of a loch, where people
can just let go of the world outside the glen and concentrate on their own souls
and their own healing for once. I’d employ staff with skills in Reiki,
reflexology and whateverelseology that was beneficial to the calm in the
visitors’ minds. Oh… and definitely make sure a few of them were great with the
guitar, so they could rock it around the camp fire at the end of an easy day’s
therapy and scenery bathing.
My more immediate dream is to give my Mum a proper funeral.
We had only a small ceremony at her cremation, here in Carlisle, but it was
planned that she’d have her ashes scattered in Birkenhead, Merseyside, where
she was born and brought up. Sadly, and maddeningly, at the time, there were
some issues of ‘family politics’ which scuppered the deal, and we – her
children – couldn’t afford to cover the costs. We just about covered the
cremation.
There are still many people who want to say their final
goodbye to my Mum, and I know there will be masses of people at the service,
when it happens. She was and is well loved. Until her ashes are scattered over
the graves of her parents – as she always told us she wanted – it’s always
going to be painful, unfinished business. The ashes are currently in a plastic
tub, like you get muscle-building protein powder in, and that tub is inside an
offensively bright gift bag. It gets me every time when I look at it. It
doesn’t give me the creeps… it fills me with regret, and I don’t usually do
regret.
My closing dream is to actually get off my arse and get fit.
Again, if I can do this, there must be so few other people in the world who
have a genuine excuse not to do the same, because I’m 39 and I’ve been up and
down and up in weight for literally as long as I can remember. Now, I want
body, mind, heart and soul to resonate with the same frequency, so I’m going to
rewire a whole new ethos of physical care, including drastic measures such as
stopping eating cheese sandwiches altogether.
Those are my plans. Some will take longer than others
and probably happen at just the right time, but they’re the focus of my intent,
and I firmly believe I can forge these dreams into substance, whilst, at the
same time, enjoying all the life that bubbles my way in between.
And I really do hope people will jeer me in the street and online
if it seems like I’m starting to drift off course or stall with my plans.
Sometimes, all it takes is a good jeer to get things moving again.
Congratulations, by the way, if you’ve got to the end of
this blog. That’s the sort of stamina Murray used to take the title at
Wimbledon! You’ve already taken your first step to a better,
determination-driven life! ;-)
Non-invasive hugs,
Les x
