Happiness 7. Is it realistic to dream?
by Una Hearne.
We are brought up to be deeply suspicious of day dreaming. Of imagining our future, of creating a vision for ourselves. We’re told its all fanciful nonsense, we should get our heads out of the clouds and get on with real life.
And yet, imagining what does not yet exist is one of the key characteristics of being human. If we didn’t imagine and create we would still be living in caves. There would be no books, phones, cars or computers. Look around you, see all the things humans have invented, created and made happen. Dreaming couldn’t be more natural to us. It couldn’t be more intrinsic to our nature.
It is good practice to be conscious of your Vision for your life because it influences how your life unfolds. A Vision gives you direction and allows you to be a conscious participant in your life.
Then as the Buddhists advise, hold your Vision lightly. You can’t predict the opportunities that will appear as you go about the business of making your dreams come true. When we create a Vision we usually limit ourselves because we can’t imagine much beyond our current reality. As our confidence grows and we achieve each step we often naturally expand our Vision.
We may end up with a different, equally good, outcome, or something far better than we could have imagined. The key is to be flexible enough to be able to change direction without hopping all over the place. It is our responsibility to decide when to stick to the plan and when an unexpected opportunity justifies changing direction or taking a detour.
This often triggers anxiety ‘How will I know I’m making the right choices?’ Relax. You won’t get it right all the time, it’s likely to be a muddle a lot of the time and you will make plenty of mistakes and poor choices. This is all part of the journey of being human. YAY!
Having a Vision makes it far more likely you will live a richer, more conscious life. We do best when we remember it’s not the final outcome we imagined, it’s the trip, the everyday stuff that makes up our experience of life. The people, the fun, the achievement, the experience, the enjoyment. The living of a life rather than passively waiting for it to begin.
(If you don’t relate to the word Vision, please substitute whatever word works best for you eg: Dream, objective, goal, result, outcome, mission, desire, intention, destination etc)
Pic credit: asundermier. Found on pixabay
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