Living The Dream...

Ahh...Florida. Feet up, breeze swaying the palm trees and boats docked in the canal right behind the condo.

Vacation with my husband. Finally. 

Living the dream, right? Well, I guess it all depends on what your dreams are. Is a nice vacation in the tropical breeze your dream? It sure is nice, but is it your ultimate dream? How about the opportunity to live in your dream destination? World travel, doing what you love, becoming your ultimate physically fit or spiritual self?

How about becoming learned, obtaining a degree, switching jobs, writing your memoir? Yeah, me, too. It all sounds good, but how do we obtain it?  

First, you have to evaluate what your dreams are. Really daydream about them. Get to know them. Try them on for size. Visualize yourself living them-travel, dream job, performing feats of strength, having time to meditate in the silence of a morning sunrise, expertly performing that yoga pose you never thought you could...

Visualization is the key to manifesting your dreams. That, and actual belief that you deserve to have it, and bonafide hard work. You can visualize and believe all you want, but if you spend all your time doing that while doing nothing else to work towards your goals, it most likely won't ever happen. Nothing ever comes from sitting idle, you have to act as well as dream. I believe in the law of attraction: what you put out with a clear and positive intention will find it's way to you (keep in mind, all that negative, jumbled mess of thinking we do day to day will also find it's way to you...) and it will find it's way often--the parking space you visualize yourself getting, the spot in the coffee house you love, even the promotion you long for. But, life long changes take work as well as thought. 

"If you build it, they will come..."

I love the movie "Field of Dreams" because it's magical...whimsical, but it tells the truth, in a way. Kevin Costner's character had to do the work behind the dream. He had to take a (huge) risk and plow under a great deal of his crops for this ridiculous and lofty idea. No one understood what he was doing, not even his own family. They thought he was nuts for mowing down his means of income right when they needed it most! He was in financial trouble, bills were stacking up, his farm was in danger...and he goes crazy. 

Turns out, he wasn't crazy at all. All of these little synchronicities kept building up. The school book banning meeting that led him to drive to the author of said book's house, the stops on the way because of the drive...(*spoiler alert!*) he went with his dream, his gut, and did the work. He built it and they came. From everywhere. And the money he made from the ball games played on the diamond he mowed his corn under for saved his house, his farm, his family. 

Yeah...the ghosts of baseball players past helped his dream come true; it is Hollywood, after all. But the lesson is there. He took a risk, trusted his gut and his heart, and plowed on (pun intended). Not all of our dreams are as lofty as this, some will be close, some even bigger. It will happen. Maybe not over night, but don't rule that out! Your intention is your own; don't listen to nay sayers and let them rule your decisions. Listening to negative talk from others leads to negative self-talk, which leads to doubt. You must keep in mind a phrase I learned from Louise Hay, "When people around me are negative, I say to myself, 'It might be true for you, but it's not true for me.'" You don't have to buy into their negative beliefs or their own self-talk. That's them; you are you. 

Use this formula I came up with as a quick reminder of how to begin your thinking. It doesn't have to be about manifesting something other than a great day:             want + intention + action= success. It will take time to learn to master your thinking and your belief in yourself enough to make your dreams a reality. But it is so worth it. When I think back to when I was a mess, always doubtful, always negative I think "Wow, It's been so long since I was like that; it really seems like it's been forever." But, in truth, all we have is now, and it doesn't seem that long ago. How long it took no longer matters, for, when you live in the moment, that's all you have. No projections into the future worrying about how long it will take to become the you that you desire. You already are that person, you just have to let them out. And when you live in the Now, you don't realize there is anything else to look back on or worry about getting to; you just live. Each day you will see that this is the time and place you belong, and all will be well. 

Baby steps, my friends. Baby steps.

I am so happy right now, in this moment, sharing with you loving thoughts and feelings. This is my dream. 

No pinching necessary.

I wish you peace and great joy on your journey.

Peace,

Nanette