How Were Your Dreams Encouraged?

In the SoulLife Project  survey that is open right now  for privately sharing your experience of what happened to what you wanted to be when you grew up, I'm starting to hear from women whose dreams were never encouraged by family.

It's too soon of course to draw any conclusions about this, but intuitively it strikes me as being fairly common.

Dreams by their very nature are bigger than life -- certainly when we're 4 or or 7 or even 15.  We don't know yet what "the world" has deemed impossible.

http://www.waldseilgarten-hoellschlucht.de/waldseilgarten.html
Portaledge tree-sleeper used in Bavaria

So when a child proclaims their big dream  -- with all the naive, enthusiastic, certainty of innocence --  adults hear it as cute, but not serious.

To the early dreamer, there are no limits.  The child is a possibility thinker.  She focuses on the WHAT, the end point, the already manifested reality that she wishes to have.

The adult tends to focus on the HOW.  They know that life isn't that easy, and the need to be practical and safe is important.   Mom and Dad see reality as increasingly stacked against us as we age.  Naturally, they want to protect their children.

Unintentionally, by wanting to inject a dose of safety-minded practicality, adults too often end up crushing a dream before it's even hatched. Or, they send the message that it's fine to dream but better to have something solid and real to fall back on.

In short, some of us had instilled in us an expectation for failure, or timidity for going after what we could envision.  In the process, those early bold ideas of what was possible got lost.

Some of us are able to revive an early dream, despite not being supported.  Many let go and moved on, and feel a sense of emptiness where the dream once vividly filled our consciousness.

http://artbyjean.blogspot.com/2011/06/fashion-hats-set-a21-royal-sapphire.html

If your dreams weren't encouraged, I want you to know this -- it's never too late to reconnect and reshape a desire for a big achievement or a more authentic form of self expression.

Yes, true, if you are 55 it may be too late to be a child star.  But that doesn't mean you can't start acting right now in your own home town.

So take a deep breath, close your eyes, try to remember what your most heartfelt, soul-sparked dream used to be.  Then don your bright purple and teal possibility thinking hat and go for it!