The Color of Dreams

“Twenty years from now

you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do

than by the ones you did do.

So throw off the bowlines.

Sail away from the safe harbor.

Catch the trade winds in your sails.

Explore. Dream. Discover.” 

(H. Jackson Brown Jr., P.S. I Love You)

When I was fifteen I wanted nothing more in the world than to grow up to be a marine biologist. To that end I took extra bio courses in high school, planned out my post-secondary education with the guidance counselor, and joyfully anticipated my forthcoming studies at the Bamfield Institute on Vancouver Island. I never went to Bamfield; nor did I enroll in any post-secondary biology courses that would open the doors to a marine biology career. For reasons I still do not understand, my steps veered onto a different path.

Concurrently, fermenting in the background of my dreams was a desire to farm. My folks owned a quarter of land north of Westlock which they rented out; this would have been an excellent start to a life on the land. This ambition was derailed, however, when dad sold the quarter-section while I was yet a teen. As the decades passed my yearning for farming remained a low flame among my passions, not quite extinguished, never truly catching fire. 

Do you have unexplored dreams? Whenever my dad watched figure skating on TV when I was a kid he'd say to me, "Don't you wish you could do that, Bill?" I didn't, and the real question was, "do you wish you could do that, dad?" My dad owned a pair of men's figure skates (circa 1940!) but I never saw him use them. 

If you are honest with yourself right now, what would you say is your true desire in life? What are your dreams for work, family, community? In a no-holds-barred fantasy with unlimited time and resources, what would you be doing if you were living your dream?

“There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve:

the fear of failure.” 

(Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist)

Well here's the kicker - our dreams are not simply mental fluff. That which we envision in our thoughts arises from the possibilities of our heart and soul. Our dreams are the effervescence of our gifts waiting to take form, looking for an incarnation wherein the very best of us will touch this world. Dismissing our dreams as impossible, out of reach foolishness is to deny the very essence of Love's work within us. For from where do the unending possibilities of the dream world arise, if not from Spirit?

“Hold fast to dreams,

For if dreams die

Life is a broken-winged bird,

That cannot fly.” 

(Langston Hughes)

Dreams though are not about winning lotteries and get-rich-quick schemes. Dreams are built from the labor of Love; from the commitment to build life's monument one stone at a time. The difference between the ones who have seen their dreams come to reality, and those who whose dreams are cold ashes is thus: dream builders stay the course no matter what, they want that dream above all else, they give all of themselves to the fulfillment of their hopes.

Do you have a dream? Are you pursuing it with all that you've got? If not, why? Why settle for anything less than the full expression of the beauty that is you? Why hold your gifts, your possibilities back from this world that needs you so badly? The fulfillment of our dreams is not just about us, for what we do from the heart we do for the well-being of family, community, and all of humanity.

So dream; dream big, dream gargantuan, dream the greatest you-fully-realized dream that you can imagine. Then... start making it happen and don't quit, don't give up for even a second, no matter what, until that dream is completely birthed.

I leave the last word to Lady Wisdom from Proverbs:

"Prepare your work outside;

get everything ready for yourself in the field,

and after that build your house."

(Proverbs 24:27)

The color of dreams...

soul seeping into life

music

cannot be seen

still

the dance

flows

dreams

cannot be felt

still

they unfold

Dream

Breathe

Play

To Ponder Further:

- From the Bible: "But you, take courage! Do not let your hands be weak, for your work shall be rewarded." (2 Chronicles 15:7)

- From Buddhism:"The stronger our devotion, the greater the blessings. But to have no devotion is like hiding oneself in a house with all the doors and shutters closed. The sunlight will never get in." (Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche)

- From Islam: "The believer who participates in human life, exposing himself to its torments and suffering, is worth more than the one who distances himself from its suffering." (Islam. Hadith of Ibn Majah)