Article by Ruth Seodi
Close your eyes and give yourself a minute to picture your dream life, dream home, dream partner, dream job. Put all your current life obstacles and restraints aside and just allow yourself the luxury of picturing your dreams.
If you didn’t do it – do it now, the rest of this article can wait. Enjoy this brief window of escape…
If it helps, my dreams would be to live in the South of France or the Caribbean from October to February where I would write and deliver self – help workshops, I would get involved in the local community and feel welcome. I would have the perfect partner/relationship where love, admiration honesty and fun were in abundance. My income would be plenty…I could go on – but I just want to give you a flavour.
Now let me guess what’s going through your mind when you visualise your own dreams… “That’s never going to happen”
“It’s just a dream and won’t come to anything”
“I can’t change my current situation”
Mind chatter and failure preventure
This is just negative ‘mind chatter’ which often kicks in as a ‘failure prevention’ mechanism and keeps you ‘safe’ within your comfort zone and indeed rewards you with exactly what the title of this article states!
If you’re up for some positive change then let’s make a start by simply jotting down your dreams and aspirations – keep them in a safe place that you can refer to as and when. I like to keep my thoughts and inspirations in a little note book which I keep in my bag. It’s important to keep your thoughts light rather than heavy and dense. Avoid considering logistics and ‘what ifs’ – remember this is simply picturing your dreams NOT how you can make them happen. It’s a different thought process – we are so used to analysing everything at top speed, deducing risk factors and pros and cons, that to consider purely visualising your dreams without dissecting the whys and wherefores seems unnatural.
Think outside the box
The problem is that we don’t really ‘think outside the box’ unless we’re really inspired or kicked into touch somehow. Instead we stay safe with what we know within our familiar boundaries and comfort zone. So rather than doing something to create a positive change and face the risk that you might fail, it’s easier to do nothing and avoid that risk of failure. Or maybe you have tried something in the past and not succeeded which has put you off trying again. Now read the title of this article again – if you want to create change then it’s time to start doing things differently, even just small changes will set you on the right track, just one step at a time.
So now I’m inviting you to change your thoughts about achieving your dreams and to simply own the concept that they MAY be possible, after all ANYTHING is possible…
Take a look at some of the successes and achievements you have created so far, for example, at school, or university. At work or in your personal life – rekindle those moments of success and push away any negatives that try to creep in. Focus on the positives.
You may find yourself inspired to add a bit of shape to the dreams you jotted down – go ahead and make them a bit more real with extra detail.
It’s important to nurture and care for ourselves, many of us have spent so much time and energy looking out for others who are close to us that our personal growth and enrichment gets left behind or forgotten. Sometimes we find ourselves being made to feel selfish or guilty by one or more people in our close circle, and if this has gone on for a long time it can make a big dent in your confidence and sense of self – worth.
If you read my previous article titled ‘Find Yourself After 50’ you will know that I’m all about raising self – awareness, removing the blinkers and getting more in tune with yourself and I will continue with this theme in the articles that follow. Until next time, start to bring those dreams alive…
Books published: ‘Time to Play a Musical Instrument’ & BE YOURSELF DITCH THE MASKS