by Chuck Gazzolli

Dream-Setting

While goal-setting uses our conscious, rational mind, dream-setting uses our heart. What I mean by that is in dream-setting, we ‘think and plan’ with our imagination, feelings, intuition, and creativity. In dream-setting, unlike goal-setting, we do not need to know how to reach our dream, for once your subconscious has learned what you want from your visualization sessions, it will figure out how to get and deliver it.

Remember, [the subject of this two-part series] is goal-setting and dream-setting. So, I’m not suggesting that we abandon one in favor of the other. But what I am suggesting is that dream-setting is the more important of the two, and for best results we should work with both methods simultaneously.

Why It Is Important to Nurture Our Dreams

1. Making our dreams come true makes life interesting and exciting.

2. The mere act of dreaming awakens the dream and adds meaning and purpose to our life.

3. When you stop dreaming, you are dead. When you hold on to dreams, you are holding on to life.

4. We are always daydreaming and our daydreams create our future. But if our daydreams are unconscious and undirected, we may be creating a future nightmare. And when we carefully choreograph our daydreams through the process of visualization, we create a dreamy, magical future.

5. Dreams spice up life, adding exciting prospects to even the dullest of days.

6. If we don’t dream about the future, how will we know where we are going?

7. When we build our dreams, our dreams build us. The more we can dream, the more we can do.

The Magic of Dreams

1. Look at the miracles that surround you, iPhones, iPads, 3D Television, they all started as dreams! Our dreams are beacons that reveal possibilities and allow us to transform life.

2. Glory, victory, and honor only come to those who dare to dream.

3. The achievement of you dreams will end your problems, and success comes to those who follow their dreams.

4. No dreamer is ever too small and no dream is ever too big.

5. It is never too early or too late to have, follow, and reach our dreams. For as Shel Silverstein wrote, “Listen to the mustn’ts, child. Listen to the don’ts. Listen to the shouldn’ts, the impossibles, the won’ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me… Anything can happen, child. Anything can be.”

6. Anything that you can imagine, you can achieve; anything that you can dream signifies you have the power to accomplish it.

7. For those who stick with it, the progression of an impossible dream is as follows: impossible, improbable, inevitable.

8. When we dream, we enter the realm of timelessness and infinite possibilities. Arming ourselves with the wisdom of sages, we become mages, capable of anything.

9. As someone else once wrote, “Dreams are like stars…you may never touch them, but if you follow them they will lead you to your destiny.”

How Shall We Dream?

1. Treat your dream as you would sacred scripture. Revere it. Follow it. Return to it for inspiration and guidance.

2. Dream with passion, far better to lose yourself in passion than to lose your passion.

3. Have BIG dreams; small ones cannot ignite the flames of enthusiasm, excitement, and passion.

4. When you are dreaming, you are doing so in the safety of your imagination, so don’t be afraid to do the impossible. How can you reach the impossible dream until you first have one?

5. Be willing to do whatever it takes to succeed, for dreams and dedication make a powerful combination. “Commitment unlocks the doors of imagination, allows vision, and gives us the ‘right stuff’ to turn our dreams into reality.” (James Womack)

6. Live with hope; it is not a dream but a way of making dreams come true.

7. James Dean’s suggestion is a good one, “Dream as if you’ll live forever, live as if you’ll die today.”

8. Karen Ravn shares her wisdom in verse, “Only as high as I reach can I grow, only as far as I seek can I go, only as deep as I look can I see, only as much as I dream can I be.”

9. Another wise woman, Anais Nin, has this to offer, “Throw your dreams into space like a kite, and you do not know what it will bring back, a new life, a new friend, a new love, a new country.”

Caveats

1. Before your dreams can come true, you have to have them.

2. If the embers of your passion go out, rekindle the flames of your dream, for as Woodrow Wilson said, “We grow great by dreams. All big men are dreamers. They see things in the soft haze of a spring day or in the red fire of a long winter’s evening. Some of us let these great dreams die, but others nourish and protect them; nurse them through bad days till they bring them to the sunshine and light which comes always to those who sincerely hope that their dreams will come true.”

3. Don’t let your dreams remain dreams; do something while you’re waiting for your subconscious to deliver. Return to goal-setting and take the next step that will bring you closer to your goal. Otherwise you will become like the people described by Erma Bombeck, “There are people who put their dreams in a little box and say, ‘Yes, I’ve got dreams, of course I’ve got dreams.’ Then they put the box away and bring it out once in awhile to look in it, and yep, they’re still there.”

4. If you’re not living your dream, who will? And if you don’t live your dream, you’ll be living someone else’s.

5. Cultivate courage, for dreams will guide you to faraway places and unfamiliar territory. But the adventure that awaits you is worth many times over the fear you will have to face.

6. Heed this advice from H. Jackson Brown, Jr., “Don’t say you don’t have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michelangelo, Mother Teresa, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein.”

7. As mortal beings, we don’t have forever to reach our dreams, so start working on them today.

8. If your dreams turn to dust, vacuum the rug and start again, for those who persist will be victorious.

9. Don’t be pushed around by your problems, but be uplifted by your dreams.

10. If you want to reach your dreams, help others reach theirs.

11. Also consider the words of Tom Clancy, “Nothing is as real as a dream. The world can change around you, but your dream will not. Responsibilities need not erase it. Duties need not obscure it. Because the dream is within you, no one can take it away.”

Imagine how many dreams were cast aside because of the opinions of others. Don’t fall prey to the doubts and fears of others, for each time you kill a dream, a little part of you dies too.

There are three kinds of people: those who live in a dream world, those who face reality, and those who turn one into the other. Which one do you choose to be? Put your future in good hands – your own.

Now you understand the differences between goals and dreams, but “This bridge will only take you halfway there, to those mysterious lands you long to see. Through gypsy camps and swirling Arab fair, and moonlit woods where unicorns run free. So come and walk awhile with me and share the twisting trails and wondrous worlds I’ve known. But this bridge will only take you halfway there. The last few steps you have to take alone.” (Shel Silverstein)

Reprinted with permission.

© Chuck Gallozzi
For more articles and contact information,
http://www.personal-development.com/chuck

References

BOOKS

Dream Big: Know What You Want, Why You Want It, and What You’re Going to Do About It by Bob Goff

Goals!: How to Get Everything You Want — Faster Than You Ever Thought Possible By Brian Tracy

Goals: How to Get the Most Out of Your Life by Zig Ziglar

Burn Your Goals: The Counter Cultural Approach to Achieving Your Greatest Potential By Joshua Medcalf and Jamie Gilbert

Succeed: How We Can Reach Our Goals by Heidi Grant Halvorson Ph.D.

Self-Discipline: How To Build Mental Toughness And Focus To Achieve Your Goals By John Winters

VIDEOS

The 12 Laws Of Karma That Will Change Your Life

Jim Rohn: Dreams and goals can become magnets

How to Design Your Life