Our Dream as a Stepping Stone

Who looks outside, dreams.

Who looks inside, awakens.

Carl Jung

A distinction can be made between dreaming and dreams.  Dreaming, even day-dreaming, offers information, creative expression, artistic flair, prophetic message, assessment and symbolism.  This list really could be extended in great length.  An important difference between dreaming and dreams is the dreamer does not have control over dreaming, but does create a dream in the sense of a goal.

A dream can be an expectation deliberately formed with specific efforts to be carried out.  It can be planned, orchestrated, prepared for, and adjusted to fit a time line or other expectations.  In this instance, the dreamer chooses everything defined and has control over the content.

From the time we are little tykes, people are asking what we want to be when we grow up.  So from a very young age, setting up a dream for ourselves is already in process.  Over the years, the dream changes from wanting to be a fireman to a basketball star to a college coach or athletic director.  Our original dream might be of a ballerina to a rock star to an athlete to owning our own dance studio.  As life unfolds, however, we are likely to have a greater variance in our unfolding.  Many of our intentions fall by the way side forgotten or repressed.

In THE BOOK OF AWAKENING author Mark Nepo states:

             The truth is that what we want or dream of doesn't

             always last.  It tends to serve its purpose in our

             development and then fades away, losing its relevance.

             And we can do enormous damage to ourselves by

             insisting on carrying that which has died.

             Living up to a dream is rarely as important as

             entering it for all it has to teach.

Energy is wasted when being used to beat ourselves up for failing to follow through with a dream.  Instead, we can look more closely at what was learned while striving towards the dream.  What did it teach us?  Did we learn a discipline that we might not have learned otherwise?  How did the dream connect us from one point to another?

Perhaps it is healthier to look at a dream as a stepping stone rather than the ultimate destination.  Over time, our growth or development evolves, altering our perspective.  Our personal dreams need to be flexible as our reality changes.  

There are many 'baby boomers' retiring now who were 'hippies' or 'flower children' with passionate dreams for reform.   As their dreams faded for whatever reason, they now have the time and sometimes the money to return to the passion that stayed lodged in their hearts over the years.  Volunteering, community involvement, structuring non-profits or becoming a spokes person revitalizes and redesigns the original dream.

Dreams can be laid to rest or set aside for future reference.  The important thing is to be mindful of the gifts along the way.  Let there be no pass or fail in judgment of what might have been.  Allow the spirit residing within guide you exactly where you need to be. 

Life is an adventure if we do not let our designated dreams become barriers to where we eventually become drawn.  It is important to not let dreams set limitations preventing all that you were truly meant to be.