An Invitation to Dream

One of the most challenging seasons of my life was the two years I had hopes and dreams that I was too scared to share with others. The truth is, I wasn’t even brave enough to acknowledge them to myself. It was time to move from one chapter of life to the next, but I thought I didn’t know how I wanted to begin writing the next chapter. I kept talking myself out of the things that were stirring within me. However, amazing things started to happen when I got brave enough to acknowledge and share my dreams.

Life, relationships, and work become adventures when you name your dreams and ambitions. When you are brave enough to do this, you take the first steps on an exciting growth journey—struggling with where to start.

6 Practices to Help Clarify Your Dreams

FOCUS ON THE POTENTIAL, NOT THE PROBLEM

The tendency to focus on life's problems leads to anxious thoughts that anchor you to status-quo thinking. When you allow yourself space to imagine the life you want to live, you begin to develop a passion and desire that can move you forward. As I’ve written before, one of the most influential and important questions is, “What do I want…. really?”

POSTPONE EDITS

The discipline of dreaming requires postponing edits. Many of us live a limited life because we edit chapters in our life stories that haven’t been written yet. Focusing on potential and allowing ourselves to dream makes us vulnerable to disruption or disappointment. So, we prematurely edit what could be magnificent stories in favor of a settled life.

RESIST EITHER/OR THINKING

We have often been told that “you can’t have your cake and eat it too.” While this is true in some situations, there is a temptation to overapply this. As you imagine what is possible, permit yourself and hold yourself accountable to keep a both/and mindset. Either/or thinking comes from a scarcity mindset; there is only one cake. An abundance mindset allows both/and thinking - I can eat my cake and bake more.

FIGURE OUT WHAT FIRST…. HOW LATER

Don’t limit your future based on your current capabilities. It’s so tempting to imagine what is possible and begin wondering how to make it happen quickly. When you do this, you shut the door on imagining what is possible and shift to problem-solving. You don’t have to know how to get there yet. You would have done it if you already had the skills and knew how to get the desired outcome. When you keep your attention focused on what you desire to be accurate, you will naturally begin gathering evidence of the behaviors and attitudes that lead you towards that vision or away from it. Over time, getting clear on what you want will contribute to the clarity of how to get there. When focused on the problem, you say, “I don’t know how.” When focused on the possibility, you say, “I don’t know how…yet.”

LEVERAGE WHAT IFS

“What if” thinking can be a blessing or a curse entirely based on how you apply it. When you imagine “what if?” in a negative way, you paralyze yourself with fear. What if I can’t? What if it fails? While these may be possibilities, so are the positive “what ifs.” What if I can? What if it all works out? The challenge here is to focus on the positive intentionally.

BE PATIENT, ENJOY THE JOURNEY, AND MAKE ROOM FOR SERENDIPITY

Dreams shrink when they are rushed. If your vision is significant, it will take time. Keep the view in front of you and take the next right step. You don’t have to have it all figured out. And, again, if your dream is big enough, you probably won’t have it all figured out. We tend to overestimate what we can accomplish quickly and grossly underestimate what is possible in the long term. Resist the temptation to shrink your dream to fit who you are today. Instead, allow yourself space and time to grow into your dream. Celebrate the steps you take along the way and enjoy those unexplainable moments of serendipity that happen along the way.

MEET TODD CRAIG: Todd currently serves as the Chief of Staff at Lighthouse Family Retreat. Before joining the Lighthouse staff, Todd served 20 years as a pastor and church planter. His great passion is to motivate and empower people to live the abundant life they are meant to live. He lives in Santa Rosa Beach with his wife, Stephenie, and their three teenage boys, Ethan, Caleb, and Will.