A Dream Deferred

by Langston Hughes

What happens to a dream deferred?Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore--
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over--
like a syrupy sweet?Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.Or does it explode?

Town Beach
Naples, Maine
4th of July, 2011

Last week I left a secure, sensible job so that I could run off and live in the Maine woods for the summer.  It was a wild and reckless thing to do, I admit.  The impulse came over me one night as I was drifting off to sleep.  I immediately jumped out of bed to call my friend in Maine to ask her if I could move into her basement for the summer, and could she please find me a job?  A week later I had quit my job in Florida (to my boss's stunned amazement), left Infinity House in the charge of very capable caretakers, made the trek up I-95 with Brother Boy the Gypsy Cat, and was now selling T-shirts and souvenirs at Gazebo Tees on the Main Street Causeway in Naples, Maine.  Today, I'm writing this under a shady tree in the Maine Woods, blissfully happy.

I'm finally living a dream I've had for most of my life.  In my dream, I live in the Maine woods during the summer months, spending most of my days by the side of a lake. I always picture myself hiking in the woods, or spread out in a hammock under a shady tree,  reading a book.  In my dream I write, sing songs, and stare out at the rain over the water, blissfully serene.  Life is slow, and the air is cool and dry. I am healthy here.  In the winters of course, I'm lazing away in my hammock at Infinity House, my tropical hideaway on a sunny Florida beach.  It really is a beautiful dream!

It has always been one of those "some day" dreams, the kind that Langston Hughes calls a dream deferred ... postponed until a later, more sensible, time.  When my father used to talk about his dreams, he'd always start by saying, "When my ship comes in ..."   Like my father, I always have very sensible reasons why I have to put off the dream until "some day."  I enjoy the dreaming of it, but the doing of it always gets deferred until some future day when other, more important, matters have been handled.

This year, when summer rolled around and thoughts of Maine once again filled my head, it suddenly occurred to me that I could, if I wanted to, go to Maine right now. This year. This week, even. Yes, I had a job, but it didn't challenge me or leave me feeling fulfilled, and it barely paid the bills.  Couldn't I get a job like that just about anywhere?  Naples, Maine is a resort town, meaning that from the 4th of July to Labor Day all the tourist places are open and will be needing summer help during the very months I wanted to be there.  Suddenly it all seemed so simple.

Once I made the firm intention to move in the direction of my dream, opportunities began opening up for me.  It always happens like that.  Today, two weeks after the decision to make it happen, here I am in Maine with a place to stay, good friends, food to eat, a reliable car, Brother Boy the Gypsy Cat, and a job that pays my bills.    I'm living my dream!

What dreams have you deferred until "some day?"  Bring them out into the light and dust them off.  Instead of making lists of all the reasons why you think they're impossible, see if you can find six ways that you can make them happen right now?  Hint:  Money is really not as big of an issue as we tell ourselves it is.  It is merely one resource.

My father's ship never did come in; he trudged through life, weighed down with responsibilities, his un-lived dreams still locked away in his heart when he died.  He didn't realize that if he had once ever decided to accept the call of adventure and set out in search of his heart's desire, his ship would have instantly appeared on the shore, ready to carry him off.  

Where will your ship take you?

* * *


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The Alchemist:  Follow Your Dreams

Follow Your Bliss

Prosperity Project Day 25

Greetings, and welcome to Day 25 of the Prosperity Project.  With just a few days to go in our experiment, we have the nice round sum of $25,000 to dispense with today.

Before we get to spending money, though, I'd like to ask you a question.  How much of the life you already have do you keep in storage?  Why is it there?  Do you not have enough space for all the stuff you have?  Are you saving some of it for a special occasion?  Do you have a lot of remnants from a prior life that you just aren't willing to part with?  The answer to that question may have a lot to do with why you are not yet attracting into your life the abundance you can see with your mind's eye. 

I used to have dreams in which I would find hidden rooms filled with stuff I didn't know I had.  Sometimes it was a house I owned; sometimes I was a guest in the house.  In those dreams I'm always filled with wonder at the beautiful things that I've found in the secret room.  In one busy dream, I had rented a house and found that the garage was crammed to the top with junk.  I spent the entire dream cleaning out that cluttered garage.  Sometimes I will dream that I am in a house I had dreamed of previously.  I'll wander through the house trying in vain to find rooms that had been right there during the last dream.  I'll show up at a house I recognize, and try to find my previously favorite room to sleep in for the night.  Sometimes I find it; most often it is gone, and it reminds me to take advantage of things while the taking is good.

I've heard that, in dreams, houses represent our consciousness and rooms represent different aspects of ourselves.  If we find rooms we didn't know existed, we are in the process of discovering untapped parts of ourselves.  I guess the night I spent cleaning out the garage I must have had a lot of junk to clear out of my own life.  Anyway, I've spent so much time dreaming about houses and rooms that I've had many years to think about this concept.  I've decided that dream rooms are not the only rooms that reflect our consciousness:  the rooms in our living space are also an excellent reflection of the current state of our selves. 

So again, I ask you: Do you keep a lot of your stuff in storage?  Are there parts of your house that you don't use at all, that are filled with a bunch of stored things?  Do you have junk drawers?  Junk rooms?  Are parts of your home left unfinished?  I would like to suggest that our lives will grow when we have become too big for the lives that we currently have.  As long as you are not fully using the life, the home, the stuff, that you have now, I'm thinking that more stuff cannot yet come to you.

So if you're really wanting a change, if you are serious about wanting to attract the things that you are writing about here on these pages, then go let some light and air into the dark places of your home.  Take stuff out of storage.  Play with your toys.  Give things away if you no longer have a use for them.  If you are storing things from your past, find a way to display them so you can see and use them every day.  Sleep on the good sheets.  Eat off your best china.  LIVE!!!

$25,000   Every day, I'm beginning to meet someone who has heard of my books.  I believe that even after this Prosperity Project ends, I will continue to attract money because I will continue to add value to the world with my writing,  and because I continue to gratefully use and appreciate all of the wonderful things that I already have.

$  2,500   Performing Arts Center building fund
$  5,000   Wealth Building Account (Total $85,000)
$17,500   Vacation Home Fund (Total $79,000)

Wow.  I feel really good about this.  When this run of money starts to wind down I will have saved $100,000 and will have bought a home in the mountains free and clear.  For right now, that is the wildest that my dreams get, so I'm contented with how this has turned out.

What about you?  How will you spend your $25,000 today?

The Birthplace of Dreams

Ever wonder where our dreams come from?   Why do we want what we want?  What drives us to try new things?  Is it possible to locate the power source from whence dreams are born and consciously to nurture that power?  Can we purposely increase the vibrational energy of our dreams until they manifest, fully born, into our world?  How do we learn to do that?

Here on the Prosperity Project, our dreams have centered around creating physical spaces for ourselves that contain everything we could ever need or want as we go about the playful work of creating stuff.  Robyn created a business that lets her spend her days doing work that feels like play to her.  Bob created a woodshop that allows him to create with his hands while his mind is busy mulling over the thoughts that eventually turn into his books.  I built myself a room with a view, where I could write in peaceful solitude.  Then I made it a movable room so I can always be at home, wherever my heart may lead me.

Our dreams, then, have been dreams of creation; it turns out that our hearts' desire has been to live in a world where we can spend all day playfully creating things that add value to our world, and the world in turn rewards us with grateful plenty.  The more we play, the more abundantly prosperous our lives are becoming.  I don't think it's an accident that creativity is tied up with the notion of revenue.  The energy of creativity is born out of our second chakra.  It is the same chakra, interestingly enough, that also governs our relationship with money.  Could it be that if our relationship with money is strained that it might somehow affect our ability to create?  Could it be that if we are blocking our creative impulse we might also somehow be blocking our ability to allow money to flow toward us?  I wonder.

In Invisible Acts of Power, Carolyn Myss  explores the energies of the seven main chakras as they are expressed in acts of service.  For example, the first chakra, whose energy has to do with physical survival and tribal security, is associated with gifts of shelter and food.  Sometimes, when people have hit rock bottom, it is an appropriate act of service to respond by helping them get a place to live and food to eat.

Whereas the energy of the first chakra grounds us and ensures our physical survival by encouraging us to conform to our tribe, second chakra energy is associated with interpersonal power ... particularly in the forms of sex and money.  This is the energy center that controls our desire to create, and it is this energy that sets us apart from the others in our tribe.  When we add value to our world by playing in our workshops, we are operating out of second chakra energy; and it is second chakra energy that causes money to flow toward us as a result of our creativity.  It is no wonder, then, that Myss relates second chakra energy with what she calls "Gifts of Survival -- Financial and Creative Support."  Myss, an intuitive, says it much better than I can:

[W]orking with your creative energy is as essential to your health and overall well-being as breathing and eating.  Creative energy is a basic survival instinct; it motivates us to become part of society, to become productive, to bring things to life, and to distinguish ourselves from others by what we make, the crafts we pursue, the skills we develop in business or in cultivating friendships, the entrepreneurial ideas we conceive, the problems we resolve, and the children or communities we birth and nurture.  Yet many people have creative ideas and yearnings that they do not pursue out of a fear of financial failure or embarrassment, or because they are reluctant to step outside of their normal way of life and change it.  They abort their dreams, not realizing that psychological and emotional abortions can be more devastating than physical ones.  As a medical intuitive, I have seen many depressions and other chronic suffering at whose source was the repression and denial of a strong creative urge.   

 I find it fascinating that each of us here on the Prosperity Project, as we were choosing where to give our money, chose to give second chakra gifts of financial and creative support.  Robyn's foundation gave money to the symphony and to other fledgling business endeavors that were the product of her friends' creative impulses.  Bob gave away money to a friend to help her start her business, and also gave gifts of money to random strangers ... both second chakra acts of service.  I gave all of my money to music ensembles, because learning to finally give expression to my own creative impulses by singing in a chorus is what once saved my own life.

I have always heard that whatever you are hoping to manifest in your own life, that is exactly the seed that you should sow into someone else's life.  If, for example, you fear that you don't have enough money, you should make it a point to tithe a portion of your money.  If you fear you don't have enough time, you should tithe a portion of your time.  As you sow, so shall you reap.  If we, then, are wanting to manifest into realities these dreams we have of the perfect workshop, studio, or business, perhaps we should look around us to find someone into whose life we can plant those very seeds. Do you know someone with a dream?  How can you help them make that dream a reality?  I bet in helping them, your dreams will also come true before you even have time to notice. 

Maybe next we should make a game out of planting some seeds ...  I wonder what would happen? 

CLUE: How to Make Your Dreams a Reality; Notes from John Maxwell

Last night I heard a lecture by John Maxwell entitled, "How to Make Your Dream a Reality." He gave us 10 questions we can ask ourselves to find out if we are on the right path. Here are my notes from the lecture:

You have greater odds of success if you have many valid reasons for achieving your dream. The dream journey is long, difficult, and filled with challenges. If you only have one reason to get there, you'll most likely lose heart.

Put your dream to the test; here are ten questions:

1. OWNERSHIP: Is my dream really MY dream? Most people are living someone else's dream. You can tell if it is really your dream because you won't make any excuses for not achieving it. You BUY it; you have pride of ownership. You bet on yourself, and invest your own money, reputation, and time. There is a difference between believing in your dream and buying into your drea. You can have a really big dream planted right where you are; don't use your current circumstances as an excuse.

2. CLARITY: Do I clearly see my dream? If I don't know what it looks like, I won't know if I have it. You won't be able to see the whole journey laid before you, but can you clearly see what the end looks like? It's kind of like putting together a jigsaw puzzle; you need to keep your eye on the box so you know how the pieces fit together. As you move closer to your dream, the picture becomes clearer. Once you have a clear picture you can prioritize correctly.

3. REALITY: Am I depending on things within my control to achieve my dream? Reality is the foundation upon which you build your dream. It must be solid. The following statement is not true: "If you can believe it, you can achieve it." It's not true because it doesn't factor in reality. If I really believe I can be a ballerina but I'm built like a linebacker, it's never gonna happen. You see it every year on American Idol. People really believe that they can win, but they have absolutely no talent for singing. You cannot achieve a dream if it depends on talents that you have not been gifted with. The things within my control are CHOICES (attitude, discipline, kindness), ABILITIES, and NATURAL GIFTEDNESS. The things not within my control are outside circumstances and abilities that I do not have and cannot learn.

4. PASSION: Do I love the dream journey? I have to love the journey, not just the end result. Passion is the source of the energy necessary to persevere. Passion will get you to do things you shouldn't be able to do, like a 27-year old conductor successfully performing a difficult piece that seasoned professionals are too afraid to tackle, using young musicians and limited resources. Passion will keep you from getting discouraged when the going gets hard, and the going WILL get hard.

5. PATHWAY: Do I have a strategy to reach my dream? Again, you won't see the entire path, but do you have some idea of how to begin, and which path to take to get to your dream?

6. PEOPLE: Who do I need to include to achieve my dream? If your dream is a big dream, you can't get there by yourself. A nightmare = big dream + bad team. If you have a 10 dream but a 2 team, you'll get a 2 result. Who will you need to include on your team?

7. COST: Am I willing to pay the price for my dream? At the beginning, dreams are free. Things will come easy as the universe conspires to help you get started. The moment you begin to actively pursue your dream, you start to pay the price. The price will come SOONER than you think, it will be HIGHER than you think (way higher), and you will have to pay it MORE THAN ONCE. The dream journey is a toll road. Know how much you are willing to pay. It is possible to pay too high a price for your dream; if you are not careful you can lose your health, your values, and your family.

8. TENACITY: Am I moving closer to my dream? How do you move closer to your dreams? The secret to your success is determined by your daily agenda Every day you are either PREPARING or REPAIRING. If you do all the right things today, then you will be prepared for tomorrow. RULE OF FIVE: No matter how big a tree is, if you take five swings a day at it with an axe, it will eventually fall. What five things can you do EVERY DAY that will move you steadily toward your dream. They are different for every one. Dr. Maxwell suggested that you spend the next few months deciding what those five things are for you, and then be tenacious about doing them every day. That means EVERY DAY. Weekends, Christmas, Birthday. EVERY DAY.

His dream was to write books, so his rule of five is that every day he does the following:

READ
FILE (quotes and stuff)
THINK
ASK QUESTIONS
WRITE

His first book took him 365 days to write 100 pages. He's not particularly good at writing books, but he's tenacious. He has written 54 books using this method.

We can accomplish less than we think we can in a week, but more than we think we can in a year -- if we follow the RULE OF FIVE. What are your five things?

9. FULFILLMENT: Does working toward my dream bring me satisfaction?

10. SIGNIFICANCE: Does my dream benefit others? Does it add value to other people? Success is all about you. Significance is about other people.

Dr. Maxwell suggests that we give our dreams a score based on the above questions. The closer we are to scoring a 10 on each question, the more successful we will be in achieving our dream. How does your dream rate? What can you do to improve your odds?

This lecture by John Maxwell is based on his book, Put Your Dreams to the Test, part of a multimedia package.  You can buy  The Dream Bundle at JohnMaxwell.com.