Growing

Can you be happy with where you are and still dream big? I sure do hope so.

I am a big believer in goalsetting and manifesting and vision boarding. Dreaming big and planning and figuring things out for a 'better tomorrow' is in my DNA. When I was growing up, my mom used to say that all the kids (myself, my friends, etc) would be playing outside. They would all be running and jumping and being loud. And there I was in the middle with my clipboard (yes, I had one even as kid) and I would be 'organizing' the other children. We had a club just like a lot of kids....expect I used Robert's Rules of Order to conduct business. We had quarterly dues (like $0.25) and an agenda. How else would we accomplish our mission??? It's no wonder I've turned into a master manifester who wants to help others do the same. But, we have to start with gratitude. We have to start from a place of feeling good. From a place of abundance. Not from a place of scarcity or lack. A place of lack looks like this: "Dear God, pleeeeeeeeeeeeaase give me this ONE thing and I PROMISE I'll never ask for anything again and I'll spend my life doing good deeds and...." You can't negotiate your way to a dream or a goal or a desire. The universe doesn't work that way. Starting a goal or a dream from a place of abundance looks like this: Days, weeks, or even months of being grateful for where you are now. And it's not just saying, "Yeah, of course I'm grateful!" You have to feel it viscerally. Write down 5 things every day that you appreciate about your life. Even the small things like that hot cup of uninterrupted coffee, the sunshine, that funny joke you heard. Then say these things out loud to yourself and to others. My husband and I often say to each other, "Dang, we have a great life." And this happens when we're making dinner or hiking in the woods. We simply stop. Pause. And feel grateful in the moment. Then - and only then - can we move into dreaming, planning, goalsetting, and manifesting the "next". I often say out loud that we have more than we need in life. And I don't mean 'stuff' - although sometimes I literally mean the stuff we have. Usually I mean that we are fulfilled and I cannot imagine what 'more' goodness could possibly come our way. Then maybe the next day or a few days later is when I will begin planning, manifesting, and dreaming of what's next. Because the universe doesn't respond to desperation or lack or manic moments of "Please help me now!" It responds to open, loving kindness and a willingness to surrender the outcome. Reaching goals or achieving dreams isn't about GETTING something. It's about BECOMING something, some different and new version of ourselves. Learning this single lesson has changed my entire life. Gratitude and growth must occur together. One cannot exist without the other. When we shift our perspective in this way, everything changes. I'll go into more detail on this topic at a later time, but for now, let's be grateful so that we can grow. Your dreams and goals are on purpose. And no matter how long it takes, they're right on time.