ARE YOU MOVING TOWARDS YOUR DREAM?
Cindie Chavez ©2018
What do you really want right now? What is it that you can’t stop thinking about, dreaming about?
And how do you plan to bring it to pass?
Many times the big “how” question is what stops us in our tracks. The dreaming part is easy, figuring out the “how” can feel like work. Not as much fun. Not as light and fluffy. We can often picture the dream in clarity, and yet the how seems confusing, foggy, unclear – and even if we do figure out “the how” once we start to implement it things start to feel difficult. This is because wishes, hopes, and dreams are light and fluffy, they are weightless being part of the metaphysical realm. The “trouble” often starts as soon as we begin to bring our ideas into the physical realm – where things have substance, and weight. Where other people get involved along with things like rent, construction, employees, publishers, money, and whatever else we think we need to make the dream come true. In Maria Nemeth’s book The Energy of Money, she refers to this uncomfortable experience as “trouble at the border”. This is the “border” between the metaphysical and the physical. With the understanding that this “trouble at the border” experience is common, here are a few ideas to help navigate this process of bringing your dreams into reality.
The creation process starts with an idea, a wish, a hope or a dream. That dream needs to become a solid intention. There is a much-loved quote from Johann Wolfgang von Goeth that says “At the moment of commitment the entire universe conspires to assist you.” As wonderful and awe-inspiring as it is to imagine the entire power of the Universe conspiring on our behalf, “commitment” is the key concept here. It is our commitment that triggers the conspiracy of support by the magical powers that be, aka “The Universe”.
We may wish for many things, but this wishing faculty of ours is generally a commitment-phobe. It’s easy to see a beautiful thing, declare that “I wish I had one of those!” and then completely forget about it a few moments later. These fleeting wishful thoughts are not of the powerfully creative variety.
As humans, we are powerful creators, and we have an intrinsic ability to create what we desire – when our will is united. Maybe you’ve experienced a time when you had that wishy-washy experience of thinking, “Part of me wants this but part of me doesn’t.” This is not a united will.
I’ve always loved the concept of a “full-body yes!” When we know that we know that we know that we want a certain thing and if that thing were to be offered to us we would say YES with a YES that would resonate to the core of our being. No excuses. No wondering, no pondering, no wishy-washiness, – just an immediate and unequivocal “YES!”
I’m reminded of when my children were very young and they found out I was taking them to Disneyland – pure excitement fired up and ready to go. A total “full body yes”.
This is alignment. Joy is its keynote.
There is a hermetic principle, the Principle of Correspondence: “As above, so below. As within, so without.” This is not just a nebulous “as in Heaven so on Earth” sort of thing, it also speaks of the correspondence of our inner world and our outer world, the words we speak and our heart’s intention and what we see manifesting physically in our environment. This emphatic correspondence points us to the importance of a united will – an alignment between our conscious desires and our unconscious desires. This is a necessary unity for the conscious creator.
We move our wishful thinking into the realm of commitment by checking our alignment and making sure that all parts of us are on board with our stated desire. This is often easier said than done. Part of us wants to lunge ahead, and part of us wants to lurk behind. The bigger part of our brain (and also the subconscious part that has so much power!) generally hates change. That part of our brain knows we can survive the status quo since we survived it yesterday. And survival is its main concern, so it sees no reason to change anything. It wants us to stay where we are, for survival’s sake.
This is why honesty is a crucial part of this process. What is it we really want? Often we have trouble stating our truest desires because we judge them as wrong, or we fear someone else would judge them. We worry that we’ll seem selfish or lazy or greedy or some other thing that is unacceptable to us and to our values. Sometimes we’ve devised a “how” or a “plan” and we get it confused with our actual desire. We think we want a certain thing, but only because we think it will bring us a certain feeling. To create powerfully we must own who we are, and what we want – unapologetically. This often requires a journey into the murky depths of our shadow, the part of our selves that we’d rather keep hidden away in a cave somewhere.
C.G. Jung wrote that “Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.” As uncomfortable as it may be to “make the unconscious conscious” it will provide the enhanced ability to direct your own life, and you’re going to need this if you’re determined to “make your dreams come true.” A key question to ask yourself here is “Why” do you want what you think you want? What will having that thing bring you? This is a deep dive, and a powerful one. The answer to this question uncovers a consideration for commitment.
So, you’ve recognized what you don’t want and you’ve wished for something different. You’ve allowed that to clarify what you do want. You’ve done some digging into why you want this thing, and given yourself permission to want it. You’ve made a strong intention to create this thing. You have a clear vision of what you want. You’re learning to feel what it would feel like to have your dream, and you’re letting yourself savor that feeling.
What’s next?
Purposeful action comes next.
And here’s the thing that is of utmost importance if you want this to be easy (or at last easier) – making sure that your action is inspired. When we become inspired the “how” becomes part of the magic making process, instead of just another long string of chores on a to-do list.
There is a very clear difference between inspiration and motivation. So often those two words get used interchangeably, and yet they are definitely not the same thing.
Motivation is often attached to avoiding a consequence we don’t want. “I’m motivated to work hard because I’m trying to keep my boss off my back.” or “I’m motivated to exercise because I don’t want to put those extra pounds back on.” Sort of a bit like shame-based self-management, our inner voice telling us that we are a big loser if we don’t achieve this thing. “You better keep at it or else you’ll have that experience again.”
Motivation does have its place. We often know what we don’t want before we get clear about what we do want. And when we want to steer clear of a particular consequence, motivation can be a big help. This is the caterpillar squeezing out of the cocoon because he can’t take being cooped up in there for one more second.
But the real magic happens when we tap into inspiration when we allow ourselves to be inspired. And inspiration is generally attached to an outcome we desire, as opposed to a consequence we want to avoid. The act of envisioning, and savoring, the wanted experience is where we find the inspiration.
To create with the greatest ease necessitates facing forward, holding a vision of that thing we desire as something we can see clearly ahead of us, a success or a goal we can feel viscerally. This vision has the power to pull us forward.
Motivation, on the other hand, is not pulling us forward, but driving us from behind, cracking the whip of “You better do this or else!” – A big scary monster that has us running away from it with all our might. It’s the difference between moving towards our dream and running from a nightmare. Running from monsters is not my idea of a happy journey.
If we want to allow everything that the Universe (Love, Heaven, God, Source, the Divine, Our Higher Self, etc.) wants to bless us with we cannot look over our shoulder constantly complaining about the poverty, the lack, the loneliness, the bad news that is chasing us down.
One of my favorite authors and teachers, the late Florence Scovel Shinn, wrote that “You cannot enter the Kingdom of Abundance bemoaning your lot.”
In other words, you’ll never get rich by complaining about how poor you are (or how bad the economy is, or how few jobs there are available).
You’ll never get your spouse to fulfill your idea of the perfect mate while you are complaining about every little thing they do.
You’ll never develop vibrant health while complaining about how badly you are feeling.
You MUST set your sight on the experience you desire and move towards it. Forget what you are moving away from, it doesn’t matter. You want to be so fully focused on the delight ahead of you that you completely forget what is behind you. Inspired action is focused on the solution, not the problem.
When we become inspired we suddenly find extra time, extra energy, extra money, extra stamina…whatever it is we need to bring the dream into reality. We suddenly experience the support of the Universe. This is the caterpillar squeezing out of that cocoon because he wants to fly!
Are you sick and tired of being stuck where you are? That’s okay, that kind of motivation will help you get clear on what you don’t want and can be the catalyst to discovering what you do want.
You can be stuck in a situation you hate and wish for something else day in and day out. But our wishing faculty is powerless to create an actual manifestation until we go a step further and let that wish solidify into commitment.
Do you want to fly? What is the positive outcome you desire?
Picture it in detail, feel would it will be like when you have it, give yourself permission to want what you want so that your inner desires line up with your outer declarations. Let your powerful vision inspire purposeful action.
Face forward towards your dream. Take one step at a time. Let it be easy.
More by Cindie:
Cindie Chavez is known as “The Love & Magic Coach”. She is the creator of MOONLIGHT™ – A Course in Manifesting Love and she has some great free stuff for you at her website: www.cindiechavez.com
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