No Holds Barred Dreaming!

When people finally become sick and tired of being sick and tired, they begin to think about ways to make changes in their lives. They realize that they are on a treadmill, engaging in insane behavior where they are continuing to do the same things expecting different outcomes but still getting those same miserable results. They finally realize that if anything is going to change, they have to be the ones to make that happen. No one else makes it happen, you are the only one that can.

If you truly want to change your circumstances and lot in life, the first major step you have to take is to think about what you want your life to be. You have to think about all of the things you want to do, all of the things you want to have, all of the accomplishments you want to happen in your lifetime, and the values you want.

In order to give yourself a road map of where you want to go, you need to let your thoughts run free and to have a no holds barred dream session where you list everything you want without having any doubts about how realistic they are given your circumstances today. You must let go of any limiting thoughts that are going through your head. This is the time when you simply list everything you want to accomplish, to be, to acquire, to become, without having any one tell you that you can’t accomplish that. Most of all, you can’t tell yourself you can’t accomplish that.

Unfortunately, that is not always easy for some people to do. They have had a lifetime of people telling them they could not do things, they have had parents who have subconsciously (or sometimes consciously) destroyed their self-esteems, and others who have consistently and subtly told them to stay in their place.

There are bad parents and bad teachers around. There are also great ones. Unfortunately, the damage that is done by the bad ones, can multiply through the generations unless folks break those chains that are binding them.

We all need to remember that our Spiritual Higher Powers, no matter who yours is, creates no junk. We are all important and valuable and can accomplish what we want to accomplish. Our Higher Powers want us to be happy and content.

My parents once told me that I would never make $30,000 a year. I can safely tell you that I passed that mark fairly early in my career.

I used those comments as a motivator. I would show them. It drove me to a higher level.

To be honest, it took me a while to get beyond the resentment that I felt toward them for trying to keep me in place. I had to realize that it wasn’t their fault. After all, they only had eight grade educations and neither of them ever made more than $12,000 a year.

They did not want me to be disappointed if life handed me the same sentence. They meant well.

Unfortunately, we see it everyday. We see many parents who teach their children to have low expectations. Parents should be telling their children that they can accomplish whatever they want to accomplish and they can be anything they want to be.

Unfortunately, in the majority of those situations no one taught them that. You can break that chain though. You can break that chain any time you want because you can be whatever you want to be. It doesn’t matter if you are in the latter stages of your life or how down you are right now.

You can begin to form new pictures of yourself any time you want. Your brain can not tell the difference between a real picture and what you imagine for yourself. Begin imagining the picture of the person you want to be in your head. Keep repeating that visualization and you will be surprised at how you will find ways to make that picture real.

You also need to do this exercise of listing everything you want on your own. It should be yours and yours alone. Unfortunately, too many family members and friends will tell you that you might be unrealistic. They may be well intentioned, but unfortunately, if you listen to their negativity, you might limit your desires. Right now, you just want to get down on paper what you want to become and to have. There will be time to develop action plans and to decide what it is going to take to accomplish something, but for now, just imagine it and get it down on paper.

You might list an income goal, a net worth goal, a goal of being the very best sales rep in your company, a weight goal, or you might list goals that involve your being more charitable, a better parent, a better friend. It doesn’t matter. They are your goals.

The key is to just let go and have that no holds barred dreaming session of what you want. Don’t let your subconscious talk you out of anything at this point. Just dream, dream big and get it down on paper.

I will share some examples with you when I first started this exercise. I wanted a 280ZX. I got that. I wanted a Mercedez. I got that.

I wanted to earn my CLU designation. I got that. I wanted to be Brokerage Supervisor of the Year in my company. Got that. I wanted my office to be office of the year as the top sales office. Did it.

I wanted to be sober and a non-smoker. It took me longer to get there, but with the help of my higher power, I did.

It all started to happen for me, when I let myself go, imagining all of the things I wanted to accomplish. I ended up with a pretty big list but after all, there was nothing on that list that said I had to accomplish all of them the very next day. I had time on my side. (Except for getting sober, that had to be done quickly)

I went from a strategy of well I hope things work out to one of where I knew where I wanted to go and what I wanted out of life. I had a personal life strategy.

I must tell you that many of my goals have changed as I have matured. They now incorporate more family goals, how to be a better husband, how to be a better father, how to be more charitable, and a heckuva lot less material and ego driven goals. However, I am still dreaming. I still have those NO HOLDS BARRED DREAM SESSIONS!

No one can take your dreams from you. Keep dreaming!