Cloud9000 – Special Contributors

Hang on to your dreams.

This one sounds really easy. But this is probably one of the hardest things to do. We start by putting our dreams on hold while we take care of what we are “responsible” for. We do our classes, we make the grades, we get the jobs, we get the home, we have the kids, we tend to our relationships, we do for others.

Now, don’t get me wrong, those all all blessed things as well. However, if we don’t tend to our dreams, then we are not tending to ourselves. We are dismissing the energy that is ours. It is not to say that we have to be “perfect” or that the picture of what we dreamed won’t change, but the dreams must be there.

After the birth of my last child (as I have written previously – a most horribly trying pregnancy) I found I was missing something…. my heart, my desire, my want. I knew I wanted and loved my children, but I didn’t feel whole. Something was missing. Then, I was training someone on how to do an interview, what to look for on a resume and application… and why we look. When I hit the question of “hobbies”, I found I didn’t have any. How is that possible at 30+ years old?

Well, one by one, I put my dreams on hold. Though some of my dreams were present and accounted for, the parts that were mine alone were missing. My energy was going OUT, but I was not allowing for anything to replenish that which was me. I am a mom, a homemaker, a business woman, an employee, a friend, a family member…. but, outside of all that, I was nothing. I had not allowed myself the time to celebrate and “play” with my dreams.

So, during the two and half years since my last little blessing arrived, I started to do things… see what I liked. I have found that I like to take pictures. That I LOVE music… singing, dancing, listening… getting completely lost in the music. I like to do things with my yard and to grow things. I like to do projects and make things look better than they did. And, thus the creative part of self started to come back. A drive that I want for more.

Now, that isn’t to say that then I had to work through that I also deserved to have more. That I, just like all other souls, have the right to be treated with respect, to follow my dreams and to be happy.

So, hang on to you dreams. And make a conscious effort to bring them out and play with them on a regular if not daily basis. It is important to who you are, to your energy source, to your happiness. They are what make you uniquely you!

Dare to dream a little dream today. Do a jig at the end of your day for all you go done. Sing a silly song. Smile.

Have a blessed day.

I’ve never really understood the wild devotion of some to the band The Flaming Lips, but I got a glimpse into the phenomenon this morning listening to frontman Wayne Coyne on NPR.

On the one hand, Coyne’s account of his life and philosophy strikes me as the testimony of a happy soul of the type the rest of us can only hope to emulate. On the other, however, his music surely indicates that he’s not a relentlessly cheery person incapable of self-reflection. To me, this is the most admirable of traits: someone who has made the choice to be happy.