Calendar Books by Allen James - Daily Reading - "A Woman's Daily Guide to Success"

For May 12th we read from "A Woman's Daily Guide to Success" from Allen James' series of Calendar Books...."Dream dreams" (James, 2012).

Having dreams (goals, desires, plans for tomorrow) is a must for personal success...for if we have no dreams we have nothing to aim toward for our personal success. Remember, PERSONAL success is what WE make it...not success in the sense of money, material greatness, etc... Personal success comes in very small packages as well as larger than life packages.

As we've established in earlier postings, the secret of having a fulfilling life is in the giving of what a fulfilling life sends our way. If we dream dreams, then follow our dreams we will have something worth sharing with others, hope, inspiration and a meaning to live. What better contribution can we give? Pursuing our dreams produces courage, which is our fuel to achieve personal success in life.

There is a reason why as children we loved magic and dreams. When we stop chasing our dreams we forget how it feels to live hopeful and remain young at heart and soul. Dreamers grow to be independent adults, learning we can make a difference in our own rights. In accomplishing our dreams we appreciate the experience of failure and know failure is just part of success.

Dreaming dreams develops us into interesting people, we show others we have meaning, direction and purpose, and let's face it, it is fun proving the world wrong. The more we chase and accomplish our dreams the more the lines of the boundaries of the world diminish. When we accomplish our dreams, we are the first to see it happen. Dreams are strong enough to define us, once accomplished we prove to others they have no say in who we can and can’t be.

Lauren Zander, of the Handel Group says The very act of putting your dreams into words — or “languaging” them as Lauren calls it — is the crucial first step to believing they are possible to achieve. The next step is to look at how you perceive your dreams as possible or impossible. Don’t be surprised to see cynicism rear its head with dream-blocking thoughts such as “I don’t have the talent to do that” … or “Come on, that would never happen”… “Wow, that’s way too hard”… or , the so common “I can’t afford it.” You can push past these excuses. Lauren points out that even the wealthiest people raise money instead of investing in their own ideas. “So many success stories come from asking for a favor, a loan, a chance,” she says, recounting how a woman she knows always wanted her own jewelry store. “She took a few pieces she had made and asked a store to sell them on consignment — and now her work is being sold in more than 25 stores. Some would say she got lucky — I believe she took a real leap by going in that first store with her bag of ‘stuff’ and asking if they’d take a risk on her.”

  We can get past cynicism by keeping faith with our dream and having the confidence to pursue it. “It is the difference between thinking you are going to do this and hoping you might,” says Lauren. “The uncertainty in hope leaves you more scared than energized and happy. Honestly believing in your dream, on the other hand, excites you and makes the work that goes into attaining it fun.” For example, say we decide to take up bicycling. Believing absolutely we will do this generates an enthusiastic Web search for the appropriate bike and then to find a cycling club in our area. But if we are simply hoping to take up the sport, our Web search will be a low-level priority we won’t likely devote time or attention to… and then another (sort-of) dream bites the dust.

“Our actions follow our thoughts,” notes Lauren. By making our actions consistent with our dream — for instance, if our dream is to become a gracious host or hostess, preparing two new recipes a week, painting our dining room and collecting tableware — our actions are in fact the fulfillment of dreams. “Through your heartfelt dreams, you can make lasting change in your life,” says Lauren. “I believe that is what life is about, having dreams for what you want and going after them. The better the things you want and strive for, the happier you become.”

Dream dreams. Take control of our destiny.

Keep looking up. : ) AJ