This article is in honor of all the Dream Girls (Women) out there. Roughly two years ago, two friends of mine and I shared our dreams with each other and agreed to coach each other towards achieving those dreams. The idea was not ours to begin with. It was a much larger group started by women who are older than ourselves (we're in our late 30's). The idea was to meet once a week and do the same thing in person. Sad to say, with busy schedules and the like, the meetings fell by the wayside. However, the three of us decided to keep supporting each other via e-mail.
We've found that 3 is an ideal number for us. We know each other well, our interpersonal dynamics are great, we can whine when we need to, best of all, we are each on the other's cheerleading squad. We also each have different innate gifts. I love to research information and share it so I'm always digging about for information on how to be successful, how to visualize, how to meditate, how to create harmony in one's life…As I've been e-mailing they've both been telling me I have a gift for writing.
It's funny because my high school literature teacher, Mr. Dupey, would always tell me the same thing. “Never stop writing!” I've always preferred other endeavors and writing comes so easily I've always taken it for granted. My undergraduate thesis advisor and I were not talking by the time I got to graduation because I wouldn't follow the rules: write a proper outline, submit weekly updates. Instead I wrote my thesis the weekend before it was due and of course wrote the outline last. Granted I had spent the whole semester researching but nonetheless I did not follow the writing rules. Well, still got an A on the paper, and, fortunately or unfortunately, other than sticking to original content and referencing work that is not mine, I still don't follow rules when I write.
My Dream Girl friends kept telling me, since writing comes so easy to you, what would it hurt to share what you write with more people? I've dragged my feet for over a year until I published my first article through Triond: Why Can't Women Have It All? I'm just writing for fun and never expected what I say would resonate but the first and only comment I've received thus far is from another woman thanking me for the article because it encouraged her to seek “Yes people.” in her life. I was both elated and stunned to read this.
Reading this has made me think they must be right and I should also share something else they've been pushing me to broadcast. I don't typically write affirmations but, after reading a lot of Louise Hay affirmations and thinking about what it is I need to improve in my life, I realized that I need to focus more on the present. Like most dreamers, I'm always looking ahead and the future is always 10 times better than the present, so much so that I don't make much of an effort to enjoy the here and now because I'm always super anxious to get to the next thing or to move on from something I don't like, etc. In order to remind myself to be grateful for the present, I wrote an affirmation where I combined a lot of Louise Hay affirmations and put a personal spin on some but, those of you who know her work can see this is pretty much all her language:
The Present: The Present is a wonderful place to be. The past has no power over me. I am never stuck because I always create a blissful way forward. I am the point of power in my world. Everything I need to know, every answer I need is revealed to me and comes to my awareness with ease. Everything I need comes to me easily and quickly. I deserve and accept the best, now. Accidents and strange situations are not accidents or strange, they are created by my thoughts. I release the anger towards myself. All my wounds are bathed, attended to and lovingly healed. All who surround me genuinely love, rejoice and celebrate with me and I am able to genuinely love, rejoice and celebrate with them. No one can ever hurt me. I love who I am and all that I do. I accept myself and rejoice in my wondrous uniqueness. I am the living, loving, joyous expression of life. I create my best life now and it is a wonderful, blissful life.
As for the reader who commented about needing to find ways to feel more supported, if you don't have Dream Girl friends yet, in my opinion, Louise Hay and Oprah (check out her Soul Series) are two very good friends to have. They also give you a trio of Dream Girls which includes yourself!
That pretty much covers honoring your gifts. You should use all the talents you have been blessed with even if they don't seem like a big deal to you. With respect to following dreams, my dream is to completely eradicate poverty in Africa through green business projects. Just like the reader on a quest to find support in her life, I am on a quest to find others who share the same dream so we can work together.
The one thing that I've learned, don't hide your dreams from others, share them with others because you are inevitably going to find people who will help you make them come true. As for my friends, one has started an online t-shirt business and the other is making her own designer bags There's one more friend who joined us briefly but had to move closer to her market in LA where new designers focused on organic designs are readily accepted I'd better not forget a Dream Boy who just opened his own restaurant. He's not part of the group but he's another friend pursuing a passion.
See, dreams are coming true every single day! To combine two of my favorite quotes: “There is no try (Yoda from Star Wars), just do it! (Nike)” Yoda's quote is actually: “Do or do not…there is no try.” I of course would say there is only: “Do!”
