The Reason Angels Can Fly

The reason angels can fly is because they take themselves lightly ~ GK Chesterton

I've written before about keeping your routines simple while working on your dream goal.  You also need to keep the whole thing in perspective and not take things too seriously.  Remember, if you're not having fun and it feels more like a work job, maybe you should reconsider your approach.  Once you get going, don't take yourself too seriously.

What have you done recently to take yourself a bit more lightly?

The Courage to Follow It

Everyone has talent.  What's rare is the courage to follow it to the dark places where it leads ~ Erica Jong

Your talent, your dream journey may lead you to some very dark places.  It's not very fun to share your dream journey with close family and friends, only to have them try to talk you out of it.  Sometimes honing a talent can mean hours of sacrifice away from family and friends to devote to your craft.  There are probably a million other "dark places" I can't even mention.

To me, going through all of that is worth the reward in the end.  Dream journeys take time away from family and friends, but usually the reward in the end is more time to spend with them.  And even though they can try to talk you out it, it's usually just because they love you and don't want to see you get hurt.

Hone your talent, follow your dream, the dark places will go away.

The Most Fortunate People

The most fortunate people on earth are those who have found a calling that's bigger than they are - that moves them and fills their lives with constant passion, aliveness, and growth ~ Richard Leider


Whenever I look at some of my current, inspirational heroes, I think that this quote sure does define them.  Oprah is building a cable network.  I have friends in direct sales who are achieving their dreams.  My brother just recently landed his dream job as an air medic.

Even when things seem bad to me, these folks are usually the ones I turn to to life my spirits.  All I have to do is watch the latest episode of Oprah's Lifeclass to find an inspirational story to get going again.  After watching an episode about Jim Carey, I wrote myself some milestone checks and carry the first one in my wallet.  The other three are in the nightstand at home.

And although I'm not making my income from writing, I have been living my dream since April.  I get up and have all morning to complete my workout, get my writing done, and still have time to relax, and get to go to a job I love every day.  I'm not wealthy by any means, but pretty much writing on the schedule I dream about.  And this is genuinely one of the happiest times in my life; it's filled with passion, aliveness, and growth.

If you're on a dream journey, do you feel the same?  I'd love to hear!

The First Person Through the Wall

Develop your own compass, and trust it.  Take risks, dare to fail, and remember the first person through the wall always gets hurt ~ Aaron Sorkin

When you're pursing a dream goal, it can always feel like you're the first person through the wall.  Even though hundreds, probably thousands have gone before you in your field, it will always feel like you're the first one through the wall.

But you have to keep going.  If you want to achieve your dream goal, you must pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and go through another wall.  It's what anyone who has achieved your dream goal will tell you.

Keep on going, just be relentless.

Whatever I Believed

Whatever I believed, I did; and whatever I did, I did with my whole heart and mind as far as possible to do so ~ Jean Toomer

I'm doing it with my whole heart, that's how I know that writing is meant to be my passion and vocation.  I've shared before that at one point, I thought that a sales career was to be my dream journey.  But there were times, as I look back now, that my heart wasn't always in it.  During the warm weather, during the holidays, I wanted to be enjoying those times myself and not building a business.

And that's how I know that writing is the passion to pursue now.  During the hot summer months, I enjoyed the hot mornings as I typed away on my second novel and worked on editing the first.  Even now, I've plunged full force into re-writing the first novel, I find it hard to stop in the mornings when I have to put it down.  I have to have some downtime in the mornings and not wear myself out before going to work each day!!

If you're not pursuing your dream journey with all your heart and soul, figure out why not.  Maybe you're on the wrong dream journey?  Maybe you are on the right journey, you just haven't hit your stride yet.  This is the most important time to keep moving forward.  Over that last few months it was the mornings when I didn't want to write that I forced myself to go on and can now brag about getting my goals accomplished. 

Are you chasing your dream with all your heart?

Don't Water It Down

Don't bend; don't water it down, don't try to make it logical; don't edit your own soul according to the fashion.  Rather, follow your most intense obsessions mercilessly ~ Franz Kafka

Sometimes figuring out what exactly your dream journey is meant to be is the hard part.  But once it is revealed to you, you much follow it like an obsession and like Frank Kafka says, mercilessly.

I'm working through this right now.  Those who follow me regularly know what I have finished writing my first novel, A Place to Call Their Own, and am looking for publication options.  Well, this week I heard from the balance of my initial prospects and am sad to say, that no one has taken me up on my offer.  Don't worry, I'm OK.  I know it goes with the territory.

A few weeks ago, based on a publisher's advice I started re-writing the manuscript and that was very scary for me.  With just a little bit of direction and a lot of fear, I waded in the shallow end of re-writing/editing.  After I figured out what the notes meant to me, I dove right into the deep end and am about halfway done with the rewrite.

So you see, I know deep down in my heart that the story I have to tell is publishable.  I just have to mold into a marketable novel so that someone can help me give it to the world.  And that is my obsession that I'm pursuing mercilessly right now.

What obsession are your pursuing right now?

The People Who Get on in This World

The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and, if they can't find them, make them ~ George Bernard Shaw

I think this quote speaks for itself, there's not much else I can add to it today.  In my own words:  the people who get ahead look for opportunities to do so, when they can't find them, they make them.

I hope you're have a wonderfully productive week!