A million ideas come into my head every day. Yes, to the point of distraction. People I meet and the conversations I have, books and social media posts I read each day, all stimulate new ideas.
So, what do I do with them?
Often, I let them linger for a bit and I take them down the path of imaginary story. I picture the place, the sights the sounds and the journey. However, most of them soon disappear.
But the ones that stay, the ideas that can’t seem to disappear, the ones that reoccur at the craziest times, inspire me towards actuality. I want to learn more, dwell in this imagination induced world and see where the new idea can lead me. It is the very beginning of dream.
Dream.
I believe that our imagination is where we come in close contact with the mysterious, the spiritual realm of our being. It is the place full of potential and possibilities. It is most assuredly the beginning of adventure in us! It is uncomfortable, challenging while being intoxicating!
I recently read about a street artist in New York City, Jamie De La Vega, who paints and does street art with messages of great hope and inspiration. One message he is famous for is, “Become Your Dream.” It struck me that I was not alone in thinking that it all begins with imagination. We cannot become without first imagining ourselves in the dream, we cannot explain how we are to achieve the dream we have to start which the concept of the dream then believe that we can become it…we can achieve it.
This message actually became a tangible sign to an ordinary man living in NY, who when faced with a huge life changing decision, found this message painted by De La Vega on a cardboard box outside his apartment. He saw it as a clear sign and well, let’s just say, he most definitely did become his dream. He did so with gusto and much success. His name is Adam Braun and he is the founder of Pencils of Promise…go ahead and look him up…his is a very inspiring journey!
His dream though was sparked with an encounter and an openness to see the world around him, and to realize his purpose in it. He had a deep hunger to serve the world with his God given gifts and honor those who came before him, who sacrificed so much to bring him to where he stood in the present world.
However, there is a flip side to all this dreaming and becoming our dreams.
Let’s call it the cautionary tale of our imagination. It is a place that can be dangerous too, in that it can set us off on a path of false reality render us unable to make common sense decisions about our lives. It is when we let “our imagination run wild.” Great example that comes to mind is from the book, “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn”, the dad in the family is what is known as “the dreamer.” He has the picture of himself, vivid in his imagination, of being suddenly discovered by an “impresario” who rockets him towards stardom as a singer. The life of his poverty-stricken family will change from rags to riches.
His dreaming is only appreciated by his daughter who is captivated by the descriptive and imaginary language of her father and as such, idolizes him. Oh, the mom loved his dreaming too, at first, when they were young and newly married and world was their oyster. They began by cleaning classrooms at a local school, in the evenings. At the dinner break he would take out the huge wall-sized map of the world and dream of all the places they would visit and the things they would see and do! She loved it!
Then life, real life, set in and there never was an “impresario” and they struggled, and he began to drink and hide his shame in his liquor, where his imagination was enhanced and became “real.” Go ahead and watch the movie version of this book with your kids. The book is great but it is not suitable for young kids as it gets into too much of the “reality” of addiction for little folks. The movie is well done and it serves to be a strong tale of caution, with much truth.
How do we then dream but stay grounded, seems like a contradiction, right?
I believe that the dreaming process is necessary as we are naturally creative beings, capable of so much. We seek to improve, and adapt, and tweak our very own environment each and every day. We begin with the dreams, then we look around, and imagine the reality of them in our present and not so distant future. This requires giving of self. It requires quite a bit of trust and faith that as my mom would say growing up, that “things will work out for the best”.
I believe that the dreams and passions are actuated in our strengths and gifts and that these have been planted from the very beginning of our lives by God. Our desires and loves and interests align with these strengths as the things we love to do or want to become….”Become Your Dream.”
Tell me some of your dreams for your business in the comments below!
