The following words by Voltaire came to mind as I was recently taking a group of people through a retirement/follow your dream workshop: Paradise is where I am.
At one point in the workshop participants rate nine various areas of their life, on a scale of 0 (totally miserable) to 10 (whoopee, it’s my ideal). The next portion involves each person listing 15 “must haves” that would make their life ideal. Lists are then swapped with partners, who take each other through the process of coming up with their top five. From here participants are asked to define what success would look like if they were able to live the five “must haves” at a “10” level.
Most people usually have all sorts of ideas of what would make their life ideal but one individual was having difficulty. Each time she thought about what was ideal, she discovered that she, for the most part, was already living her ideal life.
She had come into the workshop looking for “paradise” only to discover it was where she was. She had to go through the process and see it in written form to grasp the concept. What an eye-opener!
Are you living in paradise without even knowing it?
Action Steps
- Take 15 minutes and define what paradise might look like for you. Really get into the feeling of it.
- Once you’ve defined it, identify three things you can do within the next week to move you closer to your definition of paradise.
None of us lives in paradise all the time but the more clarity you have as to what it looks and feels like, the greater will be your motivation to spend more time there.
” You must either modify your dreams or magnify your skills.” — Jim Rohn, author and speaker
When I was in my early twenties in Australia my dream was to travel the world and visit exotic places. Not just for a few days but on an ongoing basis. My dream was to become a flight attendant.
Fortunately for me the now “extinct” airline, Pan Am, was interviewing to fill a small number of open slots. Along with a few hundred applicants, I interviewed for one of 20 positions. I was crushed when I didn’t make the cut. Then I was angry. Then upset. Then more determined than ever to make it happen. So did I modify the dream or magnify my skills?
I knew I had to magnify my interviewing skills if I wanted another shot. So I began visualizing what it would feel like to be living my dream, so that at the next interview I could do a better job of “being” the image I thought the recruiters were looking for.
Did I succeed? You bet, although not quite on as grand a scale as I had wanted. I took to the skies with a domestic airline rather than an international one. So I guess you could say that I magnified my skills and slightly modified my dreams.
If you are faced with a similar dreams/skills issue, here are some questions you might want to ask yourself:
- Are the visions I have of my dreams complete, realistic and motivating? Do I need to reevaluate what’s truly important?
- What skills do I need to expand to achieve my dreams and goals? What is my plan for doing so?
- Will I do whatever it takes to fulfill my dreams?
- What next step can I take immediately?
So make sure you have a brilliantly clear vision of your dream and that you have the skills to make it happen. Then let go of expectations as to how it’s “supposed to” unfold and enjoy the journey!
If you need a facilitator to help you create your own Personal Strategic Life Plan, contact me at evelin(at)blueprints4change.com
Our life is composed greatly from dreams, from the unconscious, and they must be brought into connection with action. They must be woven together ~ Anais Nin, French author
Follow Your Passions
Taking a short mental vacation during the day can transport you to another place. Here you can relive wonderful experiences, precious moments with loved ones, or memories of faraway places. You can be yourself and follow your star. Perhaps you’ve already lived some dreams but deep down inside you know there are more waiting to be discovered.
Let your mind wander to what the future may hold. To dreams of goals yet not achieved, people not yet encountered, passions not yet found. Re-discover and awaken your inner creativity. Don’t reason, analyze or think. Just go! Bask in the feelings of living a fulfilled life. What are you going to create?
As you let your mind wander, imagine that you are at the end of the coming year:
- What positive change will you have made?
- What will have been your biggest accomplishment?
- What is the most important thing you will have learned about yourself?
- What will you have done to experience the most joy?
- How will you have had fun?
- Who or what will you have been most committed to?
- What was the biggest risk you will have taken?
- Who will you have made smile often?
Weave together your dreams, those sparks of aliveness. Allow them to inspire you and create your purpose. Fueled by purpose you will experience a powerful and enduring source of energy. Focus on what moves you and is meaningful and PDD (“Passion Deficit Disorder”) will be a thing of the past!
If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost. That is where they should be. Now put foundations under them ~ Henry David Thoreau
“The only thing that stands between a man and what he wants from life is often merely the will to try it and the faith to believe that it is possible.” - Richard M. DeVos
Points to Ponder 
What do I want from life?
What is standing between me and getting it?
How would I feel if I never achieved what I wanted?
How will I feel when I get what I want?
Do I believe getting what I want is possible?
Take Action!
If you don’t know what you truly want, take the time NOW to find out. Don’t leave this life with “if only I had followed my heart.”
Imagine the feeling of getting what you want – joy, excitement, enthusiasm for life, bliss, contentment. Focus on it as often as you can.
If you don’t believe it’s possible, ask yourself “why not?” The answers will undoubtedly be self-limiting beliefs that can be overcome.
Commit to taking one step, today, towards overcoming whatever is blocking you.
This evening my husband and I went out for “date night”, something we do periodically just to go off and chat, particularly when both of us have been busy doing our own thing. We decided to try out a restaurant we had not been to before – Busboys and Poets. Not only does it have good food, it is also a bookstore, fair trade market and gathering place. Even the menu makes for interesting reading.
The following poem (part of the menu) caught my attention. Many of the clients I work with have no idea what their passions are when we begin. Others have put aside their passions (dreams) for a variety of reasons. If you’re in that category, then perhaps this poem “speaks” to you.
A Dream Deferred
What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore–
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over–
like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?
— Langston Hughes, African-American Poet
If you would like to discover/rediscover your passions, please visit my website (http://www.blueprints4change.com) or email me, evelin@blueprints4change.com. The Passion Test™ has been of tremendous benefit in helping so many individuals clarify what is truly important to them, make major changes and live more fulfilled lives.
Passion & Purpose | admin | 
June 24, 2011 6:15 pm | 
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