Remembering Our Dreams

I am reading a book called "Your Money or Your Life" (which I very highly recommend!) and there is a great part in the book where it talks about fulfillment and dreams. I will quote from the book (all emphasis mine):

"For many of us, however, 'growing up' has meant outgrowing our dreams. The aspiration to write a great book has shrunk to writing advertising copy. The dream of being an inspiring preacher has evolved into being an administrator and mediator between the factions of the congregation. Instead of really knowing who their patients are, how the patients live or the challenges in their lives, doctors today are plagued with back-to-back fifteen minute patient visits and malpractice suits. The dream of traveling around the world becomes two weeks a year of hitting the tourist traps. Living a fulfilling and meaningful life seems almost impossible, given the requirements of simply meeting day-to-day needs and problems. Yet, at one time or another practically every one of us has had a dream of what we wanted our lives to be.

Wherever you are, take a few moments now to reflect upon your dreams. So many of us have spent so many hours, days and years of our lives devoted to someone else's agenda that it may be hard to get in touch with our dreams. So many of us have whittled away at our uniqueness so that we could be square pegs in square holes that it seems slightly self-indulgent to wonder what kind of hole we would be inclined to carve for ourselves. Indulge yourself now. Stare out a window. Shut your eyes. And envision what would be a truly fulfilling life for you. To help you get started on your journey, ask yourself the following questions:

- What did you want to be when you grew up?
- What have you always wanted to do that you haven't done yet?
- What have you done in your life that you are really proud of?
- If you knew you were going to die within a year, how would you spend that year?
- What brings you the most fulfillment - and how is that related to money?
- If you didn't have to work for a living, what would you do with your time?" (109-110)

I think those are powerful thoughts, powerful questions.

Spend some time thinking about them. Not only right now, but tomorrow, and next week, and periodically throughout your life. Focusing on these things, and how to make them a reality, can change your life in amazing ways.

What Keeps You Awake At Night?

Sometime last week I had some type of great idea or something that excited me a little bit before I went to bed, and it got me so excited I had trouble sleeping for a bit. Isn't a great feeling?

So it got me thinking... we need to spend more time thinking about the things that keep us awake at night (in a good way!). Those things that excite us with their potential, these are the things that we need to focus our mind on as much as we can, because those are the things that lead us to happiness and fulfillment.

I once read that those deepest desires that we have, the things we barely even dare to dream, those are the things that God wishes for us, and the things that He wants us to aspire to and achieve. I like to think that these are the same things that get us excited when we think of them. The things that instantly wake us up and cause us to smile at the mere thought of them.

Too many times we find ourselves focusing on the opposite things... things that bring our mind down, things that exhaust us, things that we dread... and as a consequence, we forget how to dream and how to have goals.

So, what keeps you awake at night?

Places in the USA I most want to visit

I think it's very important to have dreams and goals, and a lot of mine center around travel and places that I would love to visit and see and experience. Traveling allows you to see all of the beauty of creation, to experience new people and cultures, and just kick back and relax and enjoy life the way you were meant to enjoy life.

So that said, here are the top places as of now that I want to visit (not counting places in Colorado, of which there are tons that I am excited to explore upon my permanent arrival in the state!)

- Crater Lake (Oregon)- This is atop my travel wish list.... just looks incredibly beautiful. I'd love to visit Oregon as a whole, and Crater Lake tops the list of things I want to see there.

- Yosemite National Park (California) - "Yosemite National Park, one of the first wilderness parks in the United States, is best known for its waterfalls, but within its nearly 1,200 square miles, you can find deep valleys, grand meadows, ancient giant sequoias, a vast wilderness area, and much more."

- Maine and Vermont - There is a lot of beauty here, along the coast, in the Green Mountains, in Acadia National Park, the trees.... I am just very excited to explore it all!

- Glacier National Park (Montana) - The glaciers are quickly becoming an endangered species out in nature, so hopefully I will be able to visit soon. Between the glaciers themselves and all of the mountain lakes and wildlife, it would be an incredible Park to be able to visit.

- Alaska - The vast region features too many breathtaking spots to only list a couple. The whole state really looks incredible and just filled with beauty.

- Utah National Parks (Bryce Canyon, Arches, Zion, et al) - A ton of variety out there, with incredible rock formations, hikes, unique geological wonders.... basically they would all be incredible!

What places do you want to visit most?

Places in the world I most want to visit

Much like my list of places in the USA that I would most love to visit, I also have some places in the mind from the rest of the world that interest me the most and I would most want to visit.

There are hundreds of thousands of incredible things out there in the world, and narrowing the list down to a few is very difficult, but that is OK. I have traveled overseas once, and I can't wait to do it again. Even more than traveling in the USA, it opens you up to a whole different part of the world that is very fun and interesting to be able to experience. Some of the places on my list...

- Machu Picchu (Peru) - To me, it looks like the most breathtaking place on the planet. I can't wait to visit! All of the history of the Incan people combined with the beauty of the area and the incredible things that they left behind make it an incredible looking place.

- Rome and Italy - This is where I got the opportunity to visit, and I can't wait to go back. Rome is such an unreal city, you turn a corner while walking down the street and there is another remarkable landmark and incredible piece of architecture. Italy as a whole is a beautiful country with incredible depth and variety.

- New Zealand/Greece/Ireland - I put these three together only because they are all countries that have really caught my eye has being just beautiful and diverse in what they have to offer. The different types of landscapes and scenery and cultures all seem fascinating. I imagine you could spend a ton of time in these places and see something totally different every day.

- Aztec/Mayan ruins - This is just a personal interest of mine, I love reading and learning about these ancient cultures. The things that they left behind and the knowledge that they had just blows my mind. I think we can learn a lot just by seeing what they left behind.

Where do you most want to visit?

New Year's Resolutions

We are rapidly approaching 2011, which makes me feel pretty old! Holy smokes, where does the time go! A lot of people set New Year's resolutions at the start of each year, a tradition I think this is kind of funny but ultimately good.

It is funny because for most people it is an exercising of increased dieting or exercising for a week or two (maybe even a month!) before they drop off back to their old habits. I would guess this is the common New Year's resolution result.

The other thing that is funny to me, or maybe this is a reason why these things are rarely successful... if you decide you are going to exercise or diet more, why not start today? What is wrong with starting right now? Chances are, if someone's attitude is something like, "I am going to have my fun now, but when New Year's comes around I am going to get to the gym every day," then they are probably not going to be successful. They are not really committed to the goal (if they were, they would start right away), but more like it's something they feel they ought to do, and if you have that feeling without really being committed, it will fizzle.

On the other hand, New Year's resolutions are good because it is really important, I think, to set goals. And not only to set goals, but to actually be committed to achieving them. Having goals gives us a better sense of purpose, makes us more driven, and actually more lends us to accomplish things. We should make specific goals and detail how we are going to achieve them. For myself, I usually have a big list of goals that I want to accomplish for the year... and between you and me, I am not always the best at following through on all of them, but having those goals really helps me to focus.

So I guess my major point (if there is one) is that it is important and good to set goals and actually be committed and have a plan to achieve them! New Year's Resolutions can be a good way to do that, though generally people aren't always committed to them enough to see them through. But goals can be an important way to achieve our dreams and make us into the people we want to be!

Living your dreams...

The thing that is difficult for us to understand and fathom (or maybe it is just me), is that whatever grand plans and dreams we have for our life, whatever best case scenario "someday" plans that we hope to achieve, God has even bigger plans for us!

It is true. If we would truly let God's will take over, we would be happier than we could ever imagine and do greater things than we could ever imagine. Someone named Emmet Fox once said (or possibly wrote)(emphasis mine):

"The most secret, sacred wish that lies deep down at the bottom of your heart, the wonderful thing that you hardly dare to look at, or think about - the thing that you would rather die than have anyone else know of, because it seems so far beyond anything that you are, or have at the present time, that you fear you would be cruelly ridiculed if the mere thought of it were known - that is just the very thing that God is wishing you to do or be for him. And the birth of that marvelous wish in your soul - the dawning of that secret dream - was the voice of God Himself telling you to arise and come up higher because He had need of you."

I am sure we all have those things deep down inside of us, that we want to achieve but we are not sure if we ever will. Heck, for me, this page is one of those things... I always wanted to do something like this, but was scared that people would think it was dumb, or not like it, or nobody would read it, etc. Finally I decided that if I really wanted to do it and really felt called to do it, then all of that other stuff didn't matter!

Such is everything in life, all of our hopes and dreams. We might be met with failure (almost certainly), but that shouldn't deter us. If we are following our dreams and God's plan, then the pursuit will always lead us higher and closer to God and closer to what we were created to be.