Support for your Dreams

[Erin]

Happy Holidays MANIACs!

While you hoist a toast of mulled wine to the new year, let your
thoughts celebrate and mull over the following excerpt from Barbara
Winters' newsletter (her work can be found on www.barbarawinter.com,
Harry, it's my goal over the break to learn how to interact with the
magnificant blog you created...)

Enjoy and consider the insightful words from George Leonard:

Not to dream more boldly may turn out to be, in view of present
realities, simply irresponsible.
Very best,

Erin Schneider


SUPPORT STARTS HERE..by Barbara Winter.
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When Jon's first novel came out, it received rave reviews. Attention
poured in. He was interviewed on radio and in newspapers; there was
talk of a movie deal. The book isn't the only reason Jon is smiling
these days. He's also started a fascinating business and has settled
down with a loving partner. All of this is a sharp contrast to the
floundering Jon of a few years ago.
Things started to change for him when he reclaimed a lifelong dream of
being a writer and stopped waiting for someone else to give him
permission to leave his lucrative, but unsatisfying, career. Instead
of fretting about what he had given up, Jon's new mantra became, "I am
supportable."

When people talk about support, it's not always clear what they have
in mind. Often, it appears that they're suggesting their vision can
only happen if everyone else loves it. That's simply not possible
since no one can see your personal vision the way you do. Paul Hawken
says, "Good ideas often do not look very good at first or even second
glance, but don't worry if your idea sounds weird, crazy or obscure.
Like a puppy, many good ideas are awkward, helpless and unimpressive."
Support from others comes later.

It helps if you can think like an architect and remember that the
support system of a building is largely invisible. Critical support
for your dreams may be invisible as well, but that doesn't mean it
doesn't exist. Your job-especially in the early stages of a new dream-
is to decide if you're going to support your dream with matchsticks or
steel girders.

Support for our dreams is ultimately an inside job. When Jon realized
that being supportable started with him, he began nurturing his dream.
He took writing classes, listened to suggestions, rewrote. While he
didn't expect that everyone would share his enthusiasm for his dream,
he not only declared that he was worthy of support, he also took
notice when it came his way. He was also open to support appearing in
ways he hadn't even imagined. One of the more dramatic forms it took
was being given the use of a house in a French village where he could
write without distraction.

Support for our dreams takes many forms--all of them active. Jon began
his dreambuilding journey by doing something that was both creative
and empowering. He wrote a declaration of his intention to live his
dream. Here's part of what he wrote: "Stop asking me to be practical,
to be reasonable, to look at logic, to do the responsible thing. You
are now forewarned: if you are to be a friend of mine you will do
nothing to ensure that my feet are on the ground. If you need me,
don't look for me in the company of levelheaded people. They bore me.
They weigh me down with statistics and stories of dream-flyers who
melted their wings and fell into the sea. So what if I get a little
wet? Never to be surprised is to stop God in his tracks. I don't want
to understand anything anymore. I want to be in Awe!"

Like any relationship, a dream will grow with positive support and
shrivel without it. We support our dreams by building them step by
patient step. How we spend our time, learn, care for ourselves, seek
models, and invest our money either costs us our dreams or contributes
to them. At the same time, we need to be cautious about what is real
support and what is bogus.

Want to be supportable? Stay focused on your vision, bring
entrepreneurial thinking to creating that vision and replace any
doubts or despair with a loving intention to accomplish your highest
good. That's the starting point that opens the door so lavish support
can find you.


Contact Information
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Email: babsw...@yahoo.com
Web: http://www.barbarawinter.com