#59: A Shelf Of Dreams: What Happens to a Dream Deferred? A short guided meditation and 6 easy steps to re-awaken your shelved dreams
09:56 Share

Mediation exercise for examining your own shelf of dreams. 

Close your eyes, take a few deep breaths, and imagine you're walking down the hall.  You see a closet door.  You open it.  There's a shelf way up high.  You stand on a step stool and peer on the shelf.  There's lots of dust.  You see a box labeled with a sharpie marker, "Dreams".  You pull it out, noticing how heavy it is.  As you drag it across the shelf and set it on the ground, you find yourself knowing what's inside before you even open it.  You have a remembering. 

Now, visualize sitting on the floor and the box is in front of you, but it's taped shut with duct tape.  Old, super sticky duct tape.  You look around for something to open the box and discover a box cutter with words written on the side.  You turn it sideways and it says, "why not?" 

Thinking, "Ok, why not?" you begin slicing through the tape to opening the box.  What's inside your box?  Maybe it's a pair of ballet slippers, maybe a toy stethoscope, maybe a journal or cooking utensils. 

As you set each item on the floor, you remember the person you were when you thought these dreams were possible.  You've changed and your dreams have changed, but taking out old dreams can reawaken the forgotten parts of you.  It can awaken creative parts of you, hidden talents, and skills you've shelved for years. 

You see there's also something else in the box.  It's a piece of paper in the bottom of the box.  It's says FEAR in big letters.  You turn it over and see a dozen or more reasons why you shouldn't/couldn't pursue those dreams in your box.  You remember why you put the box on the shelf in the first place.  As Camille said, fear paralyzes and keeps you from following your dreams.  It whispers about responsibility and societal or familial expectations.  It reminds you who might be disappointed if you pursue your dreams. 

You take a deep breath, grab the box cutter and carefully slit through each fear listed on the sheet.  When you have ribbons of paper scattered at your feet, you carry the box of dreams over to a table.  You carefully take out each dream and place it lovingly on the table.  You clean each one off and reexamine it.  You may not still want to be a nurse, but maybe volunteering to give vaccines would light you up.  Maybe you no longer want to make a living as an artist, but a community college art class could reignite a fire inside you.  Or maybe the cooking utensils make you want to take a cooking class or tackle a Creme Brulee. 

Steps to dusting off old dreams:

Verbalize your dream.  Put it out there.  This gives it life and you'll start to believe it.  It'll be like a plant, slowly coming to life after receiving water and sunshine.   I interviewed a lady who had no idea how to write a book but she started telling people she was doing it.  The right people appeared in her life and a year later, she'd written and published a best-seller. 

Take a class or find a meet-up group in whatever interests you.  This allows you to dip your toe in the water. Write out all the fearful reasons why you can't/shouldn't pursue your dreams, then shred or burn them.   

Keep asking yourself "Why not?" and "If not me, then who?"

Visualize your dream down to the last detail.  Trust me, you'll start to believe in it.  I visualized myself teaching a seamless yoga sequence, I visualized the serene faces of my students.  I did this over and over until it became a reality. 

Keep asking yourself if what you're doing brings you joy.  This will shine a light on the difference between doing things because you have to and doing things because you enjoy them.  Then, do more of the things you enjoy.  Put them on the calendar.  Life gets busy and if you love hiking but don't plan for it, it simply won't happen.