Day 46/366 days Towards Self-Mastery. Mood: fulfilled
There are times when our dreams feel like they will never come true.
My dreams felt as though they were on hold forever when I realised that I was living a life that I didn't want, in a country that I didn't want to live in, and doing work that I didn't want to do.
Fast-forward 15 years and I'm living those very same dreams.
It was the realisation of how long it had taken me to lose my way that helped me to realise that it was going to take time to make the corrections that I needed to make.
There were responsibilities that I couldn't ignore, commitments that I couldn't break.
Today's inspiration is about dreaming up those dreams
Come to the realisation that dreams start in your imagination.
Spend some time today imagining into those dreams. Capture moments of experiences that relate to those dreams in images, or poems maybe. Keep a file or journal pages or even a pinterest board for your dreaming.
Maybe it's a trip to explore another part of the world. Maybe it's a lifestyle.
There are so many benefits of dreaming your dream that include stretching your imagination muscle, activating your creativity, switching you out of "it will never happen" mode or regret that it's not happening, to excitement for the possibilities.
When I began to dream about coming home from abroad, leaving city life, returning to a rural community, and reconnecting with friends and family, I had a 6 year old. Commitments to both he and his father meant that I wasn't going to move him away from that precious relationship.
A journal was a perfect way to spend time dreaming up the life that I wanted to return to. A choice between seaside or rural, I wanted land, an edible gardens, a small tight-knit community close to family and my family home. Sketching, pasting, painting, searching for resources, researching climates and altitudes, capturing images of possible communities online. My dreaming progressed into taking reconnaissance trips to feel into the communities I was considering and eventually into making the move some 11 years later.
That time could have been spent worrying and regretting my decisions, suffering my circumstances and making myself thoroughly miserable. Instead it turned into a rich time of making beginning moves to live the life I wanted. Learning about organic gardening in the city that I lived in, joining online communities with similar interests, and nurturing my then garden that saw the sun for about an hour each day. Not enough sun to grow food but plenty of light to grow a beautiful garden of native plants and flowers.
And here I am. Establishing my edible garden, living in the most awesome community and settling into life here.
Today I dreamed more into that dream. Looking a little further into how I could support my community and what that might look like.
What are your dreams? How real are they to you in your imagination? What can you do now to begin to live into those dreams?
Dreams formed in your imagination enable you to simply step right into them with each step we take.
Make time to dream. Nothing can happen at once. As we dream we get to know ourselves better. We understand our preferences, we meet with the ideas that bring us joy, we realise the aspects that are neither practical nor possible and that are best left in the dreamworld. We learn patience, and we experience the glorious thrill of anticipation. Self-mastery.
366 days Towards Self-Mastery
When I considered my New Year's intentions for 2020 I had just one: To allow my heart to love what it loved...and let it lead me. (If not now, then when?)
I've spent months working on integrating my life. To live life more fully with my home life, my interests, my work, my responsibilities, all coming together, all connected. I want to give each the attention that they desire and need, and still have time and energy for the others. That means living and working from the heart.
As I was clearing out my bookshelf over the Christmas break I discovered Simple Abundance. I set it aside to explore it on New Year's Day as I lazed through another delicious day of nothingness. Sarah, the author, says this book is about living in grace. Living in grace I realised, is about Self-Mastery.
My thirst for understanding the human condition has driven me all my life, and hand-in-hand with self-mastery it has been a life-long goal. And seeing as I love to write, that living in grace is about self-mastery, and I love a bit of a challenge, then if I am truly going to let my heart lead, I really don't have any other choice. So scary as it feels, I'm starting out on a daily mission of leaning into the suggestions of this daybook and making a daily post to keep me accountable. If not now, then when?
I'm Josie. You can find out a little more about me here.
Simple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy: by Sarah Ban Breathnach.
This book is written for the Australian and NZ market because it refers to seasonal changes. It's available on Amazon here if you'd like to follow along.