If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them. ~Henry David Thoreau, Walden
This month is about AWARENESS:
Being awake, mindful, and conscious about who we are, what we want, and where we want it. Dreams (the castles in the air kind ) are the beginnings of any idea, of any manifestation or any journey. It can be the beginning of any step into our self-confidence. It is an experimentation of the mind where we see the brighter future and can experience our greatest strengths, and imagine the failures and successes to learn from; where we envision our best life.
Dreaming, after all, is a form of planning. ~Gloria Steinem
Day-dreaming vs mind-wandering?
Mind-wandering is a distraction from what's going on; off-task musings like staring into the air, looking out the window on the train. These are usually without a specific purpose other than being distracted from the present. Do not attempt this when driving or handling heavy machinery or pointy objects.
Mind-wandering can be a powerful precursor to day-dreaming. It allows a flow of discovery.
Daydreaming is a visionary fantasy, usually with pleasant thoughts of hopes or ambitions. It is a use of the imagination of something coming to pass and is experienced while awake. Daydreaming leads to an act of visualization/envisioning
Be fully awake if you want to dream. ~Paulo Coelho
Daydreaming is focused, usually intentional, and are imaginative what-if mental projects possessing a narrative structure. They are usually full of plans and goals to achieve, showing feelings felt with a mental picture of purpose and success. This type of dream is like a seed with the potential to grow into a majestic sequoia. These castles in the air are also like the architectural blueprints for a building. They are only a potential, a design until you start to pour the concrete of the foundation and pound the wood and nails together.
Day-dreaming can be unity with our best self, the precursor of the mental equivalent or of the manifestation. In order for it to move from a vision to an envision, from fantasy to fact, you must live it on the inside to build it on the outside.
Building Tool #1: Find the meaning it has for you
One day a fisherman was sitting by his boat while playing with his child on a beautiful beach; his fishing pole resting against the boat.
A wealthy businessman came walking down the beach, trying to relieve some of the stress of his workday. Curious and horrified at the sight of the fisherman wasting the day, the businessman asked, "Why aren't you out fishing?"
The fisherman looked up at the businessman, smiled, and replied, "Because I already caught enough fish for one day." The businessman followed, "Why don't you catch some more?"
"What would I do with them?" replied the fisherman. "You could earn extra money," said the businessman, "then buy a bigger boat, go into deeper waters, and catch more fish. You would make enough money to buy nylon nets, catch even more fish, and make more money. With that money, you could own two boats, maybe three boats. Eventually, you could have a whole fleet of boats and be rich like me."
"Then what would I do?" asked the fisherman. "Then," said the businessman, "you could really enjoy life."
The fisherman looked at the businessman quizzically and asked, "What do you think I am doing now?"
It's not about more, more, more - it's about fulfillment, fulfillment, fulfillment. A heartfelt purpose with a mission and a vision,
Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes. ~Carl Jung
Awaken to the why more than the what of your dreams; that is a foundation-builder.
Building Tool #2: Hold the vision
Get clear on what you want this dream to look like, smell like, taste like, feel like. Use this envisioning as your motivation, a compass point to keep you going in the right direction.
IMAGINATION, VISUALIZATION, SPECIFICATION
Building Tool #3: Baby Steps
Identify your milestones and gap areas, reverse-engineer your success, and pick the action steps to make for each milestone. Use networking, research, outsourcing, content creation, etc. Break your action steps into smaller chunks, simple tasks that you can accomplish. In education, better your current skill-sets. In connections, connect with needed contacts and allies to assist you and other resources needed for completion, including our spiritual communions (our at-one-ments). Do the actions and hit the milestones one at a time.
Confidence, going in the direction of your dreams may include a journey that is fearful, terrifying, unknowing, and difficult, but we go towards them. Sometimes with baby steps, but always with boldness. They are an adventure that builds the life of majesty we want and that has always awaited us
Building Tool #4: Connect with Spirit and stay in tune with having your dream
We must learn to reawaken and keep ourselves awake, not by mechanical aid, but by an infinite expectation of the dawn. ~Henry David Thoreau
Our inward reflection and inner work project outward and peace within reflects on everything we see and do.
Conclusion and Call to Action
Don't dream it, be it! ~Dr. Frank-n-Furter, Rocky Horror Show
The Science of Mind teaches us that the relationship between the individual and the Universal Mind is one of reflection. We reflect in our lives those castles in the air we have laid a foundation under with attention, focus, feelings, and belief. In the conclusion of Walden by Henry David Thoreau, he says:
I learned this, at least, by my experiment: that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavours to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours. He will put some things behind, will pass an invisible boundary; new, universal, and more liberal laws will begin to establish themselves around and within him; or the old laws be expanded, and interpreted in his favor in a more liberal sense, and he will live with the license of a higher order of beings. In proportion as he simplifies his life, the laws of the universe will appear less complex, and solitude will not be solitude, nor poverty poverty, nor weakness weakness. If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.”
It's not about chasing your dreams
It's about being a reflection of your dreams
It's about going from imagination to contemplation to realization to initiation
It's about going from a vision to envisioning, fantasizing to being it to living it
Final Building Tool: Never let anyone else’s opinion about what is and is not possible become your reality
Your dreams are not impossible, nor ridiculous. They are the start of something that could absolutely change your world. Without dreams, nothing changes, nothing grows or evolves.
So dream. Dream bold. Dream big.
A. I.
I am awake. I bear witness to my thoughts and pay attention to those that ignite my life with love, kindness, respect, dignity, health, and prosperity. All others, I learn from and transcend through to my highest.
As Light pours through me like the rays of the Sun, day or night, my heart is bright and awake. It sparks feelings that illuminate and support my dreams. And from them, I breathe this Light back into the nostrils of the Universe, bringing my clearest vision of abundant ideas alive.
Awake to my Divine nature and communing with the constant amazement of the beauty that surrounds me - I rejoice with a mighty sound, a grateful heart, and a loving spirit.
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