A few posts back, you may remember that I had fun dreaming really BIG about “my other life” . It was a great exercise for me as I’ve realized that I’ve actually dreamt very small for most of my life. A lot of those pictures and ideas were fun to play with but it’s not necessarily about the specifics, it was about believing that I CAN dream really, really big. That it’s OK to dream really, really big. This post also got my friend Olivia thinking about this subject as well and you might want to read what she had to say about it here.
I’ve done a lot of thinking about this in the last several months and I’ve had to ask myself why I’ve needed to limit myself so much. Our lives are created by our beliefs…we get what we are willing to believe is possible but so many of our beliefs are subconsious…we’re often not even aware of what they are until we do some excavating….which is exactly what I’ve been doing! I’ve been digging around in my beliefs with a big back hoe and have been surprised at some of what has been brought to the light of day. I’ve found I believed that…
...life is a struggle, just for the basics…so believing in dreams is a waste of time.
...having “big” dreams isn’t grounded in reality. Have you ever heard anyone disparagingly say “oh he's just a dreamer”?
...having big dreams for myself is selfish…there are so many with so little, how could I possibly be so selfish as to want more?
...dreaming really, really big will bring expectations from others and I might fail.
...if I really did create my big dreams, it would draw attention to myself and I wouldn’t be able to play small any more. It feels safe to play a smaller game.
That’s not to say that I’ve never dreamed and never achieved any goals. I have and lots of them but I’ve realized that I’ve let old programming hold me back in many areas. I’ve let outdated beliefs and lineage beliefs (that are passed down in families) keep me small. It’s felt safe to stay small.
I’ve been doing a lot of naval gazing…(it’s who I am!)…and have been writing down all the beliefs I have that are holding me back or keeping me small. I’ve also been doing EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique), sometimes simply called “Tapping”, with everything on my list! I’m so impressed with this technique and how effective it is...I’ll write more on this in another post.
Why am I doing all this? We all hold baggage and I’ve simply grown tired of it. It’s become heavy and tiring and with the energies on the planet being as intense as they are right now, we’re being encouraged to lay the baggage down and walk away from it. In fact if we insist on holding on to it, we create resistance and in that resistance we make things harder than they need to be. It’s time for all of us to learn how to dream big and let ourselves shine. The world needs our shine!
"Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God.
Your playing small does not serve the world.
There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you.
We are all meant to shine, as children do.
We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.
It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone.
And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
As we're liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."
Marrianne Williamson, A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of "A Course in Miracles"
Shine on with your big dreams, dear friends!
