Monday, January 28, 2013

LIVE YOUR DREAM LIFE NOW SESSION 4

If you're here for the GROW YOUR BLOG party and  GIVE-AWAY go HERE.

NOW ONTO THE DREAM WORKSHOP...

THE BIG STEP!

After today we'll be half way through the series! And today we're taking a BIG STEP to discovering how to "live your dream life NOW". Even though it's a BIG STEP,  there's more coming in the last four sessions that will help you on the journey, so keep going!

                 If it's cold where you live, pick out a warm cozy spot and settle in for some fun! 


          For ideas on creating your own little spot, check out my Pinterest Board, "Cozy Spots".



 Can anyone relate to the above quote? I know I can!  For a long time I was putting my "dream life" on hold until I became a MILLIONAIRE.  ; ) I figured that  with all the great dreams I had I would have to have millions of dollars to make them happen! And I knew I'd do GREAT AND WONDERFUL  things with my millions! I would definitely be a darling at being a millionaire! I'm sure you would be a darling  at it also, if given the opportunity, right? 

WHO WANTS TO BE A MILLIONAIRE?  

 I actually began coming up with a plan to become a millionaire! Yes, I have GREAT FAITH! Hah! Or maybe I was just CRAZY! Not that money is a priority for me but I thought I'd need it to create my dream life. Anyhoo,  I made up a plan to develop multiple streams of income.  I'm very entreprenurial by nature and  I also love to plan so this part was fun for me! But we were a long way from being millionaires so it was going to take a while....a LOOOOONG while!

Also during this time I was creating motivational workshops with a friend who was a Life Coach. We both were a little impatient in waiting to become DARLING MILLIONAIRES.  Then we started questioning why we really wanted to become millionaires. Both of us felt blessed and we really felt content with our lives though we still had dreams we wanted to pursue and we felt we needed MONEY to realize them. So we began to create a way to discover 1) What are our REAL DREAMS?  2) How can we REALIZE OUR REAL ( authentic ) DREAMS?  

THE AHA MOMENT

 So I sought to discover my AUTHENTIC DREAM LIFE first by  learning more about myself, my values, priorities, and talents, etc. I wanted to find out the answers to the questions: Who am I? What will truly make me happy? What are my REAL dreams!

 Then I asked myself  "WHY?". Why do I want this? Why do I want to do that?  And I made some interesting discoveries.  As I mentioned in the example I gave in last week's exercise,  the "WHY" to my desire to take my family on a trip to Disney World was to MAKE MEMORIES. At the time I didn't have the money to take our whole family on a trip to Disney World. So I asked myself how I could make the "WHY" happen. How can I MAKE MEMORIES with our whole family in a somewhat different way? What COULD I afford to do RIGHT NOW to make the "WHY" happen?  I DID have some "fun money" set aside and I decided we could afford a long weekend in the Fall renting a  townhome at Lutsen Ski Resort in Northern Minnesota. Here it is below. In the off-skiing season there is still plenty to do and it's beautiful with woods, lakes, and streams.



 Since it was  a fully equipped townhome, we could take groceries and cook our own meals thus saving money. We went on hikes in the woods, one time being chased by a bear. THAT was a memory in itself!


 We took our tennis rackets and played tennis. We went swimming in the pool and soaked in the hot tub. We toured little towns around Lake Superior and explored around the Lake. We collected large flat, smooth stones and painted them. We sat around a campfire at night and roasted marshmallows. We rode on a gondola ride and an Alpine Slide. We watched movies in the evening. We all had the most amazing time, laughing, exploring, and just enjoying our time together. In short we were able to MAKE MEMORIES  and I absolutely felt that we had created a piece of my dream life. 

I wasn't forgetting about Disney World. But right now I was  trying to discover how we could have our DREAM LIFE NOW.  How can we simplify our lives to get  to what we believe is truly important while living our AUTHENTIC DREAMS NOW?

In the meantime, I began planning our trip to Disney World and saving money every month for the trip. It took five years to get there  but I wasn't putting my real dreams on hold until SOME DAY.  I was living my dream of MAKING MEMORIES  every year! 

The AHA!  moment for me was in discovering that finding the WHY of my dreams helped me to experience them NOW! So I went through my list and found a way to  make each dream  happen NOW but just in a different way. The key was to make sure I was answering the WHY of my dream, simplifying it in a way I could afford  right away and make happen NOW.

I was able to do this for all of my dream life list. But there was a second AHA moment for me. I discovered that I was actually already LIVING MY DREAM LIFE  in many ways when living according to my "WHY". How can I be living my dream life and not even KNOW IT??  I'll share more about this in another session. 

YOUR DREAM WORK FOR THIS WEEK

 1) Look at your  WHY  list and see if you are already doing something that answers that why. If you are, CONGRATULATIONS! YAY FOR YOU! Begin to see this in a different way beginning NOW. Give yourself a pat on the back and start appreciating and seeing this part of your life in a NEW WAY! WOW!  You are living part of your DREAM LIFE! How does that feel? Can you embrace the feeling that you are living part of your dream life NOW?  I'll be talking a bit more about this in another session. 


 2) Take your list of "WHYS" and find a way to make each dream happen NOW by simplifying it and/or creating it in a different way. This is going to take brainstorming and lots of creativity but YOU CAN DO IT! If you are really having a difficult time coming up with a different way to answer the "WHY", you can e-mail me for thoughts and ideas or put out a comment for others to give suggestions.  Don't give up on this assignment. For some of you this may come easily and others it might be difficult. Keep at it and let me know how it's going. Don't get "stuck" on your original list. There is a reason behind that dream that you can modify and accomplish NOW.

Have a wonderful week! And let me know how you're doing!
If you sent me an e-mailing signing up for the series and didn't receive an e-mail from me on the same day as session 4,  please send me an e-mail with your e-mail address and let me know. 

6 comments:

  1. Hi Sandy,

    I am in a very emotional state right now. I have deleted my blog “The Simple Life of Hope”. My father-in-law died nearly two weeks ago, and the following weekend, I found out that my father has leukemia and was told that he had 2 weeks to 3 months to live.

    I would like to keep in touch with you, and I will probably even begin a new blog, eventually. I just wanted to let you know what’s going on with me.

    ♥Hope

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    1. Hope, I'm so sorry to hear this news. My thoughts and prayers are with you during this difficult time.
      sandy

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  2. ~Lavender Dreamer~has left a new comment on your post " LIVE YOUR DREAM LIFE NOW SESSION 4":

    I did the last session and then this one at the same 'sitting' and it really helped me to do it all at once. I love making lists so I was writing like crazy and filling in my whys. And then this session....I had to stop and think! What am I already doing to live my best life? How could I change things a little here and there? I feel so encouraged. I am close....so much closer than I realized. Writing it down helped me to see that. One thing I described was an uncluttered house...bright and airy. I'm ready to work on that this weekend! I need to simplify so that I can spend more time doing the things that are important to me. I'm wasting a lot of time and it seems to be taking me in the wrong direction. Thank you so much for sharing. As in all things worthwhile...so many more could profit from this but they don't take the time. I am learning so much! Sweet hugs, Diane

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    1. For some reason I was unable to post this comment by Diane at Lavender Dreamer. So I copied and pasted it here.

      Thanks, Diane for the feedback! I'm excited this is encouraging for you as it has been for me!

      I would love to hear from the rest of you about how this is working for you!

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  3. Hello Sandy, just popped in to say that l am doing the sessions and look forward to the next. I am stuck in a rut because of long lasting health issues and other difficulties, but perhaps l can live a little version of my dream life here and now, a simplified version. Pam x

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    1. You certainly CAN live a simplified version of your dream life. You might need to be more creative to make them happen but you can do it! We ALL have things we CAN"T change in our lives so we focus on what we CAN do! Let me know if I can help you brainstorm some ideas of the simplified version of your dream life. Thanks for stopping by and letting me know how you're doing. The next session is tomorrow! ;)

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