Dreaming...but Different

"When I examine myself and my methods of thought, I come to the conclusion that the gift of fantasy has meant more to me than my talent for absorbing positive knowledge." -- Albert Einstein

Recently in my house, we have been talking about dreams and what they mean, and while I don't personally consider my dreams to have much meaning outside of being random thought soup, it made me think about the dreams that are really important...

The best dreams you have are the ones you have when you are awake.

Your imagination and ability to see your future in a positive way can be powerful tools for success, but we've lost touch with that spark over the years.

Somewhere along the way of becoming an adult, we stop imagining how life could be different in an exciting way. Sure, we can consider how much worse it could be, but even that should instill some gratitude in you. You can, and should, begin to dream about how much better it can be!

The power of this lies in the fact that our subconscious does not know the difference between real and imagined scenarios. Your subconscious is in the business of taking orders, so you might as well start showing it something spectacular!

Many of us don't dream about the future because it is scary, but it is only scary because of our perception of it, and our perception of the future is conditioned by our past experience (what else would it be based on if not on what we are already aware of?). The future is unknown, but our bias toward the negative is based on our past experiences, not on the actual future. We look into the future through the lens of our past, and this lens is flawed.

Why?

We are comfortable with what we know, and most of what we know is uncomfortable.

While positive memories exist, I am willing to bet that it is the negative ones that are most prevalent in the front of your mind. We tend to be naturally more in tune with what went wrong or where we went wrong than the opposite. This is part of our survival instinct, which works to protect us from making the same mistakes twice. However valuable it might be, it is counterproductive when visualizing how beautiful and wild the future can be.

Sometimes the hope of a better future is all you have. There was certainly a time when the present wasn't all that fantastic in my life, and without hope for a better day or dreams of a brighter future, I can see how I could have spiraled into a much darker depression.

Imagine our memories like ...continue reading