What is my Dream for my Life?
I have asked myself this question many times; I have even made an art journal page about it! Yet, I will admit that, initially, this week’s post was a bit challenging for me – I really struggled. I wondered about my ability to dream. I have never wanted to be a president, an astronaut, or a rock-n-roll star. So what if I never try out for America’s Got Talent? I dug a little deeper… Then, the realization hit:
Does the fact that I don’t have BIG star-studded audacious dreams mean that I don’t have any?
Does it mean that mine are any less valuable than someone else’s?
Dreams give our life direction and purpose. Like the North Star, guiding us on this human journey, encouraging us on when we falter or have doubts. Sometimes it burns brightly in the clear night sky, and sometimes we need to have faith that’s it’s still there, on the other side of the clouds and storms.
“Let yourself be silently drawn by the strange pull of
what you really love. It will not lead you astray.”
~ Rumi
I have carried many dreams in this lifetime. I have tried them on like shoes, walking in them for a few miles to see if they really fit. The dreams I have for my life right now are quite straightforward:
I want to continue to learn and grow and stretch myself.
I want to bring Love and Light to the people around me : family, friend and stranger alike.
I want to Heal ~ my mind, my body, and my spirit.
I want to live a creative life.
This list seems fairly simple, stripped down even. How did I come up with this list? And how do these things manifest in my life? Mostly, I keep this quote in mind:
“Be Patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and
try to live the questions themselves,
like locked rooms and like books that are now
written in some very foreign tongue.
Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because
you would not be able to live them.
And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now.
Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it,
live along some distant day into the answer.”
~ Ranier Maria Rilke
As a child growing up, I was always drawing and sewing and making things. I went to University to study Architecture. When I graduated, I worked as an architect for 13 years, making buildings. Along the way, I began to practice yoga: re-making my mind, while “building” poses from the floor up. Eventually, my sweetie and I built a relationship strong enough to be the foundation of a happy Marriage. A few years later I gave birth to my boys – they are an ongoing “creative project” as I help them build the foundation upon which their own lives will stand. In the past few years, I have begun to build something of my own, developing new skills as an artist and writer.
Making. Building. Creating.
“What’s the Dream?” becomes “What’s the Theme?”
There is a continuous inner thread throughout, weaving the tapestry of my life, though the activities in my life and the outer appearances have changed significantly. This is how the dream gets fed. Always, Now. Now. Now. The challenge is to be willing to modify the dream when life circumstances change, to find
the Root Question…
The question that everything in your life serves.
~ Invitation ~
What dreams do you have for your life?
What are the threads that make up your tapestry?
In what ways have your dreams and tapestry been made manifest?
In what ways have they changed?
Christy Sensharma
I am a wife and a mom, a yogi, an artist, and a writer… but not always in that order! I tend to think in collage and have trouble starting my day without coffee (black). I am a contemplative and a seeker on this wonderful, odd trip that is this human life. I love to have adventures and detest fences of any kind. Dedicated to my journal, I blog part-time at www.vignettesfrommylife.blogspot.com
What an inspiring message from Christy Sensharma. Those of us who are fortunate enough to be able to ponder the meaning of our lives, our dreams and loves, we sometime have the idea that we should have big, worldly dreams. Christy’s reference to Rilke, that we live the questions, live the reality of what and where we are, live in our moments, then the larger questions and desires reveal themselves, I find true. The fabrics of our lives are made by us and by circumstance. How our dreams manifest, and how they are thwarted is something that we simply live with. If the bigger question, the root question, as Christy calls it, if it is in place – the underlying truth to our lives – then everything that happens seems to make some sense. “Let yourself be silently drawn by the strange pull of what you really love. It will not lead you astray.”, Rumi says. I have found this so true. Through the dreams of love and desire, happiness and sadness, our one question, or one quest, our purpose we know deepy, that is our light. Christy’s list seems to me to be one with which all of nature is imbued. It is not a small or modest list of ego-centered dreams – which by the way, I think can lead us to our larger, more satisfying dreams – rather her list seems attuned to what we are, simply a manifestation of nature. Some of us live more in the realm of ‘human nature’ with it’s foibles and failures, and others more in the universal realm. Thank you Christy for this beautiful message.
Thank you, Bill, for your beautiful and amazing response to my post.
While it is possible to have both lofty and small dreams for what we want to accomplish in this life, the thing that keeps me waking up each morning are the questions about what it all means, what kind of life am I creating for myself and those around me? What does it feel like? here, where the time is always ‘now’.
~ C
Hey Christy
This was a great post. You know I was just thinking about something you mentioned in this post the other day, about the whole idea of what constitutes a ‘dream.’ While not everyone may have some huge lofty goal, I am sure there are some things they would like to see happen in their lives, but they may not realize it because they don’t feel compelled to chase after some huge thing. We all want different things and have different values.And I think that people should build whatever life they want, and it doesnt matter how someone else would regard that particular desire. If someone doesn’t want anything more than a good relationship so they can settle down and raise a family, that is perfectly fine. We can just what we want, and forget about the rest.
Yes, exactly Kelly! This post was about my experience and the themes in my life, but they may not be the same for anyone else.. We each need to find our own path; find the dreams that we want to follow or manifest. Each of us is unique… and so shall our dreams be too.
Thanks for your comment.
~ Christy
Hi Christy,
Excellent! I’m with Kelli; literally and figuratively lol. We all seek different lives. KC and I travel all over the world while making money online, others may want weekends with their grandkids, or simply, to retire from the 9-5. The small, still voice will lead you there every time.
Thanks for sharing!
Hi Ryan ~
Thanks for your comment.
Ahh yes! The small, still voice : it WILL lead us, if we can be quiet enough to hear it! 🙂
~ Christy
Wow! I feel like the luckiest /most blessed person ever ! I can not express the overwhelming feeling of gratitude I feel inside as I Read your post. I find I’m in same page as you and
I couldn’t of expressed it better . I woke up this morning and I once again felt the beauty and brightness of life inside me. I smiled and realized ” I EXPECT MIRACLES!!!! ” 😀 Not the kind of miracles caused by other things or other people. The kind WE / OURSELVES create. I feel my Purpose is ecstatic and eager to come out my chest. Finding the most fulfilling way of expressing it it’s my challenge for when we find beauty in life we find beauty in everything. I love the Quiet. I know that I will find the perfect way of living my purpose for I’m trilled to share it with others in every breath I take. I believe in Karma , in Love and in Everything that makes it real (us) 😉 Thank you once again <3 …RM
Thank you, Rocie! I am filled with Gratitude that this post touched you 🙂 I love every word you wrote!
~ Christy