All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them. – Walt Disney
Dreams-dreams-dreams… they inspire us… they move us forward to do our best to reach higher goals and achieve the true virtue of happiness. My biggest dream was, is and always will be to travel and explore the world from different angles of it’s perspectives. The life with its hopes and dreams always seemed to me like a long journey along the river… and we know, all rivers has it’s birthplace, the point that energy of life kicked in and a true magic of life has begun… Where did I begin? Where did my dream come from? Do you know where your dream came from? I know exactly the origin of mine, and I will share it now.
Ever since I was a little, I used to have this habit when I was visiting my relatives who lived in a valley between the mountains. I would get up the earliest in the morning with the sunrise and go to the garden to meet the day and say hello to the mountains… The most amazing and beautiful mountains for my heart ever since. I love to slowly follow the range with my eyes – there is something comforting and relaxing about that.
So there, I was five years old. Looking up at the mountains wishing to be at the very top of one of them and wondering what is there beyond that mountain? That was the first time I ever wondered about the whole world, other countries to discover, new people, to meet and I wanted to spend my life traveling – discovering more. That was the origin of my dream to travel.
As I was growing up, I always had that image of my beautiful mountain in my mind. And I couldn’t shake it off. But just like many of us I often caught myself secretly wishing that my dream would stay just a dream. Why do we hope that dreams will stay dreams just because they are pretty and give us comfort or are we just afraid that when they come true, they will not be as great as our mind pictured them? That was my problem with most of my dreams. So instead of moving forward to fulfill them, I was sitting making up new doubts and reasons not to.
Six years out of reach from that mountain was unbearable. Somehow I felt the urge to connect, to see, to feel its energy rushing into my mind recharging me with every breath taken on top of it. It always seemed so far away from me… So last summer, after six years break, I went and stayed with my relatives again for six weeks. It was my Birthday, and as usual, I got up early to go and meet my mountain. I went to the top of a nearby hill for a better perspective. I’ve stopped. I was happy again. Something native, from the inside of my soul, gave me comfort seeing the beauty of that same mountain range that I always kept in my heart. “It’s not enough” – I thought to myself. “I want to be there” – and my eyes landed exactly on the top of the Sapanta mountain.
But how will I do that? There was always something on the way to fulfill my dream. Most importantly there was a lack of like-minded people to go there with me. The funny part of the story is that this mountain is only 2 km away from the point I was standing. The problem is that this mountain was in a different country and to get to it you would have to cross the river Tisa that separates Ukraine and Romania. So I needed somebody to go there with me and find a guide who could take us to Sapanta. I asked quite a few people. And after a strain of refuses, I finally found the person who gladly agreed to cross the border and go up to that mountain and take some pictures from the top of that town where my relatives lived.
What Does it Take to Turn a Dream Into Reality?
Luck
You would be surprised how much we usually attribute to luck. Of course, luck plays a huge part in achieving our dreams when it is on our side. But some things, coincidences that we attribute to luck are not that at all. How many times have you thought to yourself that it was lucky to meet that person or to notice that little something that got you so much closer to turning your dream into reality? The truth is that it is not luck that you are seeing. When we have a dream, and we are determined that it comes true, your mind turns into a homing device and constantly seeks opportunities to get closer to it. Things that you would not otherwise notice and people you would not necessarily speak to become so obvious to you and so easy to find. It never stops to amaze me how life starts giving me little clues and everything starts fitting together when I have my mind set on that one dream, and I truly start believing that I can realize it. The last part is important. Our minds take everything literally. It cannot distinguish sarcasm from the truth; it cannot find ways of doing something if you tell your mind that it cannot be done. If you know there is a solution to something – your mind will find it.
Visualisation
This part is not intuitive, but it follows from the fact that your mind operates in literal terms. When you visualize something and feel the emotions while seeing that picture, your mind will take it literally as if you are already there. That picture will get you into the state as if you have already made your dream come true. And you will automatically become the person that you saw in your visualization. You will act like that person. You will think like that person. You might not realize it, but this is how we operate on daily basis. Think about something sad, and you feel sadness, so you try to do something that will make you cheerful again. If you remember a happy moment in your life, perhaps when you achieved something, you start skipping instead of walking, and you might even start singing. Visualizations are like memories with one huge distinguishing fact. You create them and the person in them with feelings and emotions that you want that person to have at that exact moment. And because your mind believes that it is true, you get to experience the same emotions every time you visualize. You start thinking like that person and take decisions like that person. I often visualize my dreams, and I notice how all the pieces come together. I always saw myself traveling, I always saw myself on the top of that mountain, I always saw myself writing something meaningful. And I am living those dreams now. They might not always turn out exactly how I pictured them, but it is important to know that they still came true.
Hard Work
Do we need to work hard to reach our dream? Of course, visualization can get us only so far. If you got yourself into the state when you are ready to take action, but you allow your doubts to creep in and stop you half way, then the whole exercise is pointless. As my favorite motivational speaker Tony Robbins says “to achieve something, you must take massive action.” And it is true. Visualization will get you into the state which will motivate you to take that massive action, but you still need to take it. I often have the problem with doubting myself too. I often know exactly what I have to do, but I let my doubts in my abilities to stop me right there and keep me from realizing my dream. We do need to work hard to achieve anything worth having but when you know how it feels when you get it (by visualizing) that work doesn’t seem hard anymore and all you have left is that massive drive to move forward.
Nothing in this world worth having comes easy – quote from Scrubs by Bob Kelso
Persistence
Persistence is very important in getting closer to our dreams. We must believe in ourselves and in the possibility to realize our dreams. There is an end to any action, but it is up to us whether to end it by giving up or by achieving a result. Any wall, no matter how thick and strong, can be knocked down with persistence. And so to achieve our dreams we need to persist, even be stubborn in not letting anything to move us out of our way. No matter how hard anyone discourages you and no matter how long it take and how tired it makes, we need to persist and keep going. Only you know what it feels like to achieve your dream and if you ever feel like giving up – take a moment and remember the moment that you imagined when you had achieved your dream. It will give you another boost to keep trying until you knock all the obstacles down and get on a clear path to success.
Patience, persistence, and perspiration make an unbeatable combination for success. – Napoleon Hill
Most of us know everything that I wrote above, but this is just a little reminder from me to you – don’t give up, think big, go after your dreams. My dream came true. What surprised me the most is that that view from the top of the mountain I was visualizing for many years so vividly turned out to be more breathe taken in reality I could have ever imagined!
Dream on! And never settle for less.
Guys, do you have a story about how you turn your dream into reality? How did that make you feel?
Photos by Lesya Li