Day 14: Dream harvesting

Ok so the new thing for Day 14 might be a bit too cheesy, weird or quixotic but was my new thing for the day and so I'll blog about it.

A couple of years ago, during my study break, I would often watch afternoon time TV to procrastinate. Oprah with all those stories of hope, empowerment, change etc was one of my favourites. During one of the episodes she met with this lady from Zimbabwe who went against all odds to make her dream of getting a University education come true. This lady from rural Zimbabwe, was denied further education and forced into an early marriage but she had always dreamt of getting her Bachelors and Post Graduate degree. She always thought it would be one of those dreams that remained a dream. On meeting with a missionary from the US, she realised her dream could come true, she just had to believe in it. Upon the encouragement of her mother, she wrote her dream down to get a BS, a Masters and PhD and hid it in a tin under a rock. "If you can dream it, you can achieve it". Opportunity came knocking on her door and she managed to move to the US, re-marry, start a new life, get her 3 degrees and check off the dream list. She is apparently a "Doctor" now. Really a miraculous story of the power of dreams!

It was very moving. From my own personal experience, I know that if you really want something, you will get it. It might take a while, it may seem unattainable but it will eventually happen. The important thing is to know what you want and keep striving for it. Keep the final destination(the end-goal) constant and use as many different ways, directions, detours to get there as possible!

According to popular belief, there is a "law of attraction" that comes into play so be careful what you wish for and be sure of what you want to wish for. I still remember the time our teacher in India had said that we should make a "target board" in front of our study table. This target board will have the grade or percentage you are striving for, written in bold and each day when you are studying, you are working towards that goal, you are diverting all your energy to achieve that grade you've written down. It worked! It worked that first time when I got very close to my target percentage. It worked ever after in school and University when I would get (or come very close to getting) my target GPA. I definitely cannot attribute all the results to the target board but I do think the board acts as a focal point, a guiding star to achieve what's desired.

Lately my dreams have been scattered. There are SO MANY things I want to do, see, feel, achieve. I find that as you get older and feel the sand in the timer flow much faster than usual, you start freaking out and get into a mad rush of making things happen! It's the same with me...but the problem is the same as always "too much to do, too little time"...problems with prioritisation! I really had to focus all my "want" energy on just a few things so I had a clear goal and could figure out a way to get there (with the Universe conspiring to help every now and then of course). Yesterday I sat and I thought of what I really wanted. When I wrote my target grade on that board as a student, it wasn't a "A+, maybe A, if that doesn't work B+" scenario, it was ALWAYS "A+" and I had to do the same with my new target board/wish list. So I sat, I pondered, I went for a long walk and thought some more and came up with a few things that I REALLY want to achieve and I wrote them down.

After writing the list, to follow the footsteps of the inspiring lady from Zimbabwe, I decided to bury my dreams in a secret place in our garden to see my dreams grow. The wishlist would keep me grounded and at the same time motivate me to keep the dreams growing so I can harvest them all some day. Yep cheesy and very dreamy but I am a dreamer and I'd rather write down these dreams and have the pleasure of checking them off on a list one day rather than write them off even before they can be conceived.

"Dream as if you'll live forever, live as though you'll die today". One of my favourite quotes and an important life philosophy. Just wish I can follow through with it! :)