Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you've imagined. – Thoreau
The day I took my coaching certification exam, my husband gave me a simple silver cuff bracelet with the first part of this quote engraved on the outside and inside – "Go confidently in the direction of your dreams."
I wouldn't know concretely whether or not I passed the exam for weeks, but he chose to celebrate me and my dream of becoming a coach even before it was a reality.
When I wear this bracelet, it reminds me of his encouragement and support to pursue my highest dreams — a great and long-lasting gift of the heart.
I only recently learned of the second half of this quote – "Life the life you've imagined." It's a perfect complement to the first half, in that dreams and imagination are the fuel to create concrete future realities.
I encounter many people who sadly believe that they have no creativity, or that dreaming is somehow frivolous. They may have forgotten their innate creative nature or experienced enough disappointed dreams to make it feel hard to try again.
And yet, visualizing our desired future is of vital importance, if for no other reason than, as they say, you're more likely to get what you want if you know what it is.
Where are you dreaming of doing? What possibilities can you imagine?
What will you do to step towards your future today?
Before specializing as a professional coach in 2004, I spent more than a decade in leadership, management and program development for state and local government and non-profit organizations. Now I get to help leaders and teams have more clarity and ability to stand up for what's important in their work and in their organizations. Working with me, leaders and teams find more meaning and purpose, feel happier and more confident, navigate change and conflict, and work together better.
“I encounter many people who sadly believe that they have no creativity, or that dreaming is somehow frivolous.”
In my profession, during Q&A sessions… I encounter people living within this state of mind. I remind people of that wonderful line from Forest Gump…’life is like a box of chocolates…”
Then I remind people, the good fortune within Forest Gump… was scripted by a wonderful group of imaginative writers, whom I’s sure, were constantly concerned about paying mortgages, raising children, keeping spouses happy and most importantly… hoping they would not be fired that day or the next.
In short, some people get paid very well for ‘day dreaming.’ It’s time for regular people to realize the power of ‘day dreaming’ with a purpose.