We all have dreams, right?
Whether it’s to travel, to live in a certain place, to own a particular house, to have more confidence, gain new skills, have better relationships, or to do the work you truly love …. we all have those desires and dreams.
To me, those dreams are like seeds, they hold that rich possibility of what we desire but have not yet realised.
As they say, from tiny acorns, mighty oak trees grow.
Like with any seed, we have to nurture it to get it to sprout and then keep nurturing it as it grows to maturity.
If we starve it by neglecting to take action or we forget to keep holding the vision of what we’d like, then how can we expect it to keep growing for us?
Top tips for nurturing your goals.
No. 1 Give them a positive start.
This is often the easy part.
When we first have a dream or idea, it’s quite easy to get excited and to feed that dream with positive thoughts and emotions.
We have the vision and can sense the joy of achieving our desires.
My advice is to milk this phase, to record that positivity, so you can re-visit it and re-kindle it at a later point.
When building my lovely home, I remember the joy of that initial ‘dreaming’ phase. Pouring through books and magazines, collecting ideas, noting my preferences and buzzing at the idea of creating this fabulous home.
Yet, often, ‘reality’ can put a dampener on our sweet dreams. Whether it’s someone else who doesn’t believe in it, or obstacles that seem to appear out of nowhere, suddenly the dream can seem harder to achieve. If that’s ever been the case for you, read my next tip.
No. 2 Don’t poison them with doubt or lack of faith.
This is where the real work begins. It is up to us to ‘hold the faith’ and to keep our dreams alive when others are doubtful or the circumstances don’t seem perfect. If we buy into any body else’s disbelief and then start to doubt ourselves, it’s like poisoning that dream.
That’s when we need to go back and remember ‘why’ we want it and how good it will feel when we make it real.
When setbacks came up whilst building my home, it wasn’t easy to keep the faith. Luckily, I found the tool of EFT tapping, which I honestly believe was the one thing that helped me to keep going in the face of dealing with crazy planning issues that meant halting the build for over a year.
It does take practice to stay positively focused through challenging times and it’s important to use mindset tools such as visualisation and the EFT tapping to help us stay on track.
If you’re struggling to overcome doubt or setbacks, these EFT tapping videos might be just what you need to stay on track
EFT tapping for Keeping your dreams alive.
Overcoming doubt and believe in yourself with EFT Tapping.
No. 3 Don’t abandon them if you don’t see quick results.
As I said in my last blog post, it can take time for some of our dreams to be ready to actualise, just like it takes time for an acorn to become an oak tree.
That analogy reminds me not to be so impatient when things seem to be moving slowly.
Often our initial actions and focus are creating a great foundation for those dreams to be build on, we just can’t see it instantly.
That seed can be growing strongly underground but all that growth is unseen from above ground.
If we take the example of building a house, it takes times for the structures to be put in place (the foundation, the walls, the roof) and there are many steps to take before a house is ready to live in. Don’t give up hope when you’re half way there just because there are more steps to take.
No. 4 Be consistent, feed those dreams regularly.
Consistency really is key. Taking small action steps every day and maintaining a positive outlook will be like regularly fertilising your seedling.
You also will benefit from giving it room to spread it’s roots and thrive, which means paying attention to the steps and mindset required to make that dream come true.
It’s also good to get curious. Just like with seedlings, our dreams and desires go through different phases and need different types of attention at different times. A plant may need different fertilisers for leaf growth and for flower formation. You may need to learn a skill or do some research at one time and at another you may need to take different actions to progress, such as putting your new skills into practice.
When I was building my house I had to first learn a variety of skills and then put them into practice as and when they were required (I’m a dab hand at oiling floors and dry lining now). I also had to recognise where I required outside help and assistance.
Video:
This is what happens when you don’t nurture your dreams.
This week’s video, was inspired by my own garden and by what nature teaches me about thriving. In it I demonstrate the difference between giving regular care attention and space to our plants (or our dreams) and just forgetting them and leaving them to fend for themselves. It’s not pretty!
Over to you.
I’d love to hear your stories about how you nurture your hopes and dreams.
What do you do to overcome any doubts or setbacks?
Leave me a comment below if you’d like to have your say.
Thanks,
Ferris.
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