Think Big, Act Little

If you have a dream, if there is something you want to achieve, a goal you want to reach it is said that you must first establish the vision and then second of all hold on to the vision and work forward from that point and move on.

Where a lot of us stumble, get frustrated and eventually give up is that we picture our goal in the future, as something to work toward thus making it distant and far away and somewhat inaccessible.

I've been doing some reading on visualisation lately and how to make your goals become reality and what seems to be the part of the dream-making that we often miss is that while holding the vision is important, it's even more important to hold on to how we will feel once we achieve that vision. Once we've done that we adopt the feeling as current and then to hold on to how we feel now that we have our dream realised.

And then as we hold on to that feeling and do all the little tasks, one by one, that lead you to your goals, life will unfold before you in a way that makes the dream a reality. A writer does not suddenly become a writer the day his book is published. That happens the first time pen is put to paper and something is created on the page. The same goes for the painter or the sculptor or the pianist.

How many auditions do you think Julia Roberts went to before she was cast in a film role? Was she not an actor until she did Pretty Woman or won the Oscar? No, she was an actor the first time she acted. Every audition, every meeting, every script, every commercial, all of the little steps she took along the way were instrumental in her becoming the success she is today. She was always an actor.

Our society identifies us by our paid work. So if you are a secretary but write at night you will be known as a secretary. And many of us fall into that trap because it's how we are conditioned to think and behave. If you are working at your life's work and feel as though your paid work is your calling then of course you identify by that, the two aren't mutually exclusive. However if it isn't, if it's something you have to do for money, even if you like the work yet feel it isn't soul satisfying and particularly if you hate the work, then start to work towards your vision, your true dream and start identifying yourself with that.

I can't call myself a writer, I've never published a book, I've never sold and article, I'm just a stay at home mom(the most important job on earth by the way). That's how I've identified myself for the last 5 years until just recently although I've written many things over the past 5 years. When I look back now I see that I've created quite a body of work over those years that had nothing to do with being a mom to little children although they inspired much of it. I've been a writer all along. I just didn't say it, not even to myself.

Recently though, I've been more motivated to take the little steps that I need to take to be a writer. It's as though a dam burst and I just have to now. I write every day. I tell people I write. I show people things I've written and I hold the image in my mind and the feeling in my heart that I am a writer. I've let go of all the things that held me back in the past and I'm making all the little steps I need to make to reach the goals I have. I feel like a writer.

If you have a dream, something you have always wanted to do, start identifying with the dream, start taking the steps towards your goal and start labeling yourself and identifying yourself accordingly. If you have another job to pay the bills, and we all have to bring water, chop wood as they say, then do so with a happy heart but you do not have to replace your dream with that. It's just something you have to do for now as you work, in little ways towards your life's true purpose.

Think big and act little and step by step, moment by moment you are living the vision you hold and you will feel you are already where you want to be. For there isn't anywhere else you can be except this moment and to be true to your most authentic self you have to be living the purpose you've come here to fulfill. You can do no less.