Dear Diary,

Just to mix things a bit and to step away from by book reviewing duties, I’d like to share with you and my readers my insights into dream-making. What do you say?…

 

You dream a dream. You dream many dreams. You make a wish. You make a hundred. Do you know what would happen if any of them actually come true? Like really. What if one or ten of your wishes came true? What would you do? How would you behave? Will you be happy? Will you be elated and fulfilled? Or will you run and hide?

So many questions to ponder this New Year Week. Just before you jump off the cliff of the brand new calendar making your wishes and resolutions, take a moment to silence the voices in your head and to still your heart. Take a moment to think about what will actually happen if…

What if you really lost all the weight you want to lose?

How about this? It is a big one, isn’t it.

You have a goal. You work hard. You work extremely hard. You spend hours in the gym. You eat all the healthy stuff. You spend more hours in the gym. You become a gym junkie and even start talking in gym-slang.

You get on scales and you… won. You got your dream weight. What now? Are you happy? Are you content? Are you fulfilled?

What if I’d be a devil’s advocate here and tell you, no. No, you are not happy, content or fulfilled. Yes, you are much lighter. Yes, you can go shopping for a new wardrobe. But your face is tired and haggard. You are getting gym-overdose or gym-withdrawal syndrome. You are craving for all the ‘bad’ foods and are about to go on the chocolate-binge…. Just because you are not that happy. Just because weight-loss didn’t turn out to be what you were hoping for — solve-all solution…

What if you really got the car of your dreams?

You do all the right things. You put together a dream-board with all the nice pictures of things and places you want in your life. One of them is your new dream car. You know the color, the make and the model.

Eventually, you get to your new car. You get in. You start it. It feels all…wrong. It is too small. It is too fake. It is too so not you.

Well, you forgot to dream of comfort, safety and wishy-washy feelings that you might have when you meet your new car. That is your mistake.

Now you have a brand new car in the garage and all you do is miss your old car as you might miss a friend who moved away.

What if the person you are aching for would ask you on a date?

We have all been there. We had crushes. We fell in love. We liked someone at school, at work, next door… We might have loved someone from a distance as well.

We all ached for someone special to notice us, to pay attention, to ask us out. What if it happens? What if this amazing, beautiful but unattainable person just rocks up at your door one day or night and asks you out? What would you do?

Would you just close the door behind you and go with this person anywhere he takes you? Or would you shut the door in this person’s face and run scared. Would you start thinking what to wear? Am I too fat, too old or too tired? Do I need to wax? Are my nails too chipped? Am I having a bad hair day?

Or how about this? Am I too boring? Is he/sshe too boring? What if…. And here are the endless possibilities of stuff, evil, angry, horrible and painful stuff you can think up while you are considering a date offer.

What if you got the escape of your dreams?

The next on my devil’s list is your dream escape. It is about a trip of a lifetime.

You have planned it. You have researched it. You have paid for it. You are packed and are ready to go. You get there. You check in. You walk in your hotel room and walk out on the balcony…

Why isn’t he/she here with me? Why is he/she here with me? I am bored. I am tired. I am not going here, there, anywhere. This place is so not so. These people around me are so not so. What am I doing here?

What if you would never be alone?

You are tired of being alone. You are sick of being lonely. All your friends are paired up. All your friends go out to the parties with their partners or spouses. You stop going out with them. You do not want to feel inadequate. You dream of not being alone ever again, especially on holidays.

And your dream comes true. You are constantly surrounded by people. It is your family. It is your friends. It is your new partner…. Are you happy? You are miserable. You want to run away. You want peace and quiet. You want emptiness and silence.

You want to be alone every now and then. You want time and space to unload, to gather your thoughts…

Dreams are for dreaming

Before I sign of and start on my own dream board, I want to leave you with the following learning. I am not going to preach about ‘be careful what you wish for’. It is tired and old. I am going to share my experience with you and tell you to keep dreaming, but dreaming for you, for your age, your experience, your life journey, your style and your preferences. Please dream of something that will make you feel good, warm and fluffy inside and out. Start dreaming with only you in sight, in heart and in the centre.

Enjoy the process but do not put limits on it such as colour, make, model, height, geographical parameters. Describe your dreams in feelings, emotions, sensations and dreams your dreams may cause.

Dream on, my friend.