Last week I touched on overcoming our fears and how they can sometimes hinder us from achieving our goals. So this week while deciding what to write I decided to write about following our dreams.

For each and everyone of us our goals and dreams will be different at various stages of our lives. Some of us dream about getting married, having a big white wedding, having children, becoming a professional footballer or an airline pilot or even flying to the moon. The list is endless.

I tend to dream big and my close friends all know exactly what my dreams are, but the key for me is I appreciate what I have right here right now and I believe I’m already living my dreams to a certain extent. So how is that possible?

I think it depends on how we choose to look at things and what our take on life is. I like to think we are in the process of achieving our dreams all of the time.  For example, if it’s a job promotion you want, you are probably taking exams to better yourself and become qualified for when that job does come up. If your goal is to pay off your mortgage – then with every monthly payment you are one step closer than last month to paying it off.  It is a process.

My dreams are so huge I sometimes wonder how I will ever achieve them but I have lots of fun trying and I imagine myself living those dreams. By doing this I am a much happier person, I smile and enjoy life more because I believe that every day I am “in the process” of getting a step closer to achieving my dreams.  In fact it is my dreams that  get me out of bed in the morning.

I am a strong believer in visualisation and when I look back on things that I have achieved in life, I would say quite a lot was through visualisation. This encourages me and gives me faith that anything is possible.

So what is visualisation? It a technique of using our imaginations to focus on our goals and dreams with the intention of making them come true. Many successful people, particularly athletes, use visualisation either subconsciously or consciously as a way of life.  I believe I used it when I was younger without even realizing it but having discovered visualisation techniques I now realize that I’ve been doing it all my life.

For visualisation to work we can’t just sit at home and wait for things to come to us, we have to put ourselves out there. For example, if we want a new job, then our CV has to be updated and sent out to prospective employers, alternatively if we want to find a partner, it’s no good sitting at home waiting for Mr or Mrs Right to come along on their white charger, we have to put ourselves in situations where we have opportunities to meet someone.

By visualising, putting ourselves out there and having a positive frame of mind people respond to us differently and we find ourselves in situations we might not have before and opportunities start appearing in everything we do.

I would love to hear whether you have ever used visualisation to realize your dreams or how your dreams have come true.

If anyone would like to find out more about visualisation then I can recommend an excellent book called Creative Visualisation by Shakti Gawain.

Wishing my readers a week full of dreams and happiness.

How lucky are we?   This was a question that Professor Brian Cox asked last week during his fantastic new series titled the “Human Universe”.

In last week’s programme Brian asked the question “Why are we here?” He went on to explain how we are born out of a chain of apparent co-incidences and how our planet and its position in space makes the perfect planet and gives us all the right elements for life and is expanding at just the right rate. Any slight alterations to gravity and there would be no planets or stars, if there were a decrease in light then there would be no carbon or oxygen. All the constants in the planet are just right, set perfectly to keep everything as they should be to maintain life.   All the random numbers are where they should be and have been that way for over 4 billion years.   Brian said it’s just like winning the lottery and WOW what a lottery to win.

I truly believe this and everyday feel I’ve won the lottery.   I often say to myself “How lucky am I” or if with friends “How lucky are we?” I am eternally grateful for everything I have and practice gratitude on a daily basis. As I mentioned in a previous Blog, “Counting our Blessings”, I am very grateful for the roof over my head, my job, my friends, family and animals, but if I stop to think about things on an even grander scale and about the planet and the universe then I am absolutely blown away.

Brian presented a show demonstrating various aspects of how amazing this wonderful world is. From how we share our DNA with camels, to how and why leopards have their spots.

So when I start to see how amazing our wonderful world is I can feel my heart and soul expand (just like the planet, which is also expanding) and am even more grateful and thankful at how lucky I am, in fact at “how lucky are we”. It goes beyond the roof over my head etc.

I must admit when I’m out and about, particularly in nature, I always marvel at how beautiful and amazing our world is. I’ve often wondered about how everything is in the right place and how brilliant the universe is and I am truly thankful. We really have won the lottery in more ways than we can ever imagine.

I would love to know if you agree with Prof. Brian Cox and feel like a lottery winner?

“When I look at the solar system, I see the earth at the right distance from the sun to receive the proper amounts of heat and light. This did not happen by chance”.  Isaac Newton