Dare to Dream

Everything I was meant to be
I am and you can quickly see
That I am in reality
All I am supposed to be.

I am nothing more and nothing less
Than I am willing to confess.
On the hands of time I ride
Until they say “He finally died”.

I am all that I’ll ever be
And so are you. Can’t you see?
We make our own reality
And all is as it’s meant to be.

Three dazzling white horses, prancing on an arid plain, white-dotted blue skies the canvas, and grey-edged, cold-faced mountains simmering in the desert heat the backdrop – your mind paints the scene. You can feel the hot, dry, gritty desert wind blowing through your hair, touching your skin. You are an artist even with your eyes closed.

Lush vegetation, banana trees, coconut trees, ancient ferns with large surreal fronds dancing in the tropical sun. The gentle, sonorous roar of the waterfall lulling your senses into an evermore beautiful place. Tropical birds sing, the sound of endless water roaring – and your thoughts are peaceful, your mind serene, your eyes closed. Your soul is at peace.

We often think of dreams as things that happen only when we are sleeping – sometimes they are good and make us smile, other times they are horrific and we wake from them in a fearful sweat. Whatever kind of dream we awake from, it takes us minutes to realize it was just a dream — to separate what is real from the dream.

Is there really a difference? Who can know for sure if the dream is reality and what we consider to be reality is the impostor? Our minds, our dreams, our thoughts create their own reality and the more closely this self-generated reality is with our existence in what we call “reality” the more at peace we are.

But few of us can say that our dreams, our thoughts, and our minds are in tune with the reality we perceive to be around us. Many of us are in a constant, losing battle between the reality we imagine and the reality inside each of us — the reality of dreams, hopes, faith, love, fear, and thoughts. We think if we only had this or that we’d be happier and more content – and therefore more at peace with ourselves and the world around us — but that is simply not true.

Consider this quote: “He who is not contented with what he has, will not be contented with what he would like to have.” (Socrates) If you can be content with what you have and be at peace with that, then your reality inside become closer to the reality outside and you will find more happiness.

Many people think that someone or some thing can make them happy; there is only one person that can make you truly happy and that one person is — you.

You can close your eyes and travel to the farthest edges of the universe and spin around orange and red, ringed planets, full of bubbling gasses and beautiful explosions of color. You can sail the pristine waters of an unknown sea, where the winds are whispers and your sails billow softly. You can stand atop the highest mountains and sing to the wind and listen your own singing echoing off the hard stone faces.

You can close your eyes and travel on rainbows, arching and misty, or paint magical scenery, or compose great symphonies, or travel to places where dreams are real and anything you dream comes true.

The only reality we know is the reality we perceive. And we control what we perceive.

You have wings, and you have sails, and you have brushes and paints and a canvas as large as the universe. You can use make your own reality and be everything or anything you want to be — and all you need to do is close your eyes and dare to imagine, dare to dream.

“…Stone walls do not a prison make,
Nor iron bars a cage;
Minds innocent and quiet take
That for an hermitage;
If I have freedom in my love
And in my soul am free,
Angels alone, that soar above,
Enjoy such liberty.” ( “To Althea from Prison”, by Richard Lovelace)