Dreams

What are your dreams? To what do you aspire?

I love what Norman Cousins once said. “Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies inside of us while we live.”

I want to be a believer in other people’s dreams. I want to be your greatest cheerleader. John Maxwell has some great advice for those of us who become cheerleaders of others dreams.

“Encouraging others in their pursuits of a dream is to give them a wonderful gift.
1. Ask them to share their dream with you.
2. Affirm the person as well as the dream.
3. Ask about the challenges they must overcome to reach their dream.
4. Offer your assistance.
5. Revisit their dream with them on a consistent basis.
6. Determine daily to be a dream booster, not a dream buster.
People will live up to their dreams when they have a chance to fulfill them.

Never allow yourself to become a dream killer.”

(From 25 Ways to Win with People, John C. Maxwell)

In Man of LaMancha, based on Cervantes’s classic work Don Quixote the protagonist, Don Alonzo pursues a life of chivalry and seeks to become a knight-errant long after that age of history has passed. He sees giants where others see windmills and quests where others see rabbit trails. He rescues a common prostitute named Aldonza, whom he sees as s beautiful lady. He calls her Dulcinea and makes her the object of his knightly exploits.

At first she resents him. She thinks he is mocking her, because she hates herself and her life. But with time, his vision of her replaces her own and gives her hope.

At the end of the story, Don Alonzo lies on his deathbed, and as he takes his last breath, Dulcinea thanks him for seeing in her what she could not see in herself.

I just watched the movie The Blind Side staring Sandra Bullock. It is the true story of how she and her family took in a street kid named Michael Oher and literally transformed his life. They rescued him from a life of loss and damnation and gave him a leg up on life and a chance.

That’s all – a chance.

Michael could have chosen to ignore this golden opportunity, but instead he embraced it. He hung in there, and with Leigh-Anne Tuohy’s steady hand and the consistent help of a tutor, he became not only a great football player but an honor student and a successful human being.

Michael dreamed, even as a kid, of escaping from the hell-hole he grew up in on the bad side of Memphis, and with the Tuohy’s help, found his way out.

Michael, like most of us, had aspirations and expectations

“Aspirations are goals/desires that are not weighted by the probability of success.
Expectations: Goals/desires that do factor in the probability of success.”

Stated by Jay MacLeod, at UW, Sociologist

So, what are your dreams?

What do you aspire to do or become?

          Dream your dreams.

Paint them vividly and in detail.

To lose a dream is a great loss.

Find ways to give your dreams feet and wings.