Stretch to Dream

It’s 4:44am in the kitchen with the Bohemian. He’s eating oatmeal before leaving for work, I’m sipping Earl Grey from a glass mug. We’re wide awake at our typical daybreak hour but this morning we’re talking about dreams. Big ones.

Today’s pre-sunrise revelation comes as we discuss an anecdote for recurring negative thoughts. These menaces arise in all forms: worry about losing something or not having enough. Judgements about a co-worker, family member, random stranger, or ourselves. These slimy notions feel heavy and thick in body, soul and mind. They cloud our heads and deflate our spirits. Sometimes they loop in constant chatter, overwhelming and seemingly unstoppable.

My friend, Toni Childs, once termed this frequency Radio KF*CK. The mental station that pollutes our beings with negativity, only bringing us down. The control dial is within our reach, and we can choose to change the channel.

But what about the times when we’re in such a funk we don’t feel we have the power to turn that dial? We’re deep in the dumps and need some tool to find the strength to switch it.

Dream! Dream big!

This is the revelation of the morning. A suggested experiment to every person that finds themselves in a defeating thought pattern. Take it as a cue. No need to make negativity an enemy. How about seeing it as a messenger, even a friend? A true blue reminder that it’s time to dream again.

Next time Worry-wart Wayne shows up, maybe we could say something like, “Okay W, it’s true that I’m not yet sure what work I’m going to find. Yes, that’s something that needs to be figured out before this month’s rent payment. I hear you. Your message has been delivered and received. Thanks! Bye! I’m dreaming now about the work I want to be doing and how it’s going to plentifully support me.”

I’m not suggesting sitting in a room and fantasizing about your dream job is going to make the phone ring with an employment offer (though anything is possible). I’m proposing that the power of dreams, with its light-hearted, mind-expanding energy of possibility can lift us out of worry into action, moving us toward what we really want.

When we get caught in thinking only of the mess of this world, the weight of those stressful, gooey thoughts can be a simple reminder that we’re ready to dream something better. What do we want the world to be? What’s our greatest vision for this life?

Everything we see in the material world began with a vision in someone’s mind. We are living in a collection of dreams made real. There is no limit to the things we can realize.

So let’s gather the dreamers and juice up our inspirations. Let’s use our worries and fears as mere signposts pointing the way to dream better, bigger.

Let’s see how vastly we can dream and bring it into our lives, our world, our hearts, our minds.

At least that’s the inspiration for the day. I’m going to try it. Those on board with the experiment, tell me how it goes.

Simple Soothes

This morning my eyes just want to rest
on small
simple
truths
beauty
being
soothing
sunglight
marigolds and blue glass
at my kitchen window

Tools

It’s all about the right tool for the job.

Ask anyone that’s handy and they’ll tell you that good tools are essential in getting work done well.

Anyone else out there feeling like humans on planet Earth are being called to task? It seems as though I’ve been given an assignment of gargantuan proportions and I’m picking through my inner toolshed looking for some apparatus of assistance.

Big projects require exceptional tools. What have I got?

I’ve been taking inventory of my inner resources and assessing what assists me most. These days the pressure can squeeze tight. I need to be able to quickly access my most potent tools at any given moment in order to respond swift as a superhero.

Art is definitely in the tool belt. Music, writing, photography, dance. These things fill my soul.

Breath is big. Exercising enough to get that breath moving through my lungs and oxygenating my body and brain helps heaps. Clearing space!

Community is key in my arsenal of tools. It’s vital to feel connection with friends and family, especially in challenging times. We can support each other and offer insightful reflections. There is power in numbers.

And here’s my latest revelation: Food. So simple, yet I had not fully recognized the potent influence it has. Organic foods and vitamin supplements were good enough I’d thought. But after incorporating high-density superfoods into my diet, my daily experience has been upgraded to a whole new level.

At the root, my greatest tool is my body, as it is the vehicle by which I maneuver my way through this odyssey of life. No project can be tackled, no endeavor undertaken without a vessel by which I can implement these tasks. Existing on basic sustenance is a blessing in itself. I realize that there are those in this world that do not even have this.

Which is all the more reason for me, living in a modern world with access to superfoods, that I feel called to utilize the tool of high-nutritional plants. It’s my responsibility to do better in order to help others. I’m being called to step it up in the world and I’m using the best tools for the job.

Clear mind, healthy body, strong energy. I want to be in optimal working order.

May we all know our tools and care for them well. Keep them at the ready. Right now, it’s all hands on deck.