If you were lucky you got to dream a lot when you were a child. Day dreaming about being rich and famous or being a hero. Maybe you got to talk to friends and family about all the things you wanted to do when you grew up and they encouraged you and supported you. When we are children it seems easier to imagine ourselves doing things outside of the norm, putting ourselves in place of our favorite characters and thinking about what it would be like to live the story they are living.
It seems like as we get older it becomes more difficult to dream. Maybe because we are often busier, have more responsibility, or dreams seem less attainable. Sometimes we are so sure that there is no way for our dreams to come true that it becomes painful to even think about them. It seems like it is less acceptable for adults to dream. We get the idea that dreaming is childish and that adults live in reality, taking care of daily life. Of course, it is important to accept life as it is and to take care of important things in life, however dreaming is important to.
The Importance of Dreaming
Dreaming is important for our individual growth and the growth and evolution of humanity. Dreaming is how we move forward, get to know ourselves, find happiness. Through dreaming we move our species forward with new ways of doing things and new technology: agriculture, clothes, houses, cars, ships. It’s where art and stories come from, fueling our creativity. All the things we have in our life came about through dreaming. When we stop dreaming we become stagnate, bored, even depressed.
How often do you Dream?
How often do you sit and dream? Do you even know how to dream anymore? By dream, I mean to sit and let your mind wander and your imagination run wild without filtering or letting reality slow you down. Imagine yourself up on stage in front of a sold-out crowd or slaying a dragon or at your own book signing or traveling to places you have always dreamed of seeing. Allowing yourself to live the life you truly want in your mind without telling yourself it can’t happen or that you can’t afford it or that dragons aren’t real.
Different ways to Dream
There are a lot of different ways to dream, lots of different ways to open up your creativity and imagination. It may be challenging in the beginning though, like with anything else when we are out of practice or have not done it in a while. We may be a little rusty or may need some help to get started. We may also need to suspend negative or limiting beliefs about ourselves and the world. Beliefs about things not being possible or achievable, beliefs about things you can’t have or can’t do. Those types of beliefs will get in the way of dreaming, maybe you can work on suspending them temporarily while you are working on dreaming, they will be there waiting for you when you are done having fun with your imagination.
1. Give yourself Time and Space
There are a lot of ways to help yourself start dreaming again. Mostly it is about giving yourself time and space to dream and be imaginative. Meditation may seem to be the answer to every question about how to improve yourself, but there is a reason it is so often suggested when it comes to feeling better, happier, or getting to know yourself. That is because when you take time to meditate you take time to sit in stillness with yourself and that gives you the opportunity to listen and observe more about who you are and what you want. Taking time to tune into you thoughts and emotions can also help you begin to dream again, a lot of imagination is fueled by our dreams and desires so listening to them can help us find our passions and begin to dream of new things.
2. Be Creative
Other ways to help ourselves get back to dreaming is to be creative, be playful, take care of ourselves, and take time to do things we love to do and to enjoy the world. Creativity and dreaming go hand in hand because we create new things from our imaginations and creating can bring to life the things we dream about. Being playful gives us space to act out our dreams and bring our imaginings to life. As we care for ourselves we feel more able to talk to ourselves about the things we really want and we feel more deserving of our desires. Taking time to do the things we love and to enjoy the world makes fantasies seem more possible and achievable and we begin to dream bigger and bigger as well as to start to take steps towards bringing our dreams into reality.
3. Start a Journal
Keeping a journal or dream journal can be very helpful as well. As we write our fantasies and imagining down we can add more detail, go into more depth, and as our dreams begin to come to fruition we can look back and realize that dreams do come true. We also realize that we have not been asking for or dreaming of anything that was beyond our reach. Writing out what our dreams are can help us begin to figure out what is needed or could be done to work towards those dreams and is a wonderful way to assist our imagination.
4. Make a Vision Board
Creating a vision board is another wonderful way to help us build on our dreams and bring them into clearer focus. To create a vision board you need a piece of cardboard to poster board or even just a sheet of paper. Then you will need old magazines or pictures that represent what it is you are dreaming of. You cut out the pictures that begin to show what you are dreaming about and put them on the board. You can hang the board up somewhere that you can see it clearly and continue to add to it as the dream grows or changes. Vision boarding is a great way to visually see what it is you are imagining for your life.
5. Mind-mapping
Another way to bring your imagination and dreaming into the physical world is with mind-mapping. When you mind map you write down the main theme of your desire in the middle of the paper and then you build off of it with supporting ideas. Use different colors, words, and drawings to add to the map. Like with vision boarding you can hang up your mind-map and add to it as new ideas surface or the desire refines itself.
Start Dreaming!
There is no right or wrong way to dream. The most important thing is to get started without any limits or rules. The suggestions here are just that, suggestions. They are meant to help you get back to dreaming and imagining, but really you already know how. Dreaming and imagining are skills that everyone possesses, so allow your imagination to flow, be curious about what you dream about, and be kind and supportive of yourself in whatever dreams you have.