Believing

I’ve been thinking a lot this week about belief—it has always played a huge role in my life. As a child I believed in Santa. I used to go downtown Seattle during the holidays and stand in a three-hour line at Westlake Center in order to have two minutes on the big man’s lap. Then I’d go home and write him a letter, just to follow up with our conversation about what it was I wanted. Sometimes Santa delivered on those wishes, sometimes he did not. I just figured when he didn’t that he had a lot to remember, and that I’d get what I wanted at some further date.

I was also brought up to believe that all people were good. And even in a world that sometimes feels out-of-control, there are heartwarming stories that hit the news everyday of people doing extraordinary things for others. When we believe in goodness, goodness happens.

It is easy to look at examples from the past and the present in our lives and find belief, but when we focus that belief at ourselves … something fails us.

It is easy in January to start the new year with fresh hopes and dreams. What about in the month of July? It’s a little harder…but not impossible to have big drams and see them through even without the impetus of a new year. The hardest part of having dreams is the “actual” putting them into play. You must connect action to those desires. And as the days tick by, it becomes easier and easier to get sucked up in the day-to-day activities instead of focusing on what it is we want from life. Have you given up on your dreams in the last several months?

Maybe it’s time to turn it around and start believing in yourself again—that same kind of belief you had as a child—that all things are possible if you only believe.

So I challenge you to do a little dreaming in five easy steps:

1. Ask yourself what you want most.
2. Picture yourself already having achieved it.
3. Write out the steps it will take for you to make this happen.
4. Start each day by reminding yourself what it is you want.
5. At the end of the day praise yourself for your progress toward your goal.

You have all the resources you need to make your dreams come true. And you don’t have to take a little trip to see Santa to make it happen. Everything you want can be yours if you believe.

So where do you need to add a little dreaming back into your life?