Making dreams come true

The Desiderata is a text that was found in old Saint Paul’s church, Baltimore USA in 1692. Many of us know this beautiful piece of writing, which starts; Go placidly amid the noise and haste and remember what peace there may be in silence…’The last sentence of the Desiderate states;’ strive to be happy.’ I take this to mean that it is our responsibility, our duty, no les, to do all we can to be happy.

Do not translate happy for rich here. Happiness is a weird thing, when you think about it. What make one person happy will not automatically gladden another we all have dreams, and indeed we should have. But non-constructive’ I just want to be happy’ or an empty, idle lament of ‘I just want to succeed at something’s not going to get anyone anywhere.

You have to work at making your dreams come true: they will not come true by wishing alone.

Experts who have researched the world’s great literature on human excellence and personal success have founded five basic conditions we need to accomplish to launch ourselves into a life of true success

So you want to be happy and successful. Well as the song from the musical south pacific suggests ‘you’ve got to have a dream’. The quest for success always begins with a target, a goal.

Too many people walk through life like sleepwalkers. Each day they follow familiar routines, never asking them what they are doing with their lives. And even if you asked them what they are doing they don’t know because they lack goals.

Goal-setting is a focusing of the will to move in a certain direction. Begin with a clear conception of what you want to be a homemaker and have children, to become a doctor, to work in the media. Write down your goals and date them-putting them into words clarifies them. Rather than concentrating on objects to acquire and possess, focus on fulfilling your desires to do, to produce, to contribute.

It is important to visualize yourself accomplishing your goals while losers visualize the penalties of failure; winners visualize the reward of success.

Many, many moons ago I was terrified of flying. I had read too many articles about plane crashes, seen too many films depicting such events. Both written and visual material was so very detailed in it description that visualizing these scene was all too easy and eventually programmed me into being afraid to board an airplane. Then one day, I had the opportunity to be a passenger in a small private plane. My brother had attained his special goal of getting his private pilot’s license and he was asking me to fly with him. What an honor! How could l say no to that? I didn’t want to say no to that so I spent the next few days before the night imagining how proud l would feel sitting next to him while he took off flew around and landed smoothly. The actual flight was indeed wonderful.{And I managed to keep my eyes open all the time!} This technique of imagining a good outcome is something l employs to this day