Ceremonies

I believe that each important activity of our lives deserves a ceremony of some kind. We seem to have been created to create ceremonies to mark importance, and there are literally thousands of ceremonies of all kinds in the world to prove me right about this. I also believe that creating a ceremony to mark our beginnings in creating a life of our dreams helps us stay motivated, remember our commitment to ourselves and upbeat through the hard times of the journey to the life of our dreams.

Some ideas for ceremonies: Personally I like parties. Why not invite some of the folks that you've asked for ideas and help to a party to mark the "kick off" of your journey? Or if you prefer a solitary ceremony (I don't advise this unless it's in addition to the public ceremony), you might light a candle and say a prayer. In any case, having a way to begin the actions you're going to take will help keep your commitment to yourself real.

What do you need?

To find out what you need, ask yourself all the questions that are running around in your head - how will I have the time, I don't know how to begin, I don't know how much it will cost or how to get the money. Your "brainstormers" may know the answers. Maybe you've written a big pile of poetry that someone told you might be publishable. How in the world would you find out how to go about trying that? Well, somebody in your group may know somebody, who knows somebody. People resources are amazing.

Brainstorming follow up

I just watched a special on PBS on happiness. The one thing research has shown for sure is that without people we love in our lives, we are not going to be happy. It also appears to be true that we were created to help each other. We enjoy it. It feels really good to know that you've had a part in making someone else's life better. After you've asked your brainstorming group for ideas, it's likely that they will be ready to do some more. No telling what they will come up with - maybe contacts for you, maybe equipment for your project, maybe funding sources. You can invite your brainstorming people to a party and/or include some other people you and they have thought of for the next steps. By this time, though, you should have a list of what you need ready. Next post: how to make the list.

Brainstorming

Brainstorming is one of the major keys to getting to the life of our dreams. I love brainstorming. I love the creativity of it. I love the way it brings people together. I love how it brings out brilliant ideas no one would have even dreamed of.

The main thing to remember about brainstorming is that there is to be no criticism. (I love that part too.) Everyone just throws out ideas, and the more "out there" they are, the more fun the participants have. No one says things like, "That's stupid." or "That won't work." The only objective is to get as many ideas on paper as possible - everyone using their right brains. This part requires a secretary or recorder to put the ideas up on big sheets of paper. When everyone has completely run out of ideas, then comes the left brain part:

Each person then picks out the top 3 or top 5 or top 10 or whatever that they think have the best chance of working. Then the group compares the ideas each has chosen. The ideas that get the most "votes" are the ones that typically will be used. However, it's a good idea to look at the ones that weren't chosen to see if there's anything useful in them. For example, if you want to go to medical school but have no money, one idea would be to stand on a street corner with a sign asking for contributions. That's probably not something you're going to do. BUT you might take from that idea that you might be able to create your own scholarship but looking into funding sources you might not have thought of.

Finally, the good part of brainstorming at the end, is that the folks you've assembled for brainstorming might very well want to stick around and help you some more. They may know people who know people who know people who can help you. Yes, brainstorming is a great way to get started with creating the life of your dreams.

Don't Do It Yourself

No one who succeeds in building the life of his/her dreams did it all alone. I'm stating that as an absolute fact and defy anyone to challenge me with an example of someone who is an exception. So...let's just start out with believing that "doing it yourself" is not an option. The next thing is to build a support system. The folks you choose do not have to know anything about what you're trying to accomplish. They do need to be positive people who care about you and want you to have the life of your dreams. One way to get started is to have a brainstorming session with a few people to get ideas about how to proceed. Brainstorming is fun so it could be a party. Next post will be a description of how to do a fun brainstorming session.