DREAM

DREAM

 

Dream. Those who dream have better chance of achieving extra-ordinary things. Dreaming in fact is the fountainhead of creative thinking. Ideas that were elusive till now begin to flood the mind the moment you start dreaming. Dreaming sets in motion a series of – sometimes logical & most of the times illogical – processes in your mind. Dreams inject fresh lease of life to your otherwise rustic mind. It brings hopes. It cheers you up no end and makes you look forward to each day, each hour, each minute. Such is the power of dreaming. Behind every successful man, there is dream (in addition to a woman)! The burning desire to excel in your field is always the result of dreaming. You dream of the impossibilities. Dreaming is one way of opening your mind. Because when you dream, your mind is not plagued by biases. You are not cornered by prejudices. Dreaming is a free flight of mind in all directions, looking for options, possibilities that always buzz around you. Quite often you see people complaining about lack of opportunities, being unlucky, and blaming it on circumstances. Such frustrated reactions reflect their shut mind. Because their mind is fractured by their inability to let their mind open up for free thinking. When you start thinking freely, it means you are dreaming. That is when you are most likely to come out with solutions that seemed non-existent.

Dreams offer you license to think ‘out of the box’. It is so refreshing. You suddenly find yourself willing to have further negotiations to close a deal which you thought was never on. You begin to see eye to eye with your colleagues. You begin to encourage frank expressions on the way you are heading. You will create an atmosphere where your colleagues will enjoy doing their work and take pride in it. All this is possible only when you dare to dream. Because the dream wipes away the ‘fogged vision’. This creates so much free space in the mind that it will allow free roaming.

Ask the most successful of business magnates. You will find one common answer. They dared to dream. They let their thoughts run wild passionately. They were obsessed with a passion to perform. Dreams enabled them to realize their obsession.

Many a time you find yourself enveloped by depression. You suddenly lose focus. You find it hard to do the simplest of things. You look lost completely. You are generally ‘not there’. You pick up arguments with friends, colleagues and family members for apparently no reason. You try to use your authority to run the show. All this result in an aura of uneasy calm. You need to relax. Rein in your thoughts. Try to rid your mind of thoughts. Thoughtlessness is a state of immense joy. It is a state of immense bliss. Try it.

There is a very thin line between hope and despair. The ability to see hope in hopeless situations is the attitude of an eternal optimist. Every favorable situation, development brings in him fresh hopes. Likewise, he is not easily overcome by adverse situation. He treats adversity as an opportunity. Contrast this with someone who always sees devil in every activity. He is clouded by negative thoughts. You will always run into these two contrasting personalities. The former are always cheerful and confident because they always look at the brighter side of things in life, even under adverse situations. The latter are dull and diffident crushed by inferiority complex. They are hesitant to enjoy even the best of circumstances. Therefore be an eternal optimist and always live in hope. It generates a sense of purpose in your life style.

It makes very little sense to spend sleepless nights on things over which you have no control. Basically, it is your inability to accept the reality that triggers such emotional outbursts. You are caught in this in-between situation where you can neither accept the reality nor find solution. This conflict wears you down mentally over a period of time. You need to address this problem immediately. One way to get rid of these conflicting thoughts is to learn to accept the reality. The moment you begin to look at it dispassionately, you will realize how stupid you were in the first place. The change in you relieves you of all the agonies and frustrations that your mind fought with all this time. The mind then becomes free to ‘dream’!

Quite often you find yourself almost involuntarily willing others to behave in a manner that fits your definition of ‘socially accepted behavior’ or responsible behavior’. For example, you are driving through a busy street, following lane discipline strictly. Suddenly you see a vehicle zooming past you almost recklessly with scarce regard to traffic rules, cutting lanes and surging ahead. It makes your blood boil. You spit expletives at him. You spend so much time trying to figure out ways to discipline him that you lose focus on your immediate task ahead. It is the way you react to a particular situation that defines your character, your mental make-up. This is not to suggest that you should tolerate such reckless driving. Neither does this give implicit authority for others to indulge in reckless driving. Nor does this justify traffic rules violation. The point is, stop reacting the way you did. By exhibiting your anger at such things, you are allowing your mind to be occupied by matters over which you have absolutely no control. Do not allow your mind to be distracted by extraneous matters. By extraneous matters I mean things/situations over which you have no control. May be you have every right to feel the way you did. May be you have every right to protest. But then you must also realize that your immediate tasks must have priority over such extraneous matters. Your mind is conflicting needlessly over two different situations simultaneously: finding ways to discipline the errant driver and your immediate tasks that you have originally set out for. Such is the state of your mind that you will end up achieving neither. Allow your mind to roam free. Observe everything, you must. Retain only what you must.

You are entitled to your opinion on every matter. But then do not sit in judgment on every matter. If you are judgmental on every matter, you are overruling the other’s point of view. In your attempt to be judgmental, your mind becomes busy trying to figure out reasons, justifications. This leads to endless arguments and counter arguments inside your mind as well as outside of it. Instead, learn to listen to the views of the other person. This frees the mind and you are open for healthy debate. Healthy exchanges always enlighten you.

Most of your problems are related to your frame of mind. Your mental make up. You feel that if only I had this, if only this was in place, I would be happy. Such conditional thinking is unlikely to guarantee happiness. The moment your first wish is fulfilled, you find yourself challenged by another wish. This wish list is endless. Learn to be content with what you possess. Learn to enjoy your possessions rather than craving for more. Which only keeps your mind occupied forever in your attempt to secure them. In your endless search for possessing more, you have forgotten to enjoy what you already have.

So set your mind free. Allow it to roam. And dream.