Dare To Dream

This article is part of the series on How To Make The Next Year The Best Year.

There have been many people who had a dream, and they were willing to risk everything for their dream. Perhaps the most widely known in the history of the United States is Martin Luther King Jr. who is remembered not only for his impressing “I Hava a Dream”-Speech. Mahatma Gandhi, who lead India to freedom, is another famous character in terms of dreams.

One famous man, who is probably not as wisely known as the tho above, is the German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann. He had the dream to find the legendary Treasure of Troy. Up to this point in history, the story of the Trojan War and that treasure were widely believed to be only a myth. But Schliemann believed that the Ilias, written by Homer, was indeed historical rather than fictional. And from that point on, he dedicated his life to the search for the legendary city. He faced a lot of troubles and even more fleer from other scientists.

To make a long story short, Schliemann eventually found the ruins of an ancient city at a place that was coherent with the descriptions, and some time later, he even discovered a gold treasure that is now known as the Priam’s Treasure.

It is still uncertain whether this in indeed the legendary Treasure of Troy - in fact there are some serious doubts about that -, but that’s not the point to me.

The point is that Schliemann had a dream - to find the Treasure of Troy -, and that he never gave up on that dream until it finally became true.

And isn’t this what Living Your Dreams is all about?

What is your dream?

I am sure that you have a dream of your own. Maybe you think that it is not as important as the one of Schliemann, Gandhi or King, or you believe that you are not allowed that particular dream for some moral or other reasons. But who are you to judge on this?

No matter if your dream is to lead the world to freedom, or to have a luxury home, sports car and more money than you can spend in a lifetime - why shouldn’t you follow your dream no matter what? If your dream is about others, or just about yourself doesn’t matter.

I have found a great question that inevitably leads you to your dream if you only think long enough about it and become truly honest to yourself:

What would I do if I knew I couldn’t fail?

Don’t think about possibilities and probabilities. You don’t have to know if what you want is possible - you want to know what you want! And if you know what you want, even if you don’t see a way to ever make it true, you have already gone the first step on the path that will lead to the fulfillment of your dream.

How to deal with moral concerns

Maybe when you find your dream, you do not allow yourself to make this dream come true for some moral concerns.

One pattern these concerns follow is about beliefs that are a roadblock to your dream. So it may be time to question these believes to see if they are really valid, or if there are beliefs that are more in alignment with who you want to be. You will find more about this in my article on How To Stop Fighting Reality.

Another pattern for moral reasoning is best explained by the following sentence:

There is such a lack of X in the world, so I have no moral right to have an abundant amount of X myself.

There is a great technique to work through a large amount of mental and emotional blocks that are rooted in moral conceptions. Simply ask one question that will unevitably lead you to a better understanding of your moral concerns:

Does it reduce X in the world if I am X, too?

• Does it reduce poverty in the world if I am poor, too?
• Does it reduce sadness in the world if I am sad, too?
• Does it reduce … in the world if I am …, too? (Insert your own concern here!)

Let us examine the first example together to see where it wil lead us. I chose this one not only because money is one of the most difficult topics in our society, but because it has been a topic for myself, too.

In think the answer to this question is very clear if you allow it to be: If I become poor, there will be one additional poor person in the world, adding to the general amount of poverty. And if I am poor now and become rich, I not only know how to get out of poverty, but I also have the money needed to spread the word and help others to leave poverty behind, too. And if I become incredibly rich, I can spread the word even wider and can do even more about helping people to become rich.

So your moral concern about becoming rich is more of a moral obligation to become rich, isn’t it

So dare to dream

Even if you can’t imagine your dream to ever become true, be true and honest to yourself about what you want. And whatever it is, you have a dream to make this true - at least if no other being has to suffer from it, as far as you care for morals.

If you have problems to find your dream or concerns that your dreams are in some way invalid, wrong or whatever - in short, if you don’t dare to dream but wish you would, don’t hesitate to write a comment to ask for help from the community, or contact me privately through my contact form if you feel that your problems are to private for public discussion.

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