Make Time to Live Your Dreams

I am a big believer in encouraging people to follow their dreams. The thought comes across in my book, Living More Than OK, in the chapter on Goal Setting. I also promote following dreams to students that I teach. So the book, Live Your Dreams, by Jean Criss caught my attention easily and I had to read it.

Jean Criss exudes the entrepreneurial spirit in her life and in her book. According to her website, jeancrissmedia.com she has over 25 years in the career of media services. She lives in New Jersey and works in New York City.

Her book Live Your Dreams is a third book in her My Pain Woke Me Up Trilogy. I have not read the first two books but I am sure they are as enjoyable and insightful as this one. This title focused in on entrepreneurship, creativity, dreaming Big and living out your dreams. An important few phrases that stood out to me were found on page 36, “Believe that no matter how well you do something, you can always do it better. And chances are you will! Make change happen and believe in your dreams.”

Those are powerful thoughts. To live your dreams you need to really believe in them. Then in living the dream there is the reminder in her thought to keep growing and improving so that you are always spiraling up to new heights in your life. If you are living a dream filled life you do not settle for plateaus but keep spiraling up. I speak much about that in Living More Than OK.

In Jean’s book she is refreshingly honest that to Live Your Dreams does not mean that you have an easy life. She is transparent about her past struggles with relationships, her battles with health problems in battling cancer and her winding road of her career journey. You read of her initial passion in starting a jewelry business and then the progression into work in media. She provides useful resources for Business and Women’s Entrepreneur Organizations for readers with that interest for follow up.

Her emphasis in Live Your Dreams is found in the doing not just keeping the dream a wish inside that never comes to fruition. On page 71 her doing spirit shares, “In life, we need to make the magic happen, remember. What you are doing is most likely for your family or a loved one. … We live our lives to their fullest. We stop to smell the roses. We live our dreams. Don’t let anyone tell you, you can’t live your dreams. If they do, run the other way. Don’t look back.” My thoughts on this is we have to be active in living out our dreams. They are not going to happen just sitting in the recliner flipping through channels. She is also reminding us to not listen to the negativity. That is not to say, if a concerned person has an honest critique -- do listen and grow from it, but her focus seems to be on the “You Can’t” people who try to pull us away from dreams we are following. Run from them.

Live Your Dreams is an inspiring story that can help motivate and encourage you to dream big and live out the dream that is in your heart.

Reflection: What are a couple of dreams that are inside your heart that you want to move forward living them out? Is there any negativity coming at your dream life that you need to move away from to move towards living your dreams? What was the last rose in life that you took time to smell?

Positivity, Art, and Possibilities

Art always amazes me with the impact it has to affect the emotions and our inner spirit. That is one reason I enjoy viewing art in museums and art shows. I appreciate the artist’s talent but also seek to find a message for myself in the artwork. The picture above this column is a small painting that I recently purchased in my office. Even though it is small it packs an expansive message to me as I view it.

It is an art piece by Kelly Rae Roberts. I like to know the stories of artists so I went to her website, kellyraeroberts.com . I was surprised initially to see she studied social work not art in her educational pursuits. She worked as a social worker and when she was 30 she followed her passion into art. She describes herself as a “lover of life and people”, on her website. As I think over the pictures I saw in the store of her work that is very true of her artwork. I can see how social worker creatively fits into what she paints.

Her style comes across to me as modern and abstract. But it is not a harsh abstract that often turns me off in museums. Her choices of colors feel very calming and positive. Her lover of people orientation to me is seen in many of the paintings as she has people in them or positive phrases that can encourage and uplift the human soul.

That is what drew me to the painting I purchased, “Believe in Possibility”. There is a path or a road across the middle of the picture and then t me I view it as an ongoing field on the other side with the sky bright with light. The green around the edges add a peaceful feeling to me. The “believe in possibility”, stands out in the light of the sky.

Sometimes life is like that, settled on one side of the road, a little dark but comfortable as that is where we are and what we are familiar with. But a dream or a passion we may have, may mean to take a risk across the darker road and follow our field of dreams. We can be stopped from following into the light by saying to ourselves “it is not possible”. But two verses come to mind that I thought of in the store when I bought this painting. One is Matthew 19:26 “With people this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” Then in Mark 9:23 “All things are possible to him who believes.” One writer, Matthew focuses in on God in the equation that God makes all things possible and then Mark is looking at our human responsibility to have faith and believe in the God of possibilities.

As I look over my life I have been stopped many times from my lack of faith in possibilities coming true. So I stayed stunted in the foreground of the painting and not enjoying the light on the other side of the path. It is easier too often to say that is impossible to a new opportunity, rather than take a chance to try. This painting now in my office is a reminder that there are future possibilities ahead for the good that I have not even imagined yet. And some even right in front of me that I need to step across the road to enjoy them. I just need to keep faith in the God of possibilities as I step out and cross the road.


Reflection: What does “Believe in Possibility” mean to you? Is there new possibilities facing you and you need to step out in faith to give them a try?