By Lynn Scheurell

“Dream lofty dreams, and as you dream, so shall you become. Your vision is the promise of what you shall one day be; your ideal is the prophecy of what you shall at last unveil.” ~ James Allen

It’s easy to stay in your comfort zone because you know where all the ‘furniture’ is… you know the routine, the challenges that you will likely face and how to get through your day (regardless of joy, ease or grace). Sometimes we get so mired in the details of living that we feel we don’t know how to dream.

But the power of creating your future is in transcending your practical reality through dreaming bigger than what is in the moment.

Dreams are your imagination’s movies that project out into the future and call back to the present what’s needed to make them real. They give you breathing room and start creating your next life phase by revealing possibilities and generating a vacuum to pull you forward in manifesting them.

Begin dreaming bigger by looking at the dreams you’re already living. At one time, you had a dream about where you would be in the future and that future is now. By acknowledging what you created through that dream, you empower your inner dreamer to intentionally activate now.

Next, set aside some quality dreaming time in your day. I recommend at least eleven minutes but it can be while you’re walking or doing some other rhythmic activity as well as in a meditative state. Whatever feels comfortable and conducive to you is the key to quality dreaming time.

Once you have acknowledged the power of your dreams as they exist today in form and you’ve cleared space in your schedule, you have options about how to dream bigger. The idea is to invite your vibrant imagination to dynamically play in possibility.

In fact, you want to become a possibilitarian in that you don’t want to block anything just because it doesn’t seem feasible. It doesn’t matter what you’re dreaming or how your dream will be achieved as you’re dreaming it – only that it feels right, clear and compelling to you.

Seven Ways You Can Invite Your Imagination To Dream

1: Ask questions. What do you want more of? What is your heart’s desire? What would an ideal day look like two (or ten or twenty) years from now? Who would you be hanging out with? As the answers come forward, make note of how they feeeeeel as that is a key indicator of your core alignment with what’s right for you.  For example, you might see yourself on your yacht but if you tend to get seasick, that would be a fantasy vs. a dream.

2: Write your future bio in 100 words. Who will you be? What will you be known for? Who will you empower through your work? What will people say about you? The written word is one of the fastest way to bring in big dreams.

3: Look at your ‘bucket list’. Consider the things that you feel would make your life successful (the things you would be, do and have before you ‘kick the bucket’) and write them on a list. Pick the top three and savor them coming into sharper view in your mind’s eye. Notice the details and how you feel about what you’re seeing. If it feels right, take a few notes or record your impressions with a digital recorder so you can recall your dreams easier.

4: Work the 80/20 principle. The Pareto Principle states that 80% of our results come from a critical 20% of initiative. Consider the 20% of your life that feels happiest, most satisfying and joyful to use as a dreaming compass; then contrast that with the majority of what you find yourself doing most days. The idea is to put more energy behind what feels good vs. staying stuck in the constraints of routine. What would be possible if you could get rid of (or leave behind) the 80% that doesn’t feel great and spend it instead expanding the 20% that feels great?

5: Eliminate your constraints. The Theory of Constraints says that there is a bottleneck or choke cord in every process to achieve a goal. If you can eliminate the constraint, you speed up achieving the goal. In your dreaming state, focus on what is constraining your life as you live it. What could your life look like if that thing wasn’t in the way?

6: Follow various life trajectories. In the movie ‘Sliding Door’, Gwyneth Paltrow experiences two completely different life tracks based on whether she makes the subway door or has to wait until the next one. If you were to play out different life trajectories for yourself based on making different choices right now, what might happen? How could your life be different? Play with variables to see what happens in that life trajectory; follow the threads of what you see to create new dreams.

7: Concentrate on what you love. Where you put your energy expands your focus and your attention in that area. If you could concentrate on what you love, how would your life be different? What would you be doing more of with your time? What inventions or innovations would you create? If you love more than one thing, what if you could make a living by doing all of them? What if you could make a living by working only nine months a year or in four-hour work days? What if you could do what you love from a tropical island paradise as your office? In what ways would you change the world by doing the thing that you are uniquely qualified to do?

As your dreams start calling you, trust the intuition that brought them to you. Believe more in your dreams and desires than in your doubt. Know that you might feel a little vulnerable and that’s ok – you’re simply opening up to the unknown, which can feel destabilizing. You have to let down the barriers and get past the obvious to allow fresh perspective and possibilities to speak to you.

Once you have a new dream that feels good, that beckons you toward it and that you choose to pursue, do what you can with what you have from where you are now to actualize it.

Don’t wait until the conditions are just right or until you feel like doing something different because that day will probably not come – it’s always easier to stay in the rut of today than to blaze the big new path of tomorrow.

So just do it, whatever ‘it’ is today. Whatever happens, you’re creating fresh momentum. One declaration, one action, one step… they add up to creating your new future based on your dreams.

“The future you see is the future you get.” ~ Robert G Allen

I’d love to hear your thoughts on dreaming bigger below… ;=)

© 2013 Lynn M. Scheurell

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Making the most of human nature since 1998, Lynn M. Scheurell is an authority for high-potential entrepreneurs who desire to create intentional business success by connecting the dots between inner and outer beliefs and business expression.  Changing the world starts by understanding your motivations, inspirations and purpose; in other words, changing the world starts within you. Only then can you apply your intensity through strategic business models, systems and focused action to create conscious, and often dramatic, results. See www.MyCreativeCatalyst.com