"This, therefore, is a faded dream of the time when I went down into the dust and noise of the Eastern market-place, and with my brain and muscles, with sweat and constant thinking, made others see my visions coming true. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that all was vanity; but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dream with open eyes, and make it possible."
T. E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) from The Seven Pillars of Wisdom
We feed our dreams. In due time, we may become them. Did you know that? We do it on many levels. We feed our dreams-of-the-night throughout the day, through our conversations, the movies we watch, the places we shop, the things we read and hear, and the places we go.
Nightmares plague you from time to time? Some of us might do well to inventory the movies we've been watching. We may need to lay off the horror flicks and set aside those true crime books for a while. See what happens when we adopt a regular diet, especially before we turn out the last lamp light, of very calming or intensely creative if tamer movies and books instead.
We can also feed our dreams, hopes, desires and visions of the day in a giga-wigga-jigga-bazillion ways. Reading biographies of mentors you've met, or those you may never meet face-to-face, that's one way. Their life stories, their struggles and triumphs, even little sketches about them and their quotes, can be packed with meaningful experiences and ideas to stimulate your own hopes and plans.
Artistic or historical museums, mountain hikes, trips to new Thai restaurants, what Julia Cameron and others call "Artist Field Trips" and retreats, visits to creative, new-to-you, exciting, soothing, or inspiring places, even flea markets and tag sales, or Macy's and Nordstom's, any of these can be places to stimulate your memories and dreams.
The more you take in, the more you can discover, clarify, or reinforce the true "desires of your heart." That's where your creativity lives -- and I'm not just talking about the creative ways you may paint, dance, write, or run a business. What I'm most interested in, for the purposes of this piece, lies on another level still.
There's the level where you live...day to day, in the relationships you're building with yourself, others, with the Universal Creative Spirit. We want to feed our dreams in the best ways we can, to nurture our visions and our lives in ways that inspire us. In turn, we can bring the richness of who we are to the landscapes we inhabit or pass through, as well as to the hearts we encounter on the journey.
