Dream a Dream

I happened to watch a video http://www.goldeninspiration.com/index.php/extraordinary-videos/item/16-video-4-susan-boyle-i-dream-a-dream

A simple lady in her late 40’s coming from an inconspicuous village, aspiring to be a great singer, contesting in the show “Britains got talent.” And how? Incredulous and amazing is what I feel. To quote the site, “When she started singing (Ignoring all the expressions and comments against her), everyone was mesmerised. People couldn't believe their ears. They couldn’t believe its the same simple lady from a small village. That was because she was singing from her heart, without worrying for being judged by the world and without fearing that she was being watched live by millions of people. Just after 6 months of her first appearance, her first album was launched in November 2009 and it was bestseller across the globe.”

I would recommend every one of you to watch this inspiring video. And do you know what she sang? “I dream a dream”. How appropriate!

All of us do dream. Dream of becoming an actor, a singer, writer, politician (an honest one!), a cricketer to play in IPL and earn for 7 generations, heading a corporate, a successful financial person, community worker working for a cause like Mother Teresa, a successful chef finding a way to everyone’s heart through their stomach…... the list is endless. But how many of us work at it to become a reality? Only few nourish their dreams. Many let it die a natural death. Perhaps deterred by indolence, perhaps not aware how to pursue it, perhaps lack of resources, procrastination….. It can be anything.

Socrates was once asked by a young man about the secret of success. 

In reply, Socrates took the lad to a river nearby and to his surprise, ducked him into the water. 

The more the lad tried to come out, the more Socrates pushed him inside. 

Finally, when the lad started choking, Socrates pulled him out of water and asked him, “What did you feel when you were struggling inside the water?” 

The lad replied, “I wanted only Air. I was desperately looking for it.” 

Socrates said, “That is secret of success. When you look for it desperately, you will achieve it. There is no other secret. ”

Life’s advice for us is to look desperately for ways to make our dreams come true. Like  when  Susan Boyle clearly said she wanted to become a singer like Elaine Paige, the first thing is to have a crystal clear intention about our dream. Not a vague dream like “I want to become a successful businessman.” I have to be clear about what the term “successful” means for me. Do I want to be successful in amassing wealth? Or do I want to help the community as well alongside? Or just want to leave a legacy for my descendants? Or just become famous and carve a niche for myself as a tycoon in the business community? I need to be clear about what I want to achieve or else how would I expect to achieve it? I cannot sow a mango seed and expect a guava tree to come out of it. 

Focus comes next. Each one of us walks our own unique path. Has our own unique dreams. We need to focus on what we want to explore, what we want to achieve. The best way to focus is to create a vision of who we want to be, breathing that dream during the day, dreaming that dream in the sleep, then start living like that person in our mind, as if it were already true.  Not so simple as it sounds. Focus is always accompanied by hard work. Nothing comes easy. Sure Susan Boyle must've dreamt her dream.

Next comes the distractions. The negative, dissuading comments from others. These really have a way to prevent us from achieving what we want. Again, we can take a lesson from the same video. How she ignored all the cynical comments and looks from the spectators.  We have discussed about dealing with these distractions in our previous posts.

The lesson I learnt from the life of Susan Boyle in the video—only if we dream a dream, our dreams would enable us to overcome any hurdle that comes across and give us the strength to achieve it. Combining it with positive approach is like garnishing that Dessert that you prepared, with that extra nuts and raisins. Devouring the sweet success is what remains. But like a buffet that is laid on a table, we have to go and get it, no one will bring it to us!