If You Can Dream It, You Can Achieve It

If You Can Dream It, You Can Achieve It

On Martin Luther King Jr. Day we naturally remember Dr. King’s “I have a Dream” speech, delivered in 1963 at the March on Washington, where he called for an end to racism. That stirring address is ranked by scholars as the top American speech in U.S. 20th century history, and it still lives on for everyone moved by his dream of equality. Click here for 9 things you didn’t know about the dream.

A man of action as a civil rights activist, Dr. King was also a minister and a dreamer. Some of us are loathe to be called dreamers because it suggests we aren’t also doers. But most nurses are practical, ingenious workers and their patients and communities value them highly for their hands-on care.

Still, there is a way to call on your intuition to “dream” your way to your best and truest life. It’s called treasure mapping, and it’s a fun way to clarify your vision for yourself at home and at work.

Instead of using your left brain and writing a list of resolutions, say, you can shift to your right brain, which favors images, and make a collage based on how your heart inspires and guides you.

Here’s the how-to of treasure-mapping:

1. Gather up some of your favorite magazines (or saved greeting cards, photos, or stickers).

2. Get a large sheet of paper or cardboard, scissors, glue, and colored pens or paints.

3. What dream do you want to depict?: Your best life or your strongest self or your ideal year, etc.

4. Without thinking about it too much, cut out images that appeal to you and that seem to relate to your dream.

5. Dreamily, shift the images around in whatever pattern is most pleasing to you. Once you’ve got it, glue images in place.

6. Decorate the images so that the whole collage speaks to you more clearly. For instance, if you see a theme in the images, write a phrase across the top as a title. Or highlight certain sections with a bright  glitter pen. Let loose and have fun.

7. Hang up your image map where you can see it often – each time you look at it you’ll see something different. Plus, you’ll be reinforcing in your conscious mind whatever your subconscious shared in this treasure map.

8. If you enjoyed this project, make treasure maps for your close friends or family.  At the top of this blog is a treasure map that my sister made for me years ago. She wishes for me a room with a view, which is something that I highly value. You know what? Every place I’ve lived in since has had vast, sweeping, monster views of cityspaces and leafy parks. Coincidence? I think not.

How do you dream your best life? Do you have a creative method that you’d like to share? We’d love to hear about it.

Jebra Turner is a freelance health and business writer in Portland, Oregon. Visit her online at www.jebra.com.

 

 

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