Over the next little while, as I continue to move in to my beautiful new home online, I’m going to bring some of my past content over to share. Originally published on Starshyne Productions.

In my work as a life coach, I talk to a lot of people about their dreams, particularly about hidden desires that lurk deep within people’s hearts. You know the ones, those things you’ve always wanted to do but have put on the back burner because it doesn’t seem possible or practical or affordable – that trip to Europe, that MA, becoming a dancer, having your own studio, running your own business.

And often when people share them with me, these dreams are quickly followed by a “but” – but I have a mortgage, children, a partner, responsibilities, limited time, limited money, limited energy, limits of every kind. And when I have paid off my mortgage (my student loan, my credit card debt) and am financially secure (well-off, rich), the children are in school (off to collage, graduated from university, financially independant), my partner has a more secure job (believes in me, gives me permission) and I have more time, money, energy, opportunity then I will….

Does it work that way? The Get-it-Done Guy Stever Robbins lists this approach as one of the Ten Great Cultural Career Lies. Here’s his take:#6 of Stever Robbins’ Ten Great Cultural Career Lies: I’ll work now and do what I love when I’ve accomplished (made my first million, cured cancer, etc.)

• Management consulting firms and investment banks use this lie as a recruiting tool.
• Dangerous strategy, and I know very few who’ve pulled it off. If you don’t do it, you’re left at mid-life trapped in a career you don’t like, with a non-transferable resume, and a network composed of people who are the last ones in the world who could help you do what you love. But boy, could they help you get even further in a career you despise.

Ouch, that last point really hit home for me. Every year you don’t pursue what you really want to do, you’re getting more and more firmly entrenched in that place you don’t want to be.

So what do you do? I am not suggesting you neglect your responsibilities, your bills or your loved ones. But I am suggesting that even in your busy, responsible, debt-ridden, exhausted life, you find a small space for your dreams, for your own personal joy. Just open a little window and consider what might be possible now. If you don’t make room on your plate, the Universe won’t know you’re hungry. It doesn’t have to be big. Take 5 minutes one morning researching violin classes in your neighbourhood. Say out loud to your partner that you think maybe you’d like to go back to school. Read a library book about starting your own business. Stop in at the travel agent at lunch and get a brochure for Paris. Open the door.

When I was training to be a coach, I really wanted to take the certification program. It cost $3500, and I didn’t have it. One day a friend I hadn’t talked to in years invited me to come talk to a group of people at her work about the power of coaching. I ended up with a contract. You’ll never guess how much it was for. Yep, $3,500. I am now a certified coach.

Open your heart to dreaming. Amazing things can happen.

PS A special thank you to Stever for giving me permission to quote from his work. Thank you!

I am honoured to be a regular contributor to the wonderful Wish Studio. Mindy has brought together an amazing group of inspiring women to share their wisdom and stories and enourage you along the way. My monthly column, Creative Compass, is a creative living companion. This is my most recent article. Enjoy!

It seems like such a reasonable thing. When planning a new project, a new career, a new adventure, it only makes sense to start from where you are right?

Wrong.

Well, not wrong, exactly. There’s really never a wrong way to start. But here’s the thing. When you start from where you are, you are limited by the current view. When you look out onto the horizon, imagining what’s possible, you can only see to the next hill. From where you are, you can’t help but take into account life as you know it: the amount of money you have in the bank, the supplies you have in your closet, the people you already know, the skills you’ve already mastered, etc. And starting from there, you can only stretch as far as those resources will take you.

With this approach, when you’re deciding whether to go back to school, you look at your bank account, your bills and your commitments to determine whether it’s possible. And of course your current situation and resources don’t fit the new plan. They weren’t designed to. They grew to support the way things are right now, not the way you want things to be next. Know that when you commit to something new, you will start redesigning and creating a life that supports the new “way things are.”

For example, before you were a mom, you didn’t have lists of babysitters at your fingertips. Before you travelled outside of the country for the first time, you didn’t know how to get a passport. But you learned. You gained knowledge, resources, skills and connections that helped you get beyond the limits of what was present to take you somewhere new. You’ve already done this literally hundreds of times. You will do it hundreds more. So why not do it in support of your wildest dreams?

What if you forgot the how and the now and just imagined what would be thrilling, fulfilling, spectacular, memorable, incomparable? What if you gave yourself space and time for some serious daydreaming, imagining that anything was possible? In a world where you could do anything, what would you dream up for your project, your business, your life? Would you travel farther, reach higher, risk more, take more time, touch more people? Would you pursue the same thing at all or try something entirely different? What do you want to do?

These days there are lots of messages out there reminding us to get present, to be where we are. And I know what I’m saying may seem to be counter to that that but really, it isn’t. It’s just a simple reminder that instead of focusing on the ‘now’ of our situation, we can be present with our spirit and discover what she most wants to do. And if you let your spirit take the lead, instead of your circumstances, imagine the adventures you’ll go on!