How many of you feel like your photography dreams and goals have gone blurry? You are not alone.
With this in mind, I gave our beautiful workshop ladies a vital exercise in reaching hidden dreams. It’s an exercise that is not for the faint of heart, but I invite you to do it too.
CLARITY
You guessed it. The exercise is to first go deep within. Unlock the secret place where you keep your dreams hidden, and bring them into the light by writing them down on paper. What kind of dreams? The ones that you are convinced are impossible. We’re looking for the impossibles today. Number your impossible dreams from 1-3 or 1-33. But write them down with as much detail and clarity as possible. Don’t be lazy with describing them, convinced that they will never happen. Take responsibility for them. Give your dreams life by giving them total detail with bones, muscle, nerves, skin and color. How can these dreams walk, leading us into a place we dare to hope for, if they don’t have form or shape?
ALTERNATIVES
Some of you may read the word “alternative” and think there is a way around this exercise. Not really, just another option to get these dreams out of hiding. If you are not a writing type person, paint them, sketch them, even scribble them. Get a blank piece of white paper. Set the timer for 1 minute, and force your hand to draw out your dream as fast as you can without erasing a thing. Sketch the wide frame as if you were photographing it. Start to add the details–scribbled details. We aren’t working to become the next Rembrandt. We are working to unlock the prison door to dreams that are begging to get out. Sketch fast to stay ahead of your reasoning side brain that questions every line. Expect it to be messy. Let it spill onto paper like a pile of scribbles. Don’t stop moving your hand until the timer goes off.
TIME FRAME
Yes, your dreams have a time frame. Don’t be fooled when someone says you can do your dreams at “any time”. I don’t believe that. I believe our dreams have lives of their own, and their life span is determined. Some dreams will die away with time. New ones may take their place, but how many will we watch die first? Do you know the life span of your dream? When will it be to late for this dream to happen? For example, our dream for Me Ra Koh Media is to get me in front of every mom with a camera…to have a TV show that empowers parents to capture their beautiful kids…to even structure the dream with such clarity that I can involve my own kids in a special way that keeps our own connection as a family only growing and deepening. (Can I tell you how many people have told me that this is asking for the impossible on “several” accounts? I have come to expect that and often see those people in the front row, watching and hoping that they are wrong.) Well, my kids aren’t getting any younger. Brian and I told Jeff that we feel like we’ve got two years to make me the Rachel Ray for mommy photography. That is the time frame I’m giving this dream. And if it doesn’t work, if we put all our eggs in one basket to see the basket break, well… we will be the best damn sales people at Best Buy for Sony cameras! 🙂
Some of you may read this last part and be thinking ‘Me Ra, you could have more than two years. You don’t need to expect so much in so little time.’ And you are right. But as Jeff has taught me over the years, I’ve got to choose something. I’ve got to CHOOSE a time frame. I’ve got to CHOOSE a goal. I’ve simply got to choose something! If we move the time frame, we do. But there is no starting point unless I choose a finish line.
PUBLIC SCRUTINY RISKED
Now comes the vital step of total refinement. You must not only write or sketch your dream, but you must share it and risk public scrutiny. So let’s be smart about this next step. There is always a risk of criticism, but we can lower the risk by being wise. Let’s agree that you will share your dream(s) and their time frames with a safe group of people who will respect and not scrutinize. You are welcome to do this on my blog in the comments today. (Because if anyone criticizes your dream on my blog, I will not only delete their comment to kingdom come but personally kick their butt!) You can join our private Confidence Facebook group and share your dreams there. This is a group created to provide a place of safety. Or you can share them with a couple trusted friends. If you do the third choice, I encourage you to pick at least two or three friends so that one person is solely responsible for having a good reaction. We are only human. 🙂 Better to hedge your bets with three people and not one.
BREATHE
Once you have done all the above, exhale. You did it. You let your dreams out of a prison you have mistakenly called “safe keeping” and let them see the light of day.
PREPARE
Prepare yourself. Once you let your dreams out of hiding…once you give them clarity…”time frames” built on faith…and risk public scrutiny…only to wake up the next day and still believe your dreams are possible…you dreams will run. Prepare for unexpected opportunities to come your way. Prepare for conversations to start that connect to all of this. Prepare for baby steps to be made known. You are no longer hiding, and all of heaven has been waiting on the edge of their seats ready to respond!
I’m praying for each of you today. I’m praying this new year is something you own like never before. I know this is a BIG task to undertake. I know it shakes some of you to your innermost being. I also realize we’ve talked about the topic of dreams a few times on this blog. It’s time to pick em up again, dust em off, and lead them to the light again.
I believe that you are worthy of seeing your dreams become a reality. You are worthy of living those dreams out. But I know this starts with a step of faith on your part–a risk that seems to take all the oxygen out of the room. Yet I know with all my heart that when your dreams are out of hiding, the reward of the journey itself tastes just as good as the final destination.
I remember the temple ruins of Angkor Wat, Cambodia and feeling like I had made the mistake of not only burying my dreams but building shrines over them within my heart. It’s time to excavate. As you bring your dreams out of hiding feel the sun’s warm glow on your face.
Close your eyes and picture me waving to you. A fellow dream traveler is always welcome!
xoxo,
Me Ra
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Thank you for this inspiration. SO needed right now.
I also learned a good trick. Make your list once. Then make it again–this time including all the dreams you were too afraid to put on it the first time. It’s a jolting experience to be told to do it again, but definitely opens the doors.
You are a constant inspiration. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
LOVE THIS MERA!
Writing down goals is SO IMPORTANT. And I love the idea of writing goals that seem impossible… how else do we reshape our lives unless we think outside of what we currently see as reality? Every year on my birthday I have a little ritual of envisioning the year ahead and writing down my goals for each role in my life (self, business owner, mother, artist, etc.) This has been such an important ritual for me.
Today I’m going to sit down and write some fun, imaginative, clear goals though… today I’m going to think outside of “what seems possible box”….can’t wait!
I have the quote “Rethink what is possible” written above my computer screen just to remind me to think broader…. thanks for the push my friend!
Amie and Melanie, both of your ideas are wonderful! Thank you so much for sharing. They both have the same message of how important it is to revisit our dreams and goals over and over again. So true. Melanie, I love what you are going to do today! Would love to hear what you come up with too, either here or the forum! Much love to you both!
Oh wow, thank you! I am taking your challenge today… and part of me thinks I am crazy for doing it because the things on my list today are Loooong! But, I came across this while drinking my coffee and thought, “Nope, this is a priority!” The long things on your list will just wait, just like they always do with something more pressing comes along, like the dog vomiting on the carpet.” (Well, that didn’t come out right, but hopefully you know what I mean.) 🙂
I will admit I’m guilty of putting my dreams on the back burner because of all the things I have to do, deadlines, learning new software while meeting those deadlines (I don’t recommend this by the way!) getting marketing in line, tinkering with my website to get it “just right”… all these go nowhere without a map. Dreams are the compass.
Excuse me, I have to go polish my compass!
Delanae, you nailed it when you said “The long things on your list will just wait, just like they always do…” You are so right! That long list will be there when you and I are done writing our dreams down. If anything is faithful to wait, it’s the long list. 🙂 ha!
Ladies, I just read Fay Freed (SOAR! Business Coach) blog post on the SOAR! website. She shared her BIG dream, and it’s awesome! Just reading her own dream gave me inspiration to get even more creative and bigger–pushing all boundaries with my own. “Dream sharing” is so powerful! It’s like a wild fire that spreads through our souls! Check out what Fay is dreaming of doing (knowing her, she’ll find a way to make her impossible–possible!).
https://fioria.us/soarblog/?p=2189&cpage=1#comment-37347
xoxo,
m
For years I had been afraid to share my dreams out loud, because I was so full of fear, and I felt that if I didn’t say it out loud I was “safe” from expecting them to come true or not come true. Stupid, I know. I totally feel different about it now, and definitely wrote down a list of things I would love to achieve. Just in the last year things are happening that I would not have imagined before, so it’s exciting. Thanks for sharing all of your wisdom.
Dreams…. (he he he- that’s me feeling so excited about this process!)
Ok MeRa, funny that I actually had written down on my list of things to do today “rewrite goals” and had set aside 2 hours for this. But funny as it may seem, I just realized that every year I write my GOALS, but I have never written down my DREAMS…. there’s a huge difference! thanks for the push, I’ll be the first to take the dive…..
1. I’ll Travel to Nepal to photograph the Art 2 Healing Project. I’ll receive funding to send me to Nepal for 3 weeks to document the recovery process of 4 survivors of sex-trafficking who are utilizing Yoga & art therapy to heal the wounds of spending years in sex-slavery. I’ll share photography as a tool for healing and help the women create a book documenting their dreams, joys, and hopes. (May 2011)
2. I’ll be a speaker at a major photographic conference. The topic will be “giving back to move forward” and I see it inspiring hundreds of other photographers to use their cameras as community building and healing tools. It will be nerve racking speaking in front of people, I don’t like to hear my voice, but it will feel so good to know that I’m sharing what I really believe in, and to know that so many others will be paying it forward. (March 2012)
3. I’ll travel to Africa with Madyline (and my life partner who I’ll have met by then) for 1 month and take the autobiographical photography project to my friends village in Kenya. (October 2011). I’ll have sponsorship and will be able to bring broader awareness to the issues faced by impoverished children in the village, and women’s health issues in Africa. Children who are often forced into the military and a life of violence will use cameras to share the power of photography as a tool for building communities, dreams and changing their future.
4. Move into “Casa de Soleil,” the ranch property that Madyline and I are manifesting. I’ll find the perfect home at the perfect price, and everything will fall into place like it always does. (Dec 2011)
5. and ok…. of ALL these goals, this is the one that makes me nervous to share (how silly is that?) but this one is important, so I can’t leave it out: Meet/join/ create a life with my life partner. Someone who makes me laugh, is kind, family oriented, real, artistic. Someone who takes risks and believes in the impossible. do I really need a date on this? I would say next month, but for some reason that feels, um, impossible. 😉
Thanks MeRa!
Stunningly powerful Me Ra, holy cow. Going through this process myself and I can’t agree more…it’s life altering. Love the concept of “how many dreams have to be missed and passed by” before we dare to start putting our focus and intention on them?
When you are ready to share on the SOARORITY forum, go to this link! We started a special thread for it!
http://www.soarority.com/showthread.php?323-A-Vital-Exercise-in-Reaching-Hidden-Dreams!
xoxo,
m
“The SOAR! Recipients don’t get the luxury of thinking about whether or not they want to do this exercise. 🙂 I’m requiring them to do it.”
GULP!!! As I sit down to do this, I take back what I said about it not seeming so bad 😛 Would you believe my cat ate my homework?!!
Seriously, while actually sitting down to write this blog post is harder than I expected, simply going through the thought process this week has unexpected rewards… More to come tomorrow…
♥
Woo-hoo! We can’t wait to read it Linda!
Aw MeRa! Thanks for this post! I love it! I recently was challenged by a dear friend in my life that has Cerebral Palsy and cannot talk. He talks with his nose (spells out words with his nose). The challenge was to frame my dreams, put them on paper and put them in a frame to be displayed. This was so vulnerable for me to do and it took me several months to do it. I typed them out and put them in a frame and hid it on my night stand behind my jewelry box. I recently got an opportunity to preach at our church (one of my dreams) and was totally brought back to this issue of framing my dreams. I admitted that I was not totally honest with myself and the dreams I had framed were vague. So vague that if somebody saw them, they would not know what the dreams really were. I went back to my computer and started over and was completely honest and clear in what my dreams are and reframed them in a much bigger frame! Some times we need to re-frame and wake up those dusty, put on the back burner dreams and bring them to life again and act upon them.
Thanks again MeRa! You have once again challenged me to continue to pursue my dreams and continue to dream again!!
Love You!
@Sue…. you could have always put them behind the secret door – then no one would EVAH find them. Miss you xx
I am a little sick to my stomach that I put it so far out there because now that I have hit “publish” it seems silly. But I wrote a short blog post on my crazy dream: http://cahartman.com/blog/?p=378
You couldn’t have posted this at a better time 🙂
[…] week the SOAR website is all about dreams. On yesterday’s blog Me Ra Koh challenged us all to explore our dreams. Hidden dreams. Impossible dreams. Saying […]
Crazy but this exercise scares the pants off of me. Sometimes I’m afraid that I limit God with MY dreams, even though I know that my dreams are the result of what God is doing in me. I also know that voicing those dreams brings accountability and I’m not sure I’m ready. Yet when I think rationally, I know that fear is what makes me not sure I’m ready. I’ve been ready for a LONG time but I always let “life” get in the way. I had a HUGE dream when I was in my early 20’s that I never worked towards. I believe that dream would have been a reality if I had pushed toward it, but I also believe that dream doesn’t have to be dead. It just has a new face. I’m going to try to put it all on paper and then the forum tomorrow.
[…] “In a perfect world, I would secretly love to be a_______.” This reminds me of the assignment that Me Ra gave us a couple weeks back asking us to say out loud our dreams. You can find Linda’s, […]
Aw, this was a really nice post. In thought I want to put in writing like this additionally – taking time and precise effort to make an excellent article… however what can I say… I procrastinate alot and certainly not seem to get one thing done.