Living Your Dream

Creating a life worth living seems to be a theme, a litany, in the underlying subconsciousness of people today. But it's the how of it that's maddening. How do you extricate yourself from the daily grind of a 9-to-5 type of position? How do you find time, and energy, to work on your own project(s) in your precious few hours of downtime when you're not working? These are the questions that are so prevalent in today's society. How do I get out of the Rat Race? If you have to ask the question, therein lies a part of the problem -- you haven't found your life's purpose, or calling. When you don't have a strong, What am I doing this for? Or, a reason WHY this particular thing is so important to me, this sets up roadblocks in your own psyche which prevents you from moving forward.

Robert Kiyosaki, better known as the author who wrote Rich Dad, Poor Dad, said, "Today, I often meet people who are too busy to take care of their wealth. And there are people too busy to take care of their health. The cause is the same. They're busy, and they stay busy as a way of avoiding something they do not want to face."

This is a tough thing to hear, take in, and digest because we know ourselves so well that the stench of truth bothers us. We have a nagging little feeling that nudges us from time to time giving us glimmers of that dream we had several years ago, or when we were young. But, we push it out of our minds because:

• the bills have to be paid
• where will money for food, shelter and all my overhead bills come from?
• how can I save money for xyz if I don't even have 6 months of life savings in case I lose my job, or something unforeseen happens?
• I don't have the time to play and feed into that idea -- what if it fails? Or, doesn't work the way I envision it?
• what if I go bankrupt trying to make this dream a reality?
• I'm too tired to even think about reading, researching, or trying to (start the business I have in mind, go back to school, open an art gallery, form my own food co-op, buy and run a farm, become a model/photographer, architect, etc.)

And these are all valid reasons to pause, evaluate where you are before you dive in to whatever project you're interested in. A map, a chart, or some kind of assessment needs to be done for your life and your finances. This way, you have a good sense of where you are in life and what your energy is like and how much time and resources you actually have on hand for any kind of venture.

Having reality and responsibilities in your life does not negate, nor stop you from living your dream.

The Huffington Post has a great article that can point you in the right direction. It's called 5 Ways to Start Living Your Dream Life Today.

Success magazine ran an article earlier this year entitled, 7 Steps to Achieve Your Dream. I believe the key item is #3; without it you can't even begin.

I know it's hard to begin pulling yourself out of the daily grind's entrenched mind rut. Many of us have been in this stagnant position for decades. However, Kiyosaki created a game to help us play our way out of this dead-end mindset. You've probably heard of it. It's called The CashFlow Game Classic and you can play it online for free. The game seems a bit tedious at first especially if you're not used to using stocks, bonds, buying and flipping houses -- yep! All of this is embedded into a board game (made digital for your convenience).

However, it is all simplified so that you get the essential lesson and reason behind all of these tools. Once you get the hang of the game, you're ready to look into the real world's version of these same things. It's sort of like paper trading, or putting training wheels on a bike. These types of games serve the same purpose -- allowing you to wobble and fall safely while you learn.

As you're playing the game, or reading books, or researching about various aspects of your dream on the internet, you will get more and more ideas about how to make your dream a reality because now you are seeking out HOW it can happen.

Changing your intention, changes your life.

I'll leave you with one final article from the Tiny Buddha website. The article is called: Lifestyle Design: How to Create Your Life As You Want It.