I spent this afternoon in the company of a group of incredibly creative women. This is not an unusual experience for me, and for that I am very grateful. Women seem to have a natural affinity for collaboration and connection that results in everybody experiencing something new about themselves. Earlier, I had started my blog in a very distressed and dark place, but because of my participation in a wonderfully connected and creative group process, I was lifted from that place and transported to a place of hope and inspiration.
We are living in dark times, but this does not mean that all the time we need to be in darkness. There are moments that bring joy and relief and contentment and peace. Each of these temporary states of being can provide a moment of release from a dominant story line of doom. All the best writers have found ways to balance the doom and darkness with the light. I wish all of us could attend a master class where we would learn the skills of constructing such balanced storytelling.
I was raised on fairy tales. These were fantasy that ended in reassuring ways where evil was always overcome by goodness. While there were dark (very dark) characters who did things that were unacceptable, good always seemed to win out and a lesson was offered that, if learned, would keep me safe, or at least aware of the harm that would befall me if I did not heed the warning. Sometimes I wonder if this was a valuable lesson, or if I was somehow being set up for a fall.
Our current political environment seems to demand that we set aside our values and beliefs, and instead rely on spin-meisters and how others interpret our shared reality and make meaning of what is happening. We seem to be invited to make our way into the dark forest, following only the bread crumbs left behind by strangers, or the promise of food and shelter from a disguised being. We are not paying attention to our senses and our intuition. Instead, we have abdicated our own knowledge and have decided that others know better or have more awareness of what is going on.
One of the things that was clear to me in the time I spent with my friends was that our inner vision seems to be so clear. Words often obscure what is crystal clear. Our hearts’ desire is frequently different from what we share with others – partly because we fear judgment and ridicule, but more often because we have little faith that want we truly 
want is something that we deserve. In asking for our hearts’ desire, we defend against the loss we anticipate instead of expecting the joy in receiving the blessing it would bring. Oh, how very different our lives would be if that were the reality.
It takes courage to envision a life where our hearts’ desire is met. It takes boldness to see clearly having the love we are worthy of having, the home we are meant to occupy, the job we are destined to do, and the kind of life that we are capable of living. For many, it is selfish to think of these things. For others, it is bad ju-ju that will jinx the outcome.
What if we lived in a state of mind where our dreams were achievable? What if we spent the time to focus on what it is that we really, truly wanted, knowing that all it would take would be to visualize and manifest? That might be so overwhelming that some would cower and fall away from the vision. Or, it might inspire others to see a world of their own making.
In my experience, thoughts are just thoughts. But when those thoughts have some energy, passion, and vision behind them, there is a certain magical power that seems to coalesce. Manifesting our dreams is not easy. It requires effort to be clear about what we want and to not doubt our worth in claiming our dreams.
This seems to have little to do with right or wrong. So the debate about worthiness is often a short one. Clarity and intention seem to produce results regardless of the moral weight of the dream. This is a difficult truth to accept.
Whatever your dreams, I hope you are willing to commit to making them a reality. It takes nothing to dream a dream. It takes effort and commitment to make that dream a reality. The only way I know how to change the world, is to combine these efforts.
