Curious about Dreams: What Are Yours? And, What Do They Mean to You?

“We all have dreams. But in order to make dreams come into reality, it takes an awful lot of determination, dedication, self-discipline, and effort.” - Jesse Owens, American athlete

“If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with success unexpected in common hours.” – Henry David Thoreau, American author

I chose “dreams” for this week’s theme, because this is the time of year when I make plans for the upcoming year. Part of the planning involves setting and stating the goals and dreams I want to accomplish in the coming year. I know that several self development gurus scoff at dreams – they feel that they are just wishes and don’t have the power of goals. So, I was delighted and surprised by the positive quotations about dreams, along with the certainty of realizing them.

I am not even sharing my dreams with family members this year, because I fear there will be negative reactions. I am heeding American journalist Erma Bombeck’s quotation, “It takes a lot of courage to show your dreams to someone else.”

I am also considering involvement with a different home business company that provides every member a coach. My coach is set to call me on Monday night to discuss my dreams and how to realize them. I am excited and ready!

Now, for some of the great and uplifting quotations:

• “All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.” - Walt Disney, American cartoonist
• “All the things one has forgotten scream for help in dreams.” - Elias Canetti, Swiss author
• “Dream manfully and nobly, and thy dreams shall be prophets.” - Robert Bulwer-Lytton, English statesman
• “Dream no small dreams for they have no power to move the hearts of men.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, German poet
• “Dreams are illustrations... from the book your soul is writing about you.” - Marsha Norman, American dramatist
• “Dreams are necessary to life.” - Anais Nin, American author
• “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” - Eleanor Roosevelt, American First Lady
• “There are those who look at things the way they are, and ask why... I dream of things that never were, and ask why not?” - Robert Kennedy, American politician

And a few others with a different "twist”

• “Those who have compared our life to a dream were right... we were sleeping wake, and waking sleep.” - Michel de Montaigne, French philosopher
• “If you take responsibility for yourself you will develop a hunger to accomplish your dreams.” - Les Brown, American businessman
• “In dreams begins responsibility.” - William Butler Yeats, Irish poet
• “Reality is wrong. Dreams are for real.” - Tupac Shakur, American musician
• “So many of our dreams at first seem impossible, then they seem improbable, and then, when we summon the will, they soon become inevitable.” - Christopher Reeve, American actor
• “The best way to make your dreams come true is to wake up.” - Paul Valery, French poet
• “Only in our dreams are we free. The rest of the time we need wages.” - Terry Pratchett, English author
• “People need dreams, there's as much nourishment in 'em as food.” - Dorothy Gilman, American novelist

And, a couple more to chew upon this coming week and as you prepare for next year:

“I don't design clothes, I design dreams.” - Ralph Lauren, American designer

“I tell people I'm too stupid to know what's impossible. I have ridiculously large dreams, and half the time they come true.” - Debi Thomas, American athlete

What do you dream about? I wish you big, huge dreams that even more than half the time come true.