UNDERSTANDING THE PRESENT

Dreams, Practicalities and Wishes

I think, deep down, every body has a dream of something they would like to do or be.  It may a dream of a different life style or a different form of work.  It may be a dream about the development of a talent, opening a business or sailing the around the world.  

The promising thing is dreams are like ideas; they possess extraordinary power when they get organized in a person’s mind.  In order to get organized, a dream needs one essential thing: a commitment.  Without that, almost certainly, the cares and practicalities of daily life will smother the dream.  This is the essence of a dream deferred.

But there is a paradox involved.  Until a commitment is made, daily cares and practicalities will always be viewed as sovereign.  As sovereign powers they will totally dominate the dream every time it surfaces.  

They will say to the dream, “Not now,” “Can’t do it,” “Later,” or “Someday.”  However, and this is the paradox, when a person makes a commitment to a dream, the cares and practicalities of daily life previously viewed as sovereign obstacles get re-prioritized and no longer will be considered sovereign.  

Why is that?  Because a commitment always changes the equation by which things are weighed.  It creates new priorities, uncovers new resources, awakens an ability to face and deal with risk and reveals levels of courage previously un-recognized.  

The sad fact is a dream, without a commitment, inevitably fades to the level of a wish and a wish is the cemetery of a dream.

Clinton C Glenn

August 2002

UNDERSTANDING THE PRESENT

Dreams and Duties

Here is how it works:

We have dreams.

DREAMS

Dreams and Duties

Dreams and Duties

Dreams and Duties

Duties and dreams

DUTIES

Wishes…

Why do we consistently subordinate dreams to duties?

Clinton Glenn

June 12, 2006