How Long Does It Take to Make a Dream to Come True?

Dahlia Unfolds #goodmorninggarden

For most of my life, I have felt this great sense of urgency, hurry and drive. I’ve had this feeling that if I don’t move faster, if I don’t make things happen, I’m going to miss out. And I hate missing out.

But recently It occurred to me that perhaps the opposite is also true: if I don’t slow down, I’m going to miss out. (And I hate missing out)

My sense is that both of these thoughts hold truth in them. Life likes to be paradoxical like that.

It wasn’t a particular moment or event that started this change in my perspective. In fact, it’s been a bit wild sitting back and watching my view change before my eyes. It’s almost like I have been traveling on a slow-moving ocean liner, wishing it would get going, get going, get going, and when I finally stopped to look I noticed that we were moving and the view was changing. Maybe from here, things are different. Maybe this is the magic of getting older.

I started to notice the impact of this change when I was watching The Voice. It’s a show on which singers compete to be mentored by some of the greats in the industry in the hopes of going on not only to win the show’s competition but also to jump start their careers. It’s a show about making your dreams come true.

As the singers share their personal stories, trends emerge. One of those themes, particularly with younger artists, is that they’ve given themselves a block of time to make their music career happen, often one year. If they don’t make it in one year, they’ll go back to college, their hometown, their day job. They have one year to make their dream come true.

When I was younger that made absolute sense. Many people take a year out of high school or after college or university to test the waters and try things out. And in some ways a year is a long time. It’s a long time to sustain yourself while you’re trying something risky. It’s a long time for your parents or your partner or your kids to be patient while you throw yourself into your dream. It’s a long time to wonder and hope and see if something, anything, is going to happen.

On the other hand, from where I’m sitting now, I look back on all that I’ve done, all that I’ve created or built or experienced, I look at my own dreams come true and I see that they all took time. Sometimes a lot of time. Almost always more time than I expected and certainly more time than I would have liked. It took me a year to learn the basics of coaching, longer to become good at it. It took me more than a year to build my business to the point where I could leave my day job. Heck, It took me more than a year to plan and save and get to Paris for our 10th wedding anniversary!

From here my heart breaks to think of those singers on The Voice who say that if they don’t make it after one year, they’re giving up. One year of hard work and then, “That’s it. I’m done with music.”

Never be done with music.

Sure, after one year things might have to change. There may be no more rent-free living with your parents. You may have to get a part-time job to continue. You may have to cut back on the 7-day a week devotion because it’s exhausting. Things may have to change but that doesn’t mean it’s time to give up.

We can’t manage how long our dreams take to happen or even whether they’ll happen at all. We can only manage the time and energy that we devote to them. You may be willing to give one year to your dream but that doesn’t mean your dream takes one year to grow.

When one young singer was sent home from The Voice, she left the stage in tears. Gwen Stefani, who is one of the judges, told her not to give up. She said, “Do you know how many years I was in a band before I was on the radio? Nine!!” Mega star Gwen Stefani spent nine years playing before she was on the radio!!

I’m not saying that one year isn’t a powerful time to give yourself over to your dream. I’m saying this.

If after one year, you have fallen in love, don’t give up. It takes time for things to grow.

I’m also saying don’t get attached to one particular form of dream delivery. That singer (and many others) may not win The Voice but there are a myriad of other ways for her aspirations to be fulfilled, many more than she’s even dreamed of.

That’s true for you and me too.

When one incarnation of your dream doesn’t fall into place, don’t give up. When on year hasn’t seen everything fall perfectly into place, don’t give up.

Let your love for what you love guide your way. Let it keep you on your path of dream development and discovery. Be smart and practical about building foundations but don’t think that means having to give up your dreams and ideals. The marriage of the practical and the aspirational is what creative living is all about.

Dreams, Time & Space

Every weekday morning I invite you Behind the Scenes at my studio.

Today: It’s a great time to start visioning for the week, month and year ahead! A part of that for me is a shifting perspective on time and some inspiration to work on my space.

Mentioned in Today’s Show…

Plus… the Osho Zen Card of the Day!

Osho Zen Tarot: Success

I regularly share #oshozencardoftheday on Instagram, Facebook & Twitter.

I thought you might enjoy them here too.

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Barriers, Blocks & Crobots (stART eps 38)

Every couple of weeks I film stART: Creating as We Go with my two sisters, Suzie and Shannon. We share our creative projects, from challenges to celebrations, and support each other’s creative lives. We hope we’ll inspire you to get creating too! On Episode 38: Happy Halloween stART viewers & listeners! We have a jam-packed episode for you, exploring some of our creative barriers and blocks

On Episode 38 we mention:

Keep up-t0-date with the show

stART: Creating as We Go Eps 38

Creative Living with Jamie: Alessandra Cave

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This podcast is 28:50.

Alessandra Cave on Creative Living on Jamie

This Week on Creative Living with Jamie:

Alessandra Cave, photographer and author of Shooting with Soul

Alessandra Cave is a photographer, mama, adventurer, and entrepreneur – who is passionate about that sweet spot where art + soul + business + life intersect. She’s also a writer, teacher, and the author of “Shooting with Soul”, an inspiration and technique book with 44 photography exercises on life, beauty and self-expression.

From Alessandra, “I work hard. I love what I do. And I do everything with love. My clients are good people, who make beautiful things that are good for the planet and all beings.”

Discover More About Today’s Guest…

Website: AlessandraCave.com
Instagram: @alessandracave
Twitter: @alessandracave
Pinterest : @alessandracave
Facebook:
@alessandracave
Facebook Group:
Shooting with Soul Readers and ask to join the group

Book: Shooting with Soul: 44 Photography Exercises Exploring Life, Beauty and Self-Expression – From film to Smartphones, capture images using cameras from yesterday and today.

Connect to Creative Living with Jamie…

  • Subscribe: You can subscribe to Creative Living with Jamie here and also on iTunes (Note: this link will ask to access your iTunes and then take you to the podcast. You can also simply open iTunes and search for “Creative Living with Jamie)
  • Email: You can email your feedback, questions and suggestions to Jamie.
  • Share: Spread the Magic! If you loved this show, please share it with other creative hearts!

I talked about Alessandra’s Shooting with Soul in this episode of Creative Living Bookshelf

Ordinariness, Tidying Up & Creative Living

Every weekday morning I invite you Behind the Scenes at my studio.

Today: The resonance of yesterday’s Ordinariness card, Tidying Up with Marie Kondo and time to take a rest.

Mentioned in Today’s Show…

Plus… Good Morning Garden!

Hydrangea and Leaves

I regularly share #goodmorninggarden photos on Instagram, Facebook & Twitter.

I thought you might enjoy them here too.

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The Joy of Colour (ing)

The Joy of Colouring

According to a recent article in the Huffington Post, colouring isn’t just for kids. It’s also a great stress reliever for adults.

I’ve experienced this personally. On my recent trip to Holland I discovered how powerfully colouring could help me cope with my fear of flying.* I was amazed to experience my body settling and my mind relaxing through the simple act of adding colour to a page.

Time flies when we colour.

Remember the hours of rapt attention you spent with your crayons as a kid? Maybe you remember watching your kids do the same. Or your grandkids. Maybe they’re colouring now. Are you?

Why did we leave colouring behind?

Where did we get the idea it was just for kids?

For such a simple act, colouring sure has a lot of “rules” associated with it. Colouring must be done within the lines. But cool kids colour outside the lines. Giving colouring books to children is bad because they lose their imagination. Drawing a shape and then colouring it in is for children. It isn’t how real artists draw.

And that’s on top of all of the other art rules we have (e.g. what we create has to be good, what we create has to be useful, what we create has to be sell-able…)

What if we just let colouring be colouring?

A big part of the joy of colouring is the kinesthetic experience. It’s in moving your body and watching something happen. It’s in seeing our impact. It’s in the repetition, the focused release of energy. It is the act itself. The practice.

Re-experience the joy of colouring.

Grab some markers or crayons or coloured pencils and put some colour on the page. Don’t know where to start? Draw a triangle and colour it in. Draw a circle and colour it in. Draw a whole page of circles and colour them in. Grab a flyer and colour in all of the holes in all of the O’s. Tear off a previous month of your calendar and colour each day’s square.

Have fun. Keep it light. Who knows? Maybe colouring will become one of your favourite creative pastimes (again!)

Some Colouring Resources

These days there are some wonderful colouring books to explore, like Secret Garden: An Inky Treasure Hunt and Colouring Book or the Just Add Color series.

Mandalas are also a great way to enjoy colouring. Here’s how I got started with them.

* Thank you again, John, for the suggestion.

The Joy of Colouring Journal