The gap between dream and reality

Having recently been set some homework by my supervisor on what my 'dream' job would look like, got me thinking about the last time I had reflected on that same question, which I knew was about eight years ago. Finding and blowing the dust off my old vision book revealed just how far I had come to achieving my dream job. How easy it is to forget! I've been actively participating in the creation of my goals, as I now know they don't happen by themselves. For every action we take, there is a re-action. (Reaction is an anagram of creation which I find interesting!) Every little decision I have made along the way created a reaction to something, and all those little reactions helped create my reality. It would have been fruitless to work towards a goal which was not congruent with my passions, ideals and values, as alignment to these are the key to change and growth. There is a lot written these days about the science of how we can fill in the gap between dreams and reality, and what happens to our neural pathways as a result of how we think and where we place our intentions. We are very powerful, more than we think we are. Ancient philosophers like Confucius urged to break free from who you 'think' you are because that is where growth and change are. Keep living life for the as-yet unknown person you can keep morphing into.
What I write about has existed for thousands of years. These concepts have been around longer than all of us. The difference is that science is catching up and can measure this now. I only write from my own lived experiences, and not from a text book. I'm just someone who has lived through some significant mental health issues where I felt completely powerless to my own thinking. This consumed 10 years of my life and I learnt a lot about me, the world I live in and the world I helped create. I knew that I was my own worst enemy and to survive I needed to change what I started to recognise as my own self fulfilling prophecies. As I thought; so I felt; and as I felt so I behaved, thus creating my next choice. This limited thinking had to go ... but how? There weren't too many people or services 10 years ago that could support me in the way that I needed, there were only concepts and philosophy that I felt any alignment to. There was certainly lots of advice but I knew that I needed something much deeper than 'surface' help. I didn't need someone to do something 'for' me but rather I recognised that I needed to change or to re-arrange things from the inside out, and I needed someone to work 'with' me that had some understanding. I eventually joined up my own dots by what was then an unconventional approach to mental health and it came through my interest in philosophy, ancient traditions, neuroscience and psychotherapy. Imagine if we are all encouraged to think about or re-remember what we ARE versus what is WRONG with us or who we THINK we are. It is my belief, and now experience, that a lot of mental health issues and addiction issues could be prevented if we had an earlier intervention which included this type of dialogue and support. Let's stop doing TO and start working WITH people and for those of us who need some support with their mental health, let's move from 'victim' to being an integral part of managing our own lives. Let's talk potential and get into that that creative space that exists between reality and possibility. So what's my dream job? Being able to have 'real'-ationships and talk into the stuff that really matters to us, as this is where sustainable change can be found for those seeking it. And for those who don't need or want to change? Maintenance of our wellbeing will require a similar conversation. That's where we all come together, this intrinsic need in us crosses gender and cultures, ages and stages. This ancient stuff was relevant thousands of years ago, and it's relevant now. Obviously I don't know what fulfils people, I can't fix or tell people what to do, but I do believe with all my heart that we have the potential to achieve what we need by identifying what we intrinsically value. Sometimes that's hard to answer on our own and we need a good friend/therapist/coach/ or support person to help tease that out. So how did I do? I will always have a ways to go as I will never stop learning and developing and keep creating my destiny one little step at a time. Alongside me will be others who will be doing the same. Together we will change our reality.
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