Today is “Make Your Dreams Come True” Day.  Wow! 

Ok, first, who knew?!?  Second, how cool is that?  A whole day dedicated to that thing everyone always says they want.  Third, I could not make this up!

Which begs the question – how will you observe this auspicious day?  Because, hey, it says right on the calendar that this is the day.  And it only comes once a year.  I didn’t set to to go on about development again, but hey – you might as well use this day as intended.

Of course, to make your dreams come true, you have to know what your dreams are.  I have found though, that when I ask people what their dreams are, the answers are often empty unsatisfying nonexistent.  That is, either I get a (clearly) ridiculous answer (“my dream is to be the Queen of Siberia” – duh, not a country, and no monarch, and no pathway!)  or the more likely response which is…no answer at all.

That’s horrifying to me.  No dream?  Not “I’d rather not say” or “I don’t want to tell you, you’ll think it’s silly”.  Just a blank stare.  Ouch!

I hope you have a dream for your harp life.  A desire (secret or not) for yourself and your harp.  If you don’t, don’t despair – you can make one.  Today is not too late.

Having a dream will help keep you motivated and can help guide your growth…and by extension, your entire harp life.

Need to build a dream?  You can.  And more importantly, you can build dreams again and again.  What you dreamt of as a baby harper (as a friend of mine likes to call budding beginners) may not be what you dream of as a musician of mature harp years.  If you were a child when you began to play, you may view the landscape of your dreams differently later in your life.  If you began to play as an adult, you might have thought you needed to govern your dreams because you were starting later (BTW – don’t fall for that cop out!).

You have dreams that change.  You can have multiple dreams.  You can have evolving dreams.   They’re your dreams – make them what you need and want them to be!  But I hope you have some. 

How do you form a dream? First, you don’t force it.  Just collect some ideas. Spend a little bit of time (probably quietly and by yourself – but do it your way).  Gather your thoughts about what you dream of doing. You could sleep and actually dream of your dream.  Or make a dream board of images that express your dreams.  Or draw/paint/sculpt a representation of your dream.  Or write it out.  The point is simply to capture that dream so you can hold onto it.  You may discard this later if needed, but as your dream is forming, this will help you hold on to the wisps of it.

Your dream does not have to be enormous or grand – it just needs to be yours.

Ok, now that you have a dream, how do you move toward it?  Well, if you have captured it (as above) you might be getting some ideas.  But perhaps most importantly, you have to believe that you can actually move toward this dream. 

Note – I didn’t say achieve.  This is not another whack at goal setting in a different guise!  This is about identifying what you think would be a cool potential outcome and moving in that direction.  I dream of playing Smetana’s Vltava at the Musikverein in Vienna.  It might seem unlikely, but at least I could define a path to make that dream come true! (for instance, I could start by learning Vltava!)

Define what about the dream is the “dream” part and what is the “work” part.  You can definitely do the work part.  You might have to break it down into small, manageable, bite-sized chunks, but you can do it.  Of course, making a plan will help – otherwise, you’ll only dream but never make a dream come true.

Always keep dreaming.  When I was a pup (in harp years) my first dream was simply to not suck.  I think I can say that I got that dream.  My next dream – that I was confident would n-e-v-e-r happen – was to play on a stage with one of my harp heroes.  I got that one wrong.  Turns out the dream wasn’t to get to play with an amazing musician – it was to have that person as a close friend…and play on stage together! 

You can keep moving toward a dream and perhaps you’ll achieve it.  Whether you achieve it or simply hold on to working toward your dream, the important thing is to be enthused and to use that enthusiasm to keep on keeping on – usually with joy! 

So, Make Your Dreams Come True Day is specifically for doing just that.  I know you won’t want to waste it so, what will you do to further your dreams?  Willing to share your dream? Leave a comment below – I’m looking forward to being inspired by you!