Steering through the carnival of dreams

There’s so little time and so much to do There’s so little time for dreams to come true Many a ship to sail, many a magic land Many a moonlit trail, many a road to walk hand in hand ‘ Louis Armstrong Breaking away from Armstrong’s dreamy trumpet tunes, let’s think about the poetry at hand. Many a times we find ourselves thinking about what we could’ve, would’ve, should’ve, but haven’t just yet. Or we set ourselves on diverse paths in the pursuit of doing it all, because there’s an insatiable desire driving us to do everything that we can possibly think of to achieve it all, be out there and live the dream! And so, we do everything. In that case, we’re stretching ourselves across the plane but not really achieving anything through these scattered efforts. The process can result in a burnout to say the least, besides the disappointment. But what do we do when we feel so strongly towards all these dreams? Most times, we flow and sway in the deluge of our desires, fantasizing and ruminating, without a sense of purpose. We confuse our feelings for a secure sense of achievement with the true passion for that one goal. This invariably leads to a lack of focus, since we’re working towards multiple ends. A walk through your Carnival As if on a roller coaster, we swerve around hitting highs and lows at varying tempos from one thought to the next.

The human mind is like a carnival, and we, its visitors, are attracted to every shiny prospect the mind can conjure. ‘I want to become the best dancer! I also need to save the world, I should join an NGO. My art is suffering; I need to take up yoga to keep calm and create. Maybe I could become a yoga teacher. Let me look up a course. My cousin got a new apartment in that fancy high-rise, I should work harder at office to get that promotion so I can move out too” and so on. Sound familiar? It’s natural to flit from one dream to the next. That’s what makes us human. But what we don’t realise is that we seldom end up creating the lives we so deeply desire in the process of giving headspace to every dream. We lack focus and simply flap around in an attempt to make things work. A simple solution to this: take life one dream at a time. Find that one dream that means the world to you, and pursue it. Make a Pick, Make You Happen Acknowledging that the mind is a Carnival of dreams is the first step. And in this carnival, one could wander endlessly. Rather than romancing the idea of the end before the effort, let’s chart a plan to make it happen. To begin with, we consider our true passion”’the prerequisite to any fulfilment. True passion the feeling that is imbued with beautiful, solid shades of conviction, belief and drive”’helps ensure the success of any goal that is born with it.

A dream that finds a firm grounding in passion is one that is more likely to be fulfilled”’because with passion comes focus which results in success through single-minded pursuit. Setting on the path Take a nice walk down your Carnival (try not getting lost), and list out as many dreams as possible. Your mission on this quest is to choose a dream that you can convert into a goal. Indecisiveness is not a virtue, especially when it comes to this. So, stop and give yourself a moment to think. How do you feel about your numerous desires, and how do you decide which one to achieve? Amongst all the dreams that you’re out to pursue, which are the ones that are close to your heart and actually mean something to you? When you find even just one dream from your carnival that you so deeply desire, it becomes your most cherished dream. Now that the dreams have been shortlisted, the carnival you were once enamoured and lost in will slowly fade away and you will have yourself a singular trajectory of focus. It is now that the carnival ends, and your journey to realising your dream begins. You can flesh out a plan of action and put your mind to pursuing your goals. A strong emotional connect that defines your desire is the key to sustaining Passion and Focus”’the two essentials to making your dream a reality. Choose the right dream and you’ll find the boundless fulfilment you sought through the achievement of all your aspirations. Make You Happen!