There are 3 levels of ‘big dream sharing’:
1 – the ‘baby big dream’ – when your dream is new and precious. The only people to share with are those who will treat it gently and with the respect and love it deserves.
2 – starting to take action on your big dream. Again, it is a time to be gentle with your dream. This is a time to share with people who support, encourage, love, and cheerlead you and your dream.
3 – your big dream has gathered momentum and you no longer feel so afraid of it or protective of it. Now share with all sorts of people – you might get lots of great help at this point from other people – even if it’s a critical person pointing out a glaring flaw in your plan!

To listen to this week’s podcast, click here: Sharing Your Big Dream

Homework:
Experiment with your friends – who are the baby dream holders/cherishers, who are the encouragers and supporters, who are the people you DON’T want to share your big dream with when it’s still fragile? Have fun finding the people who will support you and love your big dreams as much as you do.

You can also subscribe to this podcast on itunes here.

May all your dreams become reality.

Love

Donna.x

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Question: I am following my big dream and it’s been really hard work. I feel exhausted and discouraged, and worst of all I don’t feel I can talk about this as everyone keeps telling me to ‘be positive’ or give up. Maria

People who are not following their big dreams sometimes don’t understand those of us who are. Ask for the support you need from your friends – be really clear with them about how they can help you. Take a break from your big dream – when you are exhausted, the best thing you can do is relax and take a couple of days off from working on your big dream so you can replenish yourself and come back clear headed and chilled out.

Here’s the link to the podcast about the 3 Pillars: http://www.donnaonthebeach.com/blog/2012/01/dreams-to-reality-podcast-the-3-pillars/ – the 3 Pillars are self-care, energy and joy. If you’re not feeling cared for, you will feel exhausted and discouraged just because your self-care is low. If your energy is low, you have less to give your big dream. If you are not enjoying life…well, that sucks!

If you have a question, leave a comment below this post.

Love

Donna.x

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When I saw this post from Jamie, I just HAD to share it with you guys – I have an encouragement book but I forget to dip into it when I need it…but this encouragement BOX idea is FABULOUS! It’s right here by my desk twinkling at me! Let me know if you try it, and feel free to send me (and Jamie!) some encouragement to fill our encouragement boxes!!

Jamie Ridler is a creative living coach and the director of Jamie Ridler Studios. From the Creative Living with Jamie podcast to the Sparkles creativity e-course, Jamie’s work helps women find the confidence and courage to discover and express their creative selves so they can be the star they are.

BIG love and thanks to Jamie who is one of my favourite people on the planet right now! Jamie, thank you for letting me share this wonderful practice. xx

Love

Donna.x

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Did you get outside in January? I admit, I cheated a bit – I was on holiday for 10 days which made getting outside for me a whole lot easier than it is at home in the cold, wintry, dark, horrid conditions. Brrrr. But even when I got back from holidays with thinner blood and found it even colder, I still got outside! Often grudgingly, grumpily and with much muttering about the cold, but it was still good to do. And it’s the holiday that inspired this month’s daily practice: 10 Minute Tidy and Clutter Clear.

Photo credit: phongvan00 on Morguefile.com

But when I got home from holidays, the office and bedroom were beautifully clear of the usual mayhem and mess. And I’d quite like to keep them that way! Ok, I’m never going to be a neat-freak (no, really, I’m not!), but I think with this “10 minute tidy and clutter clear” practice, I can at least get into the habit of clearing up every day and keep it relatively tidy.

Are you going to join me? Here’s what we’ll do: Every day we’ll set a timer for 10 minutes, put on some lively music (of course!) and rush around for 10 minutes tidying and/or clutter clearing. If we do that every day for 10 minutes a day in February, it will be the equivalent of a half day of clutter clearing…only in easy chunks of time that don’t give you a chance to get back ache or so fed up that you just want to throw everything away! If you’re going to join in, leave me a comment below to let me know.

Love

Donna.x

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The 3 Pillars: Self Care, energy and joy. These 3 things are the foundation of a successful life – if you feel uncared for, depleted and you’re not enjoying life, life is so much harder! And if you want to make your big dream a reality, you need to be cared for, full of energy and enjoying your life.

To listen to this week’s podcast, click here: The 3 Pillars

Homework:
EVERY DAY ask your HEART this:
How cared for am I feeling right now on a scale of 1-10, where one is ‘not at all’ and 10 is ‘cradled in the arms of love’. If it is less than a 7, your only task is to do something to make yourself feel more cared for – do something that nourishes you.
How energetic am I feeling right now on a scale of 1-10, where one is ‘no energy’ and 10 is ‘I feel like Tigger, bouncy, bouncy, bouncy!’ If it is less than a 7, your only task is to do something to raise your energy – do something fun, get out in nature, do something you love that raises your energy.
How much am I enjoying life right now a scale of 1-10, where one is ‘I’m not’ and 10 is ‘I am totally in love with my life’. If it is less than a 7, your only task is to do something fun, something you enjoy – this is your life. ENJOY it!

You can also subscribe to this podcast on itunes here.

May all your dreams become reality.

Love

Donna.x

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Whether you are right at the beginning or well on your way to achieving your big dream, it is so much easier to move towards your dream ONE step at a time. Identify the next baby step, the next small step…and the next and the next and the next. Don’t get distracted by the bigness of your dream, just focus on taking one step, and another, and another.

To listen to this week’s podcast, click here: The First or Next Step

Homework:
Answer this question: What is the next step to take me towards my big dream? When you’ve answered the question, DO the action! And repeat.

You can also subscribe to this podcast on itunes here.

May all your dreams become reality.

Love

Donna.x

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I had a dream and was saving towards it, then I lost my job and I’m having to use my savings to live on. It feels like my dream has had to take a back seat and that makes me really frustrated and miserable (as well as being down because I’m unemployed) – Sharon

Look to the positive – you may not have money to pursue your big dream right now, but you do have a lot of time to work towards your dream if you are able to. When you have constraints, you can either get frustrated OR you can get creative and find new ways to do things (and you sometimes find a better way!)

Making progress on your dream will help you feel less frustrated, it will give you energy to help you find a job, and you will feel better. By the time you find another job, you will be further along with your goal and you can start saving money again.

I’m a big believer that life works for us, not against us, so ask yourself this: What if this situation was bringing you closer to your dream, not further away? Explore that possibility for a while and see how that could be true.

Love

Donna.x

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You’ve found out what your big dream is…now what? Aaaaargh! Don’t worry! Relax. Take the time to acclimatize yourself to your big dream. Give yourself a chance to get used to it, sniff around it, feel how you feel about it, ruminate, consider, and ponder.

To listen to this week’s podcast, click here: Acclimatize Yourself to Your Big Dream

Homework:
Get a pen and piece of paper, set a timer for 5 minutes and answer this question: How do I feel about my big dream? And just write, whatever is coming out of you, let it express. Don’t judge, don’t censor, just write and let it out.

You can also subscribe to this podcast on itunes here.

May all your dreams become reality.

Love

Donna.x

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It’s the start of a New Year – for many of us a time for setting goals, thinking how to make this year better than last year, setting New Year’s Resolutions designed solely to take the joy out of our lives! (Don’t get me started on New Year’s Resolutions – for my thoughts on this, see this blog post from last year.)

Anyway, forget about those joyless, sensible, boring, uninspiring ideas. What do you REALLY want? What’s your BIG dream? What’s the thing that you’ve always wanted to be, do or have? What’s the thing that would set you happy dancing for a week just at the thought of achieving it? What’s the thing you’ve never told anyone you wanted? What’s the thing that you don’t think is possible (but want anyway!)?

You see, over the last year or so, I’ve realised something. Too many people go through life with that thing locked up tight inside them – through fear, or life getting in the way, or lack of belief, or lack of inspiration, or some other thing that really shouldn’t get in the way of our biggest dreams. Hence all these new things I’ve thought up (videos, podcasts etc) – because I think that’s criminal.

It is awful that those dreams go unacknowledged, aren’t followed, are left to atrophy in a dim and distant past where we ‘used to have dreams before we realised they won’t come true’. Well, they certainly won’t come true if you never try! And if you do try, 2 things will happen – one, your dream has a CHANCE of becoming reality. And two, your life will get better whether it does or not.

Only a CHANCE you say? No one can guarantee success. But that chance is all your dream needs to take you on the adventure of your life! Moving your dreams into reality gives you confidence, it’s fun, it helps to challenge you, stretch you, grow you into the you that you know you were meant to be. That’s what those dreams are for – to help you grow into the greatness that you are!

You are following your passion, your purpose, your heart’s desires – there is nothing more fun in life! To me, that’s the whole point of life – to do things you love to do every day, to honour the whispers of your heart and soul, to acknowledge YOUR dreams, even if it doesn’t work out quite the way you planned (it never does, by the way! Sometimes it’s better).

So let your heart and soul speak. What is your big dream? What do you REALLY want in 2012?

Your Homework
This New Year, resolve to listen to your heart and soul speak, acknowledge your big dreams and consider taking some action to bring them into reality. And I’d LOVE to hear what your big dream is – drop me a line. I believe in you, and in your dream, so let’s make 2012 the year that you bring that dream of yours into reality!

This article was taken from January’s Dreams to Reality newsletter – to sign up, click here.

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I don’t know what my big dream is. The only thing I can think of is to be healthy and full of energy. But that is so far away from where I am right now – I am 4 stone overweight and exhausted all the time. – Cat

That sound like a fabulous big dream to me! Most big dreams come to you when you are a million mile away from them, so don’t worry about how far you have to go to get there – just start moving in that direction.

Every day, ask yourself ‘what can I do today to improve my health and improve my energy?’ Then do that thing – step by step, you will become more and more healthy and energetic. It will also allow your other big dreams to start to come to the surface when you’ve paved the ground to allow them.

Love

Donna.x

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