Don’t harbor your dreams, your light is meant to shine

“Don’t die with your music still inside you. Listen to your intuitive inner voice and find what passion stirs your soul.” – Wayne Dyer

Don’t go to the grave after a long life unlived. In other words, get out, live life, take chances, be creative, enjoy the ride. Pardon the clichés, but carpe diem (seize the day)! Go for the gusto! Be all that you can be! Just do it! We only get one shot at this life, so make the most of it.

Most of us see the first of the year as a clean slate – a chance to start over or begin anew. That’s the way we should face every single day. Tomorrow isn’t guaranteed and there is nothing you can do about yesterday.

If you want to be successful in life, you have to have a goal and a plan to achieve it. As Zig Ziglar used to say, if you aim at nothing you will hit it every time.

Ask yourself, if you had all the time and money in the world, what would you do? Then ask yourself, what’s stopping you? We all have ambition and drive. We all have the same 24 hours in a day. We all have dreams and desires. We all have it within us to fashion a dream and make it come true. For some of us, there may be one or two things we are absolutely passionate about. For others, there may be dozens of things.

None of those things, however, will come to fruition without a dream, a measurable goal, and a plan to get there. If you stare at the big picture long enough it becomes daunting, intimidating, and discouraging. If you want to eat an elephant you have to do it one bite at a time. You need a daily, written plan. Commit a certain amount of time to it, or none at all. Whatever you do, be content with your decisions. Don’t let someone else’s opinion of you determine your worth or your direction in life.

You have to take charge of yourself and where you want to go in life. No one else is going to do it for you. No one is going to make you fit and healthy. No one else is going to make you wealthy. Experts can guide you and give you direction, but ultimately, it’s up to you to put forth the effort and do the work.

Your happiness comes from within, not from others. Your dreams are your own. Someone else – a spouse or a partner – may share in your dream, but they can’t do the dreaming for you.

All of these things are important. You have to take care of yourself before you can take care of anyone else. That brings us to the why. Why are these things important? It’s not so that you can be self-centered and self-absorbed. It’s so that you can help others and share the music within you. It doesn’t matter if you’re the best in the world at a certain thing if no one else can benefit from it. What good is a song if no one hears it? What good is a book if no one reads it? What good is art if no one else can appreciate it?

The light within you was made to shine for others to see. Wealth is worthless to Scrooge until he learns to share it. You must be at your best in order to give your best. How you treat others speaks volumes about yourself.

As you are making New Year’s resolutions, think about why you want to do them and how you will accomplish them. Write it down! Do you want to lose weight? Write down what foods you will give up and what foods you will add to change your diet. Make a daily exercise plan. It doesn’t have to be at a gym. It could be a step goal; a walking jogging, or biking goal; or a plan to do push-ups, sit-ups, yoga, etc. If going to a gym motivates you, then go. Schedule the time on your calendar and keep at it. Practice makes perfect.

If you get off schedule or backslide, don’t give up on your goal, just start again where you are at. If you lose interest in your goal or something better comes to mind, then hit the reset button. Don’t feel like you have to be trapped in something just because it isn’t working for you. Likewise, if what you are doing is important enough to you, don’t let setbacks or failures discourage you. Get back up, lesson learned, and keep moving forward. Every master was once an apprentice who made plenty of mistakes. If Thomas Edison had quit with every failure, we wouldn’t have the lightbulb today.

If you harbor your dreams, they will never set sail. Ships aren’t built to stay moored at the dock. An airplane is useless in the hangar. Sometimes you have to blow up a few rockets to reach the stars.

Whatever it is that ignites your passion, keep the fire going. Hone your skills, keep improving, keep focused and someday when you reach the end of your life the world will be a better place because you were in it and you shared your music for all to enjoy.

May God bless you always and may you always be a blessing to others.