Marcia's Dream Notes

Begin Smartly:
Simplify to Make Room
for Your Dreams

Dear Marcia

Big Dreamers Share

My Dream Coach News

"Be unstoppable. You can have the life you want, the one that works for you. The possibilities are all waiting for you to let them happen, to produce extraordinary results, to make your life the magical experience it was meant to be."

-- Marcia Wieder

Ten years ago I read your book Making Your Dreams Come True, and I established some goals for myself that were (at that time what I considered to be unreachable,) dreams. I was a 20 year old Californian with a history of family instability and poverty. Some of my dreams were to A) go to college, B) marry someone working in the field I hoped to enter C) be in New York City by the year 2000. I am happy to say that all these fantastic things (and much more) have happened in my life! I have 2 masters degrees, and I married a great guy from NY (who happens to work in my field). The dilemma I am facing now is: I desperately want to move back to the area where I grew up (in So. CA) but it is VERY expensive, and there are no job opportunities there for my husband. I can think of no one else whose advice I would trust more in this situation than you!

Kind regards,
CR

From Marcia - 

Dear CR,

You have made such amazing things happen in your life, and against many odds. Congratulations! You know what it feels like to set an intention and then to go for it.

I encourage you to reconnect to this powerful part of yourself and remember and reconnect to the part of you that knows dreams can and do come true.

Often when we have a new or big dream, the voice of the "Doubter" comes blaring in. It says things like, "We can't afford this," or "There are no opportunities."

But some of these are assumptions. Someone with your capacity for making things happen could become very resourceful. Find or create new opportunities - if this is a dream that you (and your husband) truly want. In a sentence, "Don't kill off opportunities before you explore possibilities." Get extremely clear about what you want and then put the word out. Perhaps make a trip out to CA with the intention of finding the perfect place to live (including one that is in your budget) and to help your husband find a great job. 

Trust me; so much of this is about intention and then taking action to show you mean it!

Warmly,
Marcia
--
To ask Marcia a question: marcia@mydreamcoach.com 

Please note, due to time constraints, only questions selected for publication will be answered.

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Although the weather where you are might not yet be feeling especially Spring-like, it's here, and we'll all be feeling it soon enough!

Now is the perfect time to climb out of the hibernation mode many of us go into during the winter time, and look forward to the growth - the blossoming that always takes place this time of year. It's not just for flowers, you know!

If you've been working on your dreams all along, great! I suspect you'll be nodding your head in agreement with this month's feature. If you put away your dreams for the winter, pull them out and look over them. See them with new eyes, like old friends you haven't seen for a time. See if you think they need new clothes, or a haircut, or just need a bath to be ready for the excitement that lies ahead.

In this, and upcoming issues of my newsletter, I'm going to lead you through some of the things you can do to first get clear about your dreams, then plan the positive actions to make them realities. Designing your life to make room for your dreams is the foundation you need to lay before you actually get down to the work of building your dreams.

What I know for sure is this: by designing your life to support you, you'll find achieving your dreams far quicker and easier than you imagined. Over the next few months, you'll do just that. Read on to get started!

Here's to all your Spring-time dreams. 

Marcia

In life, there's only so much "stuff" you can manage before things you thought mattered fall by the wayside, or slip through the cracks. You mean well, but there's only so much you can do!  If you have dreams you want to work on, and feel committed to working on, the very first thing you need to do is look at your life, and begin designing it so that you have room for them.

So take a look.  Take a good look.  Look at all the things that go on in your life.  Look at your schedule, your family, your friends, your creative and fun pastimes, work commitments, commitments to your community. Find all the things that you have going on, and commit them to paper. If you're like most people, the reality of that list will amaze you. If you often or even sometimes feel overwhelmed by all you have going on, you're either reaching, or have reached your capacity.  When you're at that place, you simply can't bring anything new in, without getting rid of something first.  If you've been struggling to find time to work on your dreams, now you know why!

To clear some of  what's there before you can get to higher ground, simplifying is key. While you can simplify in many different ways, one primary way deals with your environment. You want it to support you and your dreams while remaining clutter free.  "Clutter," in this case, doesn't just refer to the things you have lying around in a disorganized fashion - although this kind of clutter matters! It refers to anything that is cluttering up your life and preventing you from having what you really want.

Consider starting this phase of designing your environment with something as simple as clearing off your desk, cleaning out your drawers or organizing your closets.  It's amazing what having the order and additional physical space does to allow you the mental space to continue creating and reaching for your dreams.  See the resources at the bottom of this article for some tools you might find helpful.

Similarly, if there are more personal issues keeping you from being clear about what your dream will look like, or about how you'll have the time to get it, clear them out of your way. A great coach can help with that.

Sometimes, we get stuck by saying "yes" to things that don't have great meaning to us but that we think we "should" do.  Make room for your dreams, by getting rid of at least some of the "shoulds" you've committed to.  Perhaps the greatest gift you can give to yourself right now is to quit something that no longer serves you. If there is something that you don't have to do or don't want to do, or committed to because you "should" have, consider giving the people/group you've committed to notice, and letting it all go. If something new crosses your path that you don't have to or want to do, simply say, "No, thank you."

Over the next month, work on these areas of your life, simplifying and creating space for your dreams. With the space for them, all the other actions you will take toward realizing your dreams will be so much easier!

Resources you can use:

Book: Organizing from the Inside Out, by Julie Morgenstern (Audio edition, and VHS also available)

Tool:  Take Julie Morgenstern's Spring Cleaning Challenge!

Tool: The Organic Organizing Matrix shares the three secrets and nine essential actions necessary to organize anything!

Big Dreamers Share

• Paddy was finally able to republish her grandmother's cookbook (it was last printed in 1992!) with original artwork created by her cousin and uncle. Dreaming big, she had 2,200 copies printed!

• Dominic is finally realizing his dream of going snorkeling in Aruba -- he leaves Saturday for a week!

• Cookie became a Certified Dream Coach, and can't wait to get up in the morning to see what her clients are bringing to her!

• Stacy found and hired the perfect COO for her company and has finally relaxed into letting go of the day-to-day so that she can reach for the bigger creative dreams she has!

Do you have a dream come true that you want to share?  Please send it to: marcia@mydreamcoach.com so we can all celebrate in your success!

My Dream Coach News

As much as we love sharing in your dreams and achievements, we love sharing our own with you, too!  Here's what's going on in our world this month:

• Our last Dream Coach Certification Program for 2004 starts soon (May 19-25 in Tiburon, CA).

• My Dream Circle -- a fabulous community of dreamers -- opens very soon.

• Marcia will be writing a monthly "Dream" feature for the San Francisco Chronicle beginning in May.

• Making Your Dreams Come True has been released in Spanish, Polish Czech, and Korean.
  

Coming next month - How to Make Time for Your Dreams!