When I was much younger and didn't know how the world works, I had several dreams. Looking back, it seems like I dreamt more than I actually lived life. When I grew up I would be an astronaut, a professional boxer, and a rock star all at the same time. Realistic? Not very. Still, as a kid, I knew how to dream, and dream big.



Unfortunately, life has a way of knocking us around sometimes, and we start to view our dreams as foolish wishes. Some of us stop dreaming altogether. We just accept whatever comes our way. Our lives become gray. We adopt the attitudes of those around us as our own, and forget about the child inside, screaming to get out. We call it growing up.

Most Network Marketers, however, haven't forgotten the value of dreaming. You can hear it in their voices, feel it in their smiles. They know their dreams have value, and are not just wasted time dwelling on foolish thoughts. Their dreams are the beginning of something awesome.

Dreams present us with the overall picture of how we want our lives to be. They know no bounds. They are vague and unfocused, and because of this they override the critical factor in us that acts as a censor. You can dream about traveling to Mars, or having a love affair with a movie star. In dreams, nothing is impossible.

Dreaming springs out of that vast, inner reservoir we call the subconscious mind. Your subconscious doesn't know the difference between what's real and what's imagined. As far as my subconscious mind knows, I've been a member of Led Zeppelin, have flown aboard the space shuttle many times, and was married to Julia Roberts.

Emotions also live in the subconscious mind. Think about it; how often do we choose to laugh or cry? Sometimes, in fact, it's difficult to stop doing these with all our conscious effort. If we close our eyes and think about something funny, chances are a smile will appear. We may even laugh out loud.

As a clinical hypnotherapist, I work with the subconscious mind all the time. I've regressed grown men back to where they were eight years old, and crying like a baby. I've seen entranced people shiver with cold on a ninety degree day. I'm thoroughly convinced of the power of the subconscious mind.

Emotions and dreams relate to one another in a big way. Emotion, in fact, fuels the dream. If you didn't "want it so bad you could taste it," what would be the point of the dream in the first place? If you didn't believe that realizing the dream would "feel" so good, why bother?

As important as dreaming is, however, we must keep in mind that it is only the beginning, albeit a necessary one. In its vagueness, it lacks any cohesion. Without focus, it's powerless to bring about any kind of lasting change in your life. For that, it needs to be molded and shaped.

Molding your dream requires input from your logical mind. This is where your dream gets broken down into manageable chunks. Want to be an astronaut? First, you work hard to get good grades in school, take the right courses, etc. Then go to college, majoring in math and science. Join the Air Force, follow the curriculum, and you're on your way.

You can see how this morphs from being a dream, and into something else. We call these goals. Goals can only be reached after they are set. They can only be set after a dream has been conceived.

If the dream does not grow into something else, it eventually dies. My own dream of rock stardom died because I wasn't willing to do what was necessary to make it a reality. I did a lot of talking and thinking about it, but it could not survive with a base of practicality.

How do you discover what your dream truly is? Ask yourself this question: If money and time were not issues, how would my life be different? How would I spend my day? Where would I live? Who would I be with?

Dreaming is the seed. It's not difficult, and you probably did it a lot when you were a kid. It doesn't take much thought, only emotion, and a letting go of perceived limitations. It does, however, take much nurturing and attention to bring it to fruition, and to see it as reality.