I found myself sitting on the edge of my seat three rows up as a bouncy Peter Pan promises Wendy she could fly if she thought ‘happy thoughts’. I left the theatre thinking – What is my happy thought and could it make me fly?
A person can really soar to undiscovered lands when we’ve identified that specific happy thought, the one that makes us feel like a kid again, lights up that sparkle that life may have dimmed, makes us feel like really anything is possible.
Picture yourself standing in your window and thinking your happy thought… your big dream. What is it? Do you really know? Have you thought about why you wake up every morning and do what you are doing? Have you thought about how what you do today will contribute to your big dream?
How did I find it? I’ve been trying to put it together for years. It was a frustrating quest for a person who needs to know all the answers. I had pieced together parts of the puzzle I just hadn’t put the whole image together yet. It came to me in my annual personal retreat for 2010 and I’d love to help you find your Happy Thought, your big Dream.
Start by asking yourself – Do you want to make money for yourself, a name for yourself or a difference? In what order? (My order is name, money, difference). Really think about this. Is status important? What is most important to you?
I started making a bucket list after reading The Power of Focus. You can use it too – start by making a list of all the things you want to do before you die – a bucket list. Aim for 101 of them. It can be anything you can dream of, don’t sell yourself short and don’t expect to come up with 101 all at once. I am only at 66 after three years of building the list.
Group the things on your list and find a common theme. Is there a theme around say teaching and working with children? Travelling and raising awareness of an issue? Try to find similiarities in your items.
Then try to find the thing on your list that screams at you “I’ve done it, I’ve made it”. It could be taking your daughter to graduation, it could be getting a book published, it could be getting a certain title on your business card, maybe when you hit a $200,000 annual salary. What is it that is going to make you feel like you have made it? Write down your happy thought. What are the things on your list that make your heart beat a little faster, make you want to stay up late at night working on?
Now stand at your window and close your eyes and think about your happy thought. Think about it from all angles, imagine the feeling when you are doing that thing that makes you so happy or when you have reached that goal. Now think about the things that you can do to make your happy thought a reality, how do you start getting closer to that goal with today’s activities? Now spread your wings and ask yourself Why Not?
Cheers and welcome to Neverland, where reality doesn’t jade your beliefs of what is possible. Enjoy your stay.