(Originally posted on the website Continuum…)

THE FOLLOWING is from an email that I recently sent to a fellow online journaler. I thought that it might be useful and encouraging to others if they read it. So please take it and apply it to your own life. And, if you have a few minutes and the desire, please write to me and share your dream.

HEY YOU!

Just getting caught up in reading your entries a little. I apologize for slacking in that.

I liked “daydreaming insomniac.” “Must be the part of me that wants to believe I was born for greatness in the world, that I’m meant to be something wonderful, and all I have to do is discover what that wonderful something is…maybe it’s not such a bad thing, to still be dreaming, planning what I’ll be when I grow up.”

This is all true- even when you don’t feel it, even when the Sudafed is possessing your body and mind, even when you feel isolated on your won little island. It is true and I believe that about YOU! And I mean that very sincerely. Keep going. Keep dreaming.

You are a VERY good writer. You can be a GREAT writer! I know that you have it within you. With the amount of literature that you read, it is all going to come gushing out of you in WORDS! Bring the dreams and goals more into the WORDS. That will encourage YOU. YOU can be your own edifier through your own words.

Look beyond the blur of the cough medicine. Keep your focus on the dream. “Nothing happens except first a dream.” So said Carl Sandburg. Ever heard of him? Heh heh! Anyone who ever succeeded in this world and made any kind of difference had a dream that they were living for.

Keep the child inside you alive. Adults don’t dream- children do. Adults are conditioned to be negative and doubting. Children do not have the ability to distinguish between the illusion of reality and the reality of the dream. I want to be a child forever. Please do not let me wake up! Do not let my dream vanish as the fog in the morning sun!

I have found the way to prevent that. Here is the secret. Every day do something to make your dream a reality. Let your dream shape your reality. Ask yourself, “What can I do TODAY that will bring me closer to possessing my dream? How can I spend the next 15 minutes so that my activity will bring me closer to my goal?” Then TAKE ACTION. Develop a plan and make a commitment to yourself to follow that plan. “Nothing happens except first a dream.” But something must HAPPEN. It is up to you. No one else can make it happen. And no one can steal your dream except for you.

One last thing. Find people who believe in YOU, people who will support you, encourage you, and hold you accountable as you pursue your dream. Avoid the negative people, the cynics and doubters. When you happen across them, turn their negativity into fuel for your fire. Here is a quote from someone I greatly respect. “If someone believes in you, and you believe in your dream, IT CAN HAPPEN!”

GO FOR IT, BABY!!

Sam