Aims and Dreams
Hannah Green
I was speaking with my therapist the other day and she said about our conversation, "you have to write about this in your community email." She rarely gives me marching orders so when she does I listen.
Her and I are both deep francophiles and Paris is a kind of archetypal mutual best friend. We like to talk about her (Paris) and we bond through our mutual admiration.
As my therapist knows, living in Paris for a month and studying art has been a long time dream. I met an amazing art historian the last time I was in Paris and I asked her to tell me the best way to come to Paris and study art. I was thrilled by her answer. She said, "come for an extended period of time and just go to the Louvre every morning. By thoroughly exploring this place you will receive the best eduction." Yes. Go to the Louvre every morning and see clients in the evening. Now if I could just figure out how to do more remote work....
Enter the most unexpected year full of loss, transformation and "coming home."
I let go of my beloved office at 23rd and Valencia st., a decision that I get to feel again as things start to open up more.
I feel the rush to return to "normalcy" in myself and in the collective.
This spring has emerged as a kind of in-between time, where the opportunity to envision new realities and dream in ways is still fertile. In this liminal time I am talking to clients about their dreams and often doing the below aims and dreams exercise. I am loving doing this while our minds are limber, open and not "back to normal."
I also know that (nostalgic as I am) we never go back, we can only move forward. All through high school I sported the bumper sticker "why be normal?" on my first little car. The meaning of this has changed over time but the words are still relevant.
For a long time I dreamed of being able to nurture my passion for travel and learning while still maintaining a thriving practice and doing the work I love.
Also, having a home office where I could lead workshops and see some clients in person was a far off lofty dream.
I imagined both of these aims coming to fruition some time in my 60's after many more years of work. I hear this from so many people, that 60 is some sort of magical number at which point we will give finally give ourselves permission to do what we want.
This year came with a message: If I can let go and open to change, perhaps I can do these things now.
Did the challenges of 2020 come with any opportunities to rethink things or come back to what is important to you?
With all the difficulties that came with the pandemic I watched clients do incredible deep re-evaluations of many aspects of life. I am passionate about integrating these experiences into new ways of being and dreaming. I am passionate about re-sourcing after a very difficult year.
Back to my therapist and our mutual love of all things Parisian...I shared with her that I booked a little left bank apartment for an entire month in 2022.
This inspired my therapist who is in her 70's to book a journey/pilgrimage dear to her heart that she has wanted to take for many years in 2022. I was so moved. We talked about how important it is to feel hopeful and to keep growing and being open to change.
I am so curious what new aims and dreams this past year has catalyzed for all of you. Below is an exercise I find helpful for envisioning all of this.
In this liminal time - spend some time envisioning what you would like to be feeling doing in spring of next year.
Aims and Dreams Exersise:
1. In your journal, vividly describe everything that you would like to experience in your life, from money and career aims to love and family aims, travel, education, spiritual aims etc... put it all out there.
2. Write down everything that you would like to have and the person you would like to become.
3. Make a list of all your positive qualities and where you are well developed, be as thorough as possible.
4. Make a list of any draining habits and where you are less developed/still developing, be as thorough as possible.
5. After you have written all this out, go through items 1 and 2 and see if perhaps some of these items you already have. (I notice every time I do this that I often write things that I actually already have. This allows me to get into gratitude!) Circle any of these.
6. Underline items from 1 and 2 that you are still working towards or that are new dreams.
7. Take each underlined item from numbers 1 and 2 and on a fresh piece of paper re-write the aim or dream. Then next to it write about what needs to dissolve or be let go of in order for this aim to come closer. This might include the dissolving of old beliefs or ideas.
8. Next write what specific and simple actions will take you one step further to materializing this aim or dream in your life.
9. You can check back on this list periodically and/or next spring to see how to stay on course and to celebrate what has unfolded.