One of my favorite parts of “Finding Forrester” is where Forrester is walking around the room with scotch in his hand, telling his protégé, “You write the first draft from your heart. The second draft, you write from your head…PUNCH the keys, for God’s sake! …You’re the man, now.” He was trying to get his young friend to write from his guts and to write like he meant it.
It’s sort of like when the cartoonist Charles Schulz was starting out. He had a dream of drawing for the world – to entertain – to amuse – to bring smiles to people’s lives.
Do you have dreams like that? Do you want to bring smiles to people’s lives? To ease their pain and sufferings?
Take those ideas out of your box of unfulfilled dreams, and breathe life back into them. Don’t let that box be an evil box or even an impatient box. Don’t be ashamed when you look inside of it. Instead, do something positive about it – big or small, start today.
Emptying that box is powerful, because it does a couple of things. First, it tells you that you are important in your world. Some people put others in front of themselves so often that their own dreams and goals get pushed aside and forgotten. By starting to work toward your dreams again, you will rebuild your self-assurance that is vital in living each day.
Second, it helps you to focus your energy in a positive direction. Everyone has energy. Many people have lots of it. Using that energy daily to achieve your goals is extremely powerful. Your mind will feel invigorated, and your body will feel the excitement of working toward a finish line.
Your box of unfinished projects or unfulfilled dreams can actually be used as a good thing. You can use it to catapult yourself into the next realm of abundant living. When you are making progress, you are getting where you want to go. And when you are getting where you want to go, your mind will relax – allowing everything to fall into place.
That box may seem like a hindrance, a nag, a bother, something negative – but it can be used for good in your life. “Think outside the box” in this scenario, and you’ll be amazed at how well all of the pieces will fit together.
Bit by bit, your daily energy and efforts will begin to pay off. Eventually, you will have taken out all of your unfulfilled dreams and progressed toward fulfilling them. Then, you’ll be able to get rid of that box.
Enjoy your new-found freedom!
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[…adapted from Marty’s book An Agreement with Life]
Marty Reep 