It’s Hard to Believe
I once worked for a woman who believed that if you got great grades at university you went to an easy school.
Every choice she made included taking the hard way. Somewhere in her thinking was a fear of being accused of taking the easy way. Even when the “easy way” was the most efficient, the smartest way, the best ROI for the company, this vice president had to be convinced every way to Sunday that it wasn’t a way to get out of doing the hard work that “should be” done.
This same person didn’t suffer dreamers. Dreams were for sleeping and children playing games of imagination. Sadly, she had been trained as a teacher. She taught me discipline with the details — I’ve lost some of it since. She taught me patience.
She taught me that some people can never make a dream happen. . . . because they think dreams aren’t real and they think being a dreamer is easy.
Dreams, hopes, goals are within our reach.
Why is that so hard for us to believe?
We can believe that the other guy will win, but not us. He will be the President, the rock star, the artist. She will be the CEO, the actor, the international lawyer. But it never crosses our mind to aspire to that path.
Have the big kids taken so much and told so much that they’ve wiped the stars from our eyes?
Believing in a dream is hard. Look at me. Go ahead, tell me I don’t know.
Believing in a dream is hard, because it’s saying out loud, “Here’s what I’m going for.”
Everyone knows it’s way easier to sit right here and say nothing at all.
Unless you just can’t.
People who have dreams. They don’t let go until they make their dreams happen. They fall down, but they get up and they keep right on going. They see that dream as sure as you see these words here.
It’s a little house.
It’s learning to read.
It’s building something that no one has ever seen.
It’s seeing peace in a family.
It’s seeing peace on Earth.
Believe in a dream, please.
We can change the world — just like that.
–ME “Liz” Strauss
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If you’re ready to change the world, send me your thoughts in a guest post. Feel free to take the gorgeous Change the World image up there that Sandy designed back to your blog. Or help yourself to this one.
. Email me about what you’re doing or what we might do. Let’s change the world one bit at a time together. Together it can’t take forever.
We think dreams are out of reach because we don’t believe in ourselves until someone shows us that they believe in us.
Liz,
A beautiful post, and you are SO right. Even people who believe that artist/ceo/actor type of success is humanly possible, those same people think it is the other guy or girl who will have that success.
It just goes to prove conclusively that what we think about, we bring about. If you think that the other guy or girl will always be more successful than you, then you will always be right!
Here’s hoping that more people start believing in themselves as much as they believe in everyone else. After all, there is enough success for everyone to have plenty. 🙂
Jesse
Spot on! How true and how your little sentence reminded me of the most friendly, honest act someone bestowed on me: believing in me (and my dreams) sooner than I did 😉
Also, one of my favourite old musical songs is the one I hum, whistle many times:
“pick your self up, dust your self off, start all over again”
😉
Why is it so hard to believe? Oh, Liz… I wonder many times, but I am a dreamer. And a believer. I think… there are people who believe in dreams and people who kill dreams through indifference, platitude, hate, envy, maliceââ¬Â¦
And dreams are fragile. Like dewdrops. There are dreams we chase alone (fame, glory, money) and dreams that need the power of other dreamers along (to change the world and make it better). These are dreams that need constant nurture and support. These are dreams that need people like you to lead the other dreamers. To encourage them and give them hope. Such dreams (and dreamers) need hope and love. This is their ââ¬Åfoodââ¬Â. And you are right. The ââ¬Ånobleââ¬Â dreamers pursue their dreams till the end and beyond. They make a life purpose out of their dreams. They becomeââ¬Â¦ a Mother Theresa, they become a Lady Diana. They become dreamsââ¬Â¦ our dreams, universal dreams…
Yes, I believe. With all my heart. And I know you do too!
Hi Aaron!
Welcome!
Hereââ¬â¢s hoping that more people start believing in themselves as much as they believe in everyone else.
That should be a poster!!!!
Hi Jesse,
You are so right! I believe in your dreams. I’ve heard you tell them. 🙂
Hi Karin!
Look at what a little believing can do!!!
Imagine the amazing things we could accomplish if we dreamed bigger and believed more in ourselves and each other.
Stunning!
Mihaela,
How beautiful what you wrote is.
Ghandi, Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela . . . their power was their belief.
Why is it that historically I’ll fight nearly to the death for someone else’s dream that I buy into and then at the same time turn tail, slink away, and let my own dreams effectively die on the vine at the first sign that things might be getting a little challenging?
Okay, more fun…
I have a belief about belief.
My two cents is that the missing piece in whether you are fulfilled or not, is moving beyond belief into knowing–the knowing that comes from the feeling and resonance with the idea or dream.
We’ve amassed a collection of thoughts, both positive ones and negative ones. When we dream, when we have an inspired idea, we consciously or unconsciously choose a string of thoughts (beliefs) to either support the dream or destroy it. Either way, those thoughts become like a solid structure.
So, there’s your dream, fulfilled. See it done. What does it feel like to be in the dream complete? If we can repeatedly connect to the resonance the dream gives us, while we are building our dream (writing the book, creating a business plan, changing the diaper) belief is not really required.
The reason I go here is that we tend to beat ourselves up when we don’t “believe hard enough” — which is just another collection of thoughts we decide to believe in. Reconnecting to the vision of the dream complete creates a resonance of feeling that surpasses anything that thinking can provide.
What say you all?
Chris,
I think it has to do with believing that we really do exist and that we have a right to our own dreams too.
Generosity doesn’t mean I give myself away.
I think you fight for someone else’s dream, but you just might surrender to your own. . . .
Lisa,
You just touched on a quote I’ve been considering for over 20 years. . . Gustav Holst said
What the mind yearns for most is not to know but to believe.
Sometimes I think it’s true. Sometimes I believe the opposite. 🙂
Liz,
I’m glad that you dream, believe and inspire others to dream and believe in their dreams.
To all,
Liz gave me permission to put this link here about an interview I did with her. It is about her rather than blogging. It can be found at:
http://tariq.squarespace.com/thekitchentable/2007/3/26/a-personal-interview-with-liz-strauss.html
You may need to copy and paste the URL into the appropriate area on the top of your screen.
Tariq,
I smile so to read your comment. I’m thinking it’s a good thing that I dream when I’m awake. 🙂
Oh now I get to see it too. Yea!!
Liz, it was a pleasure to interview you. Thanks for being open. I really liked your answers, and got to know you better. I like you even more now :)!
okay enough of that “we like Liz” stuff. This isn’t one of those kind of blogs.
Thank you, Tariq. 🙂
I’ve always been a dreamer and was taught that was OK as long as I didn’t expect them to come true.
Then I grew up and was told I could expect them to become true. Thank Goodness. Now I can pass on to my grandchildren what I did not pass on to my children.
Let’s go GA GA(g) (go and get a goal)
Hi Carma!
Thank goodness!! You betcha!! Your children and your grandchildren are lucky. 🙂
We’re lucky to know you too.
In the words of John Lennon… “you may say I’m a dreamer but I’m not the only one” Nice to be here with dreamers! 🙂
Dreams are goals with wings. I say follow your dreams. I think the regret of not following a dream is far more painful than going for it and falling short.
Kirsten, can I please, please use that for a post-it note? (As in permanent reminder)
Just received this quote (email newsletter) and now I don’t think I like Harry Potter any more
Hi Kirsten!
Good morning! Great to see you.
I love that quote and this one too!
We’re all angels with one wing. Together we can fly.
Hi Karin,
Harry just meant
Remember to live your dreams while you are living your life. 🙂
Could be Liz, but I don’t like the word not in this quote. Sounds like don’t ever.;-)
Not all ‘hear’ the underlying thought, not works negative, ‘hairs-stand up-in-neck’ reflex.
Hi Liz! Great to see you also. That’s a great quote! Sorry… but I just had a funny image of everyone with the same wing (say the right one) and flying in a circle. Pardon my humor!
Hi Karin,
You certainly have my permission to use that quote. While I have used that as a title for an article and workshop, I am not sure that I am the only one to use that phrase.
Love your post Liz. You are today’s discovery for me which is funny because I read about you all the time in posts. I get why bloggers are blogging their praise about you though. Awesome and inspirational.
I know a “rose by any other name” is the deal here but I prefer the word “vision” to dream. Just my personal preference and what resonates for me.
Personally, I don’t get skeptics and nay sayers. They may think they are protecting themselves from failure and being smarter than those who have visions or dreams but at what cost?
If the asteroid is coming toward me I’d rather be the person happy in the moment than the person who is in “reality” and freaking out. I’d rather focus on what I have and have had than what I have not. Vision is about what I’ve got and how I can use it.
For me the vision is to become self-sustaining enough to prmote locally owned small businesses all the time in my own business. These entrepreneurs are courageous, insane, and community minded. It’s been a pleasure to get to know them. Just like the incredible world of bloggers and all their gifts. Wow.
Hi Karin,
Yeah, I’m hearing preachy. There’s no getting away from that “not.” Preachy and “not” definitely don’t equal dreams.
Kirsten,
I’m so laughing at that image you painted. I see a bunch of dizzy fireflies. 🙂
Hi Sherry!
Vision and dreams — deep thought and deep feeling — head and heart — child and adult. That’s what I hear and see.
I keep my feet on the ground and my eyes and my head in the clouds. I take ideas from my head and put them in front of me where I can use my hands to build them so other people can see them too.
One person close to me believes that he’s protecting me by finding the negatives. He doesn’t know of the dreams I don’t tell him. 🙂
I love his kind soul. I love my spirit.
I love your voice for seeing and saying all that your comment reveals. 🙂
Liz – happy to inspire a laugh for you today. 🙂 AS you know laughter feeds creativity and dreams.
Kirsten,
You are a joy and a pleasure!