Happy new year!

I love the burst of creative energy in the new year. It’s such a great time to set new goals, new intentions, and/or get re-focused on a project.

It’s exciting I could make a quantum leap in my life by applying myself with renewed gusto.

But once the excitement of dreaming and planning is done, the energy can fizzle quickly.

Because that’s when following our dreams gets hard.

Showing up to do the work starts to feel like a gargantuan effort and my brain will make a thousand excuses why it can wait one more day. There’s always a task to put off – sending that email, making that phone call, getting down to the creative work, or doing the promotion.

It’s that thing we avoid because subconsciously we know it could be the catalyst to a lot of change – and that can be scary as hell!

As long as the dream is not done, it stays out “there”. Something for us to chase.

It turns out following our dreams is easy. Living our dreams is the hard part!

As I’ve deepened my meditation and mindset practices over the past few years, I’m coming to understand that my goal is not just to follow my dreams and keep imagining them year after year. It’s to LIVE my dreams every single day and be present in their states.

What does that mean exactly?

Picture this: what if the only thing that actually “separated” you from your dream was a flimsy little shell you affectionately referred to as your body?

Imagine yourself “following” your dreams. That statement implies that they exist out there somewhere in the stratosphere outside of your body and every day you go around chasing something to bring it closer to you – more money, connections, time, freedom, whatever it is.

And now imagine that your body is transparent, like a permeable cell, and that the energy outside of you and the energy inside of you is the same, it flows in and out through the dense matter that makes up your body. So now your dream is both outside of you and inside of you. What if those two energies are actually the same?

When that feeling becomes strong you will begin to live your dream every single day.

All you need to do is tap into this sensation that the world outside of you and the world inside of you are the same. There. Now you’re living your dream right now.

It might not be physically manifesting outside of you (yet), but the same feeling that you believed existed only outside is now present inside of you anytime you wish to feel it.

Actually it was there all the time, all you had to do was acknowledge it.

So, how do you live your dream exactly?

Sit down, close your eyes.

Take some deep breaths.

Feel your body.

And think about your biggest desire.

Whether it’s making a new record.

Writing a bunch of songs.

Doing something creative.

Spending time with your family.

Getting your business together.

Going for a run.

Eating healthier.

Traveling the world.

I could go on, the list is endless…

Think about it and think about it already being in you. Already existing inside of you. There’s nothing to chase. There’s nothing to follow. Meditate on that feeling until you can feel it in every cell in your body and it feels totally comfortable and real. No resistance.

Rumi said it best: “What you seek is seeking you.”

He was right. It’s already in you.

Once you find that state, something amazing happens.

You can RELAX.

You can relax into your dream and just let it emerge from you. No more chasing.

It’s freedom, pure and simple.

I can’t prove my little example (about the body being a permeable cell) with science (although a real scientist may have already?).

It’s only something I’ve experienced in my own practice and that is all the proof I need.

I hope this perspective on goal setting and dreaming is powerful and shifts blocks for you.

I hope it gives you a new sense of freedom and peace of mind.

Here is to your creative and spiritual exploration this year!