The other evening while out with Malka, the little ShihTzu/Dachshund who graciously allows Gimalle and I to live with her, I walked by two men sitting on a bench.

They asked permission to pet her and Malka played with them for a few minutes. We began a conversation and I soon learned they both have lived on the streets for more than five years.

They were very pleasant and friendly and yet as we chatted, they revealed to me by some of the comments they made that they had both given up on life.

They readily acknowledged they were not homeless because they had no money, although that was also true. The stories they shared in the time we spoke made mention in a very matter of fact way that they were were living on the streets because they had no dreams.

I’d like to clarify I do not say this by way of criticism or judgement. I have no idea of the specific background stories or their struggles. I cannot even begin to imagine what long paths must have brought them to the current situation.

Never Give Up

What I do know is when we have a specific dream that is big enough and important enough to us, nothing on the face of this earth can stand in our way of reaching it. We never give up on life.

The Habit of Dreaming Big has been at the forefront of every great achievement. Nothing has ever been accomplished that didn’t begin as a vision of possibility. Perhaps these men never learned – or maybe, they have never been given the opportunity to learn – that life will provide us, and does provide us, with whatever we ask.

If, and if this is a huge two letter word, we are willing to pay the price of never giving up, never quitting and never surrendering, then The Habit of Dreaming Big will energize us with the strength we need to find a way through, over, under or around any barrier.

A line in an article I was reading recently caught my attention,“If you are knocked down, always try to land on your back because, if you can look up, you can get up.”

That habits we have cultivated, more than anything else, determine the amount of mettle we carry with us each day and the stronger, bigger and more compelling our dreams, the more strength we have in overcoming adversity.

I am a firm believer in always having one eye firmly gazing at the future. Focusing on what realizing our dreams will do for us, gives us the drive to value every setback as a lesson, not as failure.

Dreams Aren’t Futile

When we allow our dreams to die, we die along with them. I suspect the two gentlemen I chatted with had long since labelled their dreams as futile and opted instead to select bare survival as their only viable choice.

Victory and defeat both begin in our hearts and our minds and, in the absence of big dreams worth pursuing, defeat can deceptively feel like a good alternative.
As you know, we have talked a great deal about habits and yet, little of our discussion has centered around the one habit that has the greatest impact on the quality of our lives.

The most influential habit is always the one governing our daily thoughts. Think of it as your primal operating system.

Repeat after me… “Everything we believe to be true is true, for us, until it isn’t.”

Sadly, too many of us have allowed an inordinate amount of negative, continual thoughts solely focused on our shortcomings, inabilities, weaknesses, doubt and uncertainty to take up permanent residency in our heads.

The Habit of Dreaming Big – even if it seems to be nothing more than an unattainable hallucination – when made a large part of our everyday focus, will help us muster the energy and determination to reach higher and to reframe setbacks as mere annoyances that are only there to test your commitment and persistence. After a while they only become mere blips, easily overcome

As Walt Disney opined, “If you can dream it, you can do it.”

If it’s good enough for Walt…

Let’s make a habit of meeting like this.