desire for change

What does the desire for change have to do with wishes, dreams and goals?

Did you know that when you have a desire for change in you life, it really means you’ve formed a new dream? And did you also know that a dream can not come true unless you do something about it? Yes, dreams are wonderful things; they show us the infinite possibilities of everything that we could do, have, or become. They are the screenplays of our imaginations and the precursors to every accomplishment we have ever achieved. But dreams in and of themselves are just possibilities; fantasies with no substance.

The key to giving your dream substance and form lies in moving it out of the realm of possibility and into your own reality, and the first step along this path is to understand what it really means to have a dream, because it is this understanding that will fuel your motivation to go for the gold and do what it takes to get what you want.

A Desire for Change

What is a dream? To me, a dream, at its core, is simply a heartfelt desire for change. There is something in your life that is not the way you want it to be. And the contrast you feel from experiencing this thing that is not the way you want it to be, causes you think of something else that you do want instead. Your dream is the “alternate reality” that you want for yourself.

A dream is a heartfelt desire for change

This does not necessarily mean that something in your life is truly awful or that you hate your current life or that anything in your current life is “broken” or “wrong”; it just means that you are growing and evolving as an individual, and discovering new preferences and desires, and this is a normal, natural and completely good thing.  Furthermore, the desire for change can range from simply dreaming of losing ten pounds, or redecorating your house, to dreaming of becoming a published author, or finding the perfect mate, or packing up and moving to a completely different country. Anything that causes you to think of an alternative to what you are currently experiencing can be thought of as a dream, and a desire for change.

Pay attention to your dreams, because they give you real and valuable information about what it is that you truly want in life.

Wishes, Dreams and Goals

Beyond the idea of a dream as a desire for change, the Oxford Dictionary tells us that a dream is “a cherished aspiration, ambition, or ideal”. I think a clearer, and far more poetic definition comes from Walt Disney, who taught us all that “a dream is a wish your heart makes”. My experience with wishes, however, is that they are usually made when we don’t really believe that what we want is actually possible. Wishes, then, are firmly entrenched in the realm of fantasy.

The definition of a “goal” is similar to the idea of a dream; however, a goal is defined as “the object of a person’s ambition or effort; an aim or desired result”. Now, this is a subtle but very critical distinction between goals and dreams that I want you to understand: a dream is an ideal whereas a goal has an object, an aim, or a desired result. A dream is idle; there is no movement in a dream, whereas a goal is defined by action, energy and direction. This is the key distinction, and this is what you must do if you want to make your dream a reality: turn it into a goal and give it action, energy and direction. A dream is just a wish, a nice little thought with no substance behind it, until it becomes a goal.

A dream is just a wish without substance, until it becomes a goal! (Tweet this.) 

In order to turn your dream into a goal and use it as a catalyst or a spring-board to launch yourself forward into wonderful experiences and opportunities, you must get moving. Turning your dream into a goal makes it an agent of change, gives it power and allows you to use both the Law of Inertia and the Law of Attraction on your own behalf via the actions that you take. Once a dream is reframed as a goal, energy is unleashed, gears are thrown into motion, wheels start to turn, and all the unseen forces of the Universe are rallied in your support. Possibility begins to shift into reality, and your dream begins to come true. And it all starts with that initial desire for change.

photo credit: kugel via photopin cc

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