Dream Box

Had a really great weekend this past week. On Saturday, participated in Jennifer’s fundraising workshop focused on creating “dream boxes” in support of the non-profit, Cheryl's Dreaming Big. It was really cool. How often do I find myself dedicating an entire morning to figure out my dreams and where I’m going with them? Never. That’s why I love taking workshops/classes. It totally takes you away from the day-to-day grind and gets you to focus on stuff you probably wouldn’t ordinarily get around to doing or thinking about.

As an added bonus, my friend, Anna, went to the workshop with me. I was a little worried at first about how comfortable she would be with sharing some personal stuff with people she didn’t really know that well, but she did great! She totally just went with it and the results were awesome. I loved her box. Collage/decoupage is so cool because even people who’ve never done it before are able to quickly/easily apply themselves and come up with something totally unique and beautiful.

Hadn’t previously met any of the other participants, but everyone was really open and so willing to share of themselves. Dreams are such a personal thing -- it was kind of amazing to witness complete strangers talking to each other about things that sometimes even very good friends don’t discuss. I was amazed at not just a lack of self-consciousness on my part, but also the eagerness I felt to put myself out there…so NOT the me of old, but I felt compelled and so I just went with it. I’m hoping that’s a definite sign that I’m changing.

At the end, Jennifer asked us all to write a little something to each person in the group -- what we see in that person that could help them toward achieving their dreams. These slips of paper went into our dream boxes for us to draw upon when we need encouragement in the course of pursuing our dreams. I thought that was such an awesome way to end the session.

Some stuff that came to me during and after the workshop:

• my dream is not so much the achievement of a specific goal or the occurrence of any particular event, but more the attainment of a state of mind/being
• every person has greatness built in them, just like an entire tree is already built into every acorn, but we have to find it before we can set it free
• other people’s perceptions of you can be so different from your own self-perceptions and they can be even more empowering than your own.

The boys slept at my mom’s yesterday. Got so much done! Got the laundry out of the way, straightened the house, decorated my journal for Italy that Claudine so thoughtfully sent to the workshop participants to kick things off. 5 more weeks! I’m so excited and feel so blessed to have this opportunity to just go and play and explore. Can’t wait.