Ride A Dream

Isn't she awesome?  That's my daughter in the picture above working a horse for a client she had several years ago.  I read a recent post by a fellow blogger this morning, Kidstuph, and got to thinking about how all this began for my daughter.  She expressed a desire to ride horses when she was around 10 years old, and so I moved to fulfill that desire.  I had no idea where to start, and wasn't in the position financially to buy her a horse, yet my intention to bring this to my daughter was clear, and as soon as I made the decision that it would be so, people began showing up who would lead her the way to manifesting her dream, her desire.  The first person to show up lived just a few houses down from me, but I met the woman at a horse arena I went to check out.  She just happened to be sitting down from me where we sat on the bleachers, and after we got talking we realized we lived in the same neighborhood!  She invited me to meet a friend of hers who ended up being my daughter's first teacher in learning how to ride a horse...and the ball got rolling, and continues on to this day.

I think about desires and dreams I had for myself, and look at the difference in energy, intention set forth in decisive action, compared to what I put forth for my daughter.  I love my daughter with a passion, and would see her dreams and desires fulfilled.  I consider our dreams and desires gifts from Spirit, yet I can see where I considered my own as less important somehow, and kept putting them on the back burner, finding one reason or the other to not go there.  Is it any wonder I found myself in a place later where I felt like I'd lost any sense of a dream within me to reach for?

I know the power of manifesting a dream is within me, because I have done it time and time again.  Rather quickly I might add.  I do know the power of decisive action.  Yet I've spent that energy on others way more than I have given it to myself.  I have no regret whatsoever spending that energy for the dreams of others.  I believe what is for their highest good is for the highest good of all, so it benefits me in the long run.  The benefit I am receiving now is the realization I am putting forth here.  I can give my dreams to myself.  They are worth the same passion and love and dedication as I gave for my daughter's dreams.  I also see that if the dreams and talents we are given, born with, are not put to use, then its kind of a slap in the face to our Creator.  In essence we are doubting the perfect gift given, and saying, "Uh, that's great and everything, but no ty...its not for me."  I can just see our Creator shaking Its head, arms folded, and chuckling, waiting for us to get a clue. 

I've mentioned Judy Clement Wall from Zebra Sounds and the Love Project she has going for the year, and this month is dedicated to the practice of self love.  For me, giving myself my dreams and desires is a part of that practice.  Well, at least taking steps toward them, gathering the forces within me to solidify the ideas, filling my bucket to be poured into the world. 

Do you remember the movie Field of Dreams that came out years ago starring Kevin Costner?  It's like that.  I remember once I got an idea to build a chicken pen in the back yard.  My daughter was very young, and I dreamed of giving her a country life.  We lived in a part of town that was zoned as county, but it was in a neighborhood full of houses close by, and concrete.  Me and concrete don't really get along. :) Anyway, I wanted her to experience a love for the earth and nature, and couldn't afford to get a house in the country, nor did I see that happening in the near future.  I thought if I couldn't take her to the country, then the least I could do was bring a bit of the country to her.  And that's when I got the idea to build a chicken pen.  Kinda like the idea was whispering to me, "If you build it, they will come."  I'd never built anything like that in my life.  Once the decision was made and I began acting on it, a neighbor of mine found out what I was doing and showed up with tools, chicken wire, and helped me build it.  I felt such a sense of accomplishment after it was done!  It still stands to this day, although the chickens are gone, with only the goose remaining.  Oh yeah, 5 chickens came, with the bonus of a goose who ended up teaching me my first powerful lesson on trust.

Amazing things have come since that decision, and the enactment of it.  In fact, it was probably that decision that led my daughter to her love of horses and being a country girl, although she grew to dislike the chores associated with having chickens, like all kids do :).  My daughter rides her dream, and while she may have stepped away from it temporarily, perhaps believing she needed to put it on the back burner, she is now more focused than ever in realizing, and giving herself a dream where horses, and living a country life are very much a part of her landscape.

Now I am busy painting my own, getting ready to ride, and will not ignore, or put on the back burner the dreams I have within me.  When an idea, or inspiration strikes toward that dream, no matter how small the step may seem, I will swing all that I have within me toward enacting it.  Because simply, that is my desire, and if I don't put value on my dreams, no one else will either.  I am the only one who can begin building them.  And I will.

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