A Fine Line: Dream vs. Fantasy

Sometimes fantasy blurs into dream and dream edges into fantasy. There is a fine line between fantasy and dream. Have you found yourself crossing this line? Have you found it difficult to discern between the two? I know that I have.

A dream is a desired goal; it may be your raison d’être. A fantasy is an unrealistic outcome based upon a want. It is easy to see how the line between the two blurs when we are unaware. We become aware of how we encroach this fine line through discerning what we want versus what we need. Only through reflection and introspection can we separate fantasy from dream and reach our goals.

The power of dreams propels us toward our goals — both short term and long term. Each step toward the dream gives us the energy to try one more time to succeed no matter what our perceived and real limitations. In fact, our limitations become challenges to overcome on the road of realized dreams. 

Fantasies are illusions. Through them, we create false, unsustainable pathways through our life. Caught in a fantasy, we do not actively engage our soul purpose. We get mired in false hope. The fantasy becomes the beginning, the middle, and the end of the journey. 

If a dream is a “wish your heart makes,” then a fantasy is born from unresolved suffering. Through this suffering induced fantasy, we may believe that a challenge is a barrier to be leapt over instead of dismantled by learning its lesson. When we are enmeshed in a fantasy, we lose the capability to reframe. The fantasy deludes us into believing everything will be okay even when it cannot be. 

You may be surprised to discover that every dream must have a bit of fantasy woven into it. It is the part of dreaming big that propels us to new heights. But, we cannot allow the fantasy to overwhelm the dream. The fantasy is the place of exploration. Here we are daring and curious as we seek the possible that is birthed from the impossible. 

Allowing a bit of fantasy to seed your dream is the power of being a change agent, a willing participant in transformation. It is the power of a growth mindset, a willingness to be flexible and allow your dream to evolve into exactly what you need. A dreamer has goals, has a respect for the potential of the impossible becoming possible, and has a plan while being open to the guidance of her intuition.  Within those intuitive whispers are found the fantastical moments that nudge her closer to her dream. 

Hoping you ride the fine line into the realization of your dream, Vanessa

Vanessa F. Hurst, ms, is an Intuitive-Coach-Catalyst, who uses mindfulness practices and intuition tools to create strategies for personal and relationship transformation. She is a professional speaker & author who weaves inner wisdom into all she touches. Her books are available @ www.wildefyrpress.com. Contact Vanessa  (vanessa@intentandaction.com) for life coaching, intuitive consultations, keynotes, and programs.

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Twitter: @fyrserpent / ©2020  

Taking a Detour on the Road of Where You Are Going

My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. These words of Thomas Merton resonate within me now more than ever. So much uncertainty in the past six months. What will the last half of 2020 hold for me, for you, for all of us? I think that we can all say, “I have no idea where I am going.” Because, really, what is next in this storm of uncertainty?

Taking steps into the dark while groping to find balance are scary. Our next step may be off a figurative ledge or tripping up a steep incline. The uncertainty is not going to go away, so we need to own our fear. Until we do, we stand paralyzed in the moment. To break free of our fear means to take chance after chance after chance until our eyes grow accustomed to the light that shines from within. That light, our divine spark, connects us to the sacred voice that leads us through the unknowing into soul purpose.

We do not have to know where we are going on this journey. All that is needed is a loose plan as we move step-by-step on this pathway of life. When we focus in the moment, we hear the whispers of our intuition. Responding to our intuition, we become the power that propels us down an uncertain path with surety. That power is fed by our courage, sustained by our humility, and manifested by our hope. This power wakes us to the realization that our life has meaning. We understand that we live with purpose for we have no choice but to be our true self.

I am amazed at the number of plans I have developed only to see them take a detour down a windy, muddy path. I have said, “I’ve never seen a detour I didn’t take.” But, those detours didn’t take me anywhere I didn’t need to be. The ultimate reframe: these paths are not detours but side roads overgrown with challenges and life lessons. On those paths I learned so much about myself and grew into the person that I am. I hope that you have found the same on your detours.

Do we know where we are going? Probably not. This unknowing opens us to the possibility of what might be. For within the uncertainty we find limitless potential and unwavering possibility. The uncertainty calls us to be curious and act with daring in our approach to life. Because, isn’t that what life is truly about? We are called to be curious, courageous, and daring as we experience life through the heights of joy and the depths of agony. 

So, how do we step down this path of uncertainty?

• Through mindfulness. What is your mindfulness practice? How aware does it make you of the opportunities in your life?
• Through self-compassion. How are you practicing self care in each moment? How do you forgive yourself for perceived missteps and detours along the way?
• Through response flexibility. How willing are you to change plans? What one thing can you do in this moment to be more flexible?

The answers to these questions may not create a path without detours. It takes us exactly where we need to be as we awaken to the necessity and potential of detours. Through these questions’ answers, we create a rich life full of challenges met and lessons learned and soul purpose realized.  

Vanessa F. Hurst, ms, is an Intuitive, Coach, Catalyst, who uses mindfulness practices and intuition tools to create strategies for personal and relationship transformation. She is a professional speaker & author who weaves inner wisdom into all she touches. Her books are available @ www.wildefyrpress.com. Contact Vanessa  (vanessa@intentandaction.com) for life coaching, intuitive consultations, keynotes, and programs.

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Twitter: @fyrserpent / ©2020

Falling into New

Life changes in an instant, but mostly change happens bit by bit. The old erodes leaving us with potential for growing new. But, change is uncertain. We are not assured of the outcome of anything. We are only certain that things will not continue as they are as the capacity for change grows.

I have often said that it is not change that it hard but the thought of change. Years ago I rode the log ride at an amusement park. The log shaped canoe meandered around the water tube until it reached a conveyor belt. Inch by slow inch the best drew the boat nearer to the top of a great fall. The thought of change, for me, is like the tottering of that boat before it tipped into the plunge toward the water below. 

Those moments before the excitement of the plunge perfectly describe the anticipation of change. When the externals are shifting so rapidly, we may get stuck in what is happening instead of noticing how our life changes with each thought, each word, and each action. In fact, we may make choices not fully aware of their ramifications.

Sometimes I feel very small when I recognize all the change going on around me to other people — new jobs, new relationships, deaths, births. Then I examine what is happening on a communal level — locally, nationally, globally. The changes that impact me are staggering. What is even more staggering? The feelings of a lack of control over that impact.

Change marches on with or without our consent. So, what can I do? What can you do? The answer to both is found within our ability to be a change agent. When we are an entrepreneurial change discerner, we do not change for the sake of change; rather, we adapt and grow and become who we are meant to be because we cannot help but sing in harmony with the song of change. Singing our song forth we use the impetus of change to realize our soul purpose. In doing so, our thoughts, words, and actions resonate soul purpose.

Change asks each of us to be flexible, find ways to live with purpose no matter however, wherever, whenever, and whoever we find our self. Change reminds us that while life is not always easy, it provides challenges and lessons for us to live with soul purpose.

Vanessa F. Hurst, ms, is an Intuitive, Coach, Catalyst, who uses mindfulness practices and intuition tools to create strategies for personal and relationship transformation. She is a professional speaker & author who weaves inner wisdom into all she touches. Her books are available @ www.wildefyrpress.com. Contact Vanessa  (vanessa@intentandaction.com) for life coaching, intuitive consultations, keynotes, and programs.

Website / LinkedIn Profile / Facebook / 

Twitter: @fyrserpent / ©2020