It’s time for Monday’s quote about Enjoying Life.
This one comes from a man who needs no introduction:
Albert Einstein.
He said:
“Your imagination is your preview of life’s coming attractions.”
~ Albert Einstein
So, in other words, if you can dream it you can achieve it.
As we get older we tend to throw away the dreams we had when we were younger.
The rush of the world gets us obsessed with chasing things that we think we need in order to survive.
But sometimes we need to stop and just dream a little. Think bigger than your current situation and your current path.
If we allow ourselves to dream a bit bigger, we might just get a glimpse of a better future – or our “life’s coming attractions.”
Read other Enjoy Life Quotes here.
I’m all for dreams and dreaming is something I know I should do more of. But what would you say about the boy with 1 leg who dreams of playing cricket for his country? Or even me… I have two legs and dreamt of playing cricket for my country but, no matter how hard I worked at it, I don’t think I would ever have achieved my goal because I am just not very talented at ball sports.
People generally dream about what they passionate about, and they are generally passionate about something which they are relatively good at, or have some natural talent.
Circumstances can come along and seemingly kill a previously achievable goal, but I believe you can still dream big.
One of my biggest dreams growing up was to play professional soccer for a certain club. I could have gone further than I did towards that goal if I had been more committed and if I didn’t pick up so many injuries. But I can still dream big, and if I missed my window to play for that team, it doesn’t mean I still can’t dream of coaching them, or working for the club in some other role (technical advisor, fitness instructor, talent scout etc). i.e. I can still join that club.
So the kid with one leg who wanted to play for the Proteas could still become a part of the Protea Team, by perhaps studying to become a dietician and work with players in that area, or becoming a stats specialist or getting into journalism and travelling with the team.
Good points.
I do think our imagination is incredibly powerful and can bring great joy to our life.
But I recently saw some singer who grew up in the townships and had won a competition, saying, “To all the people in the townships… If I can do it, you can to.” I would hesitate to say something like that since there may be girls watching who believe her, but have a voice that more closely resembles an old chain-saw than a real singer. They may learn the hard way that they can’t. That’s the flip side of the “With dedication you can achieve anything you set your mind to” that isn’t always heard.
Anyway, I’ve gotta get busy dreaming… its been too long.
Thanks for the comments, Pete. Ya, there is an encouragement to dream within your strong points (your natural talents), but as I said earlier, most people do that by default anyway.
But sometimes that isn’t the case, as in the scenario you suggested:
Let’s say the girl who won the competition (we’ll call her girl #1) grows up with a natural singing ability of 6/10. She goes for vocal coaching, practices every day and eventually improves her singing ability to an 8 out of 10. She enters and wins a singing competition.
She encourages others to follow her footsteps.
Girl #2 sees this and dreams of doing the same thing. She grew up with a singing ability of only 3/10. She practices and gets come coaching and tries her hardest, but she only reaches a singing level of 6/10. She enters the competition, but doesn’t win.
Now, someone could look at that and say she failed at her dream. But I would emphatically disagree: she’s improved an area of her life dramatically. She’s learnt a new skill, most likely gained a lot of confidence, is more comfortable talking in public, and perhaps sings well enough to perform at a small club and make a little money.
(But above all of that, she’s lived her dream of becoming a singer).
Every time we pursue a dream we improve something; either in our lives, or in someone else’s.
To me the positives of Dreaming Big far outweigh the negatives nearly 100% of the time.
Enjoy your dreaming! 🙂
The Best Dreams are the seemingly impossible dreams, because they keep you stretching and reaching beyond yourself.
The DREAM itself is self-elevating, self-enhancing and self-fulfilling !
To stop dreaming is to shrink and die.
My most favourite of all songs, and words I constantly speak to myself, are from ‘THE IMPOSSIBLE DREAM”,
….THIS IS MY QUEST, TO FOLLOW THAT STAR,
NO MATTER HOW HOPELESS, NO MATTER HOW FAR.
AND THE WORLD WILL BE BETTER FOR THIS,
THAT ONE MAN, SCORNED AND COVERED WITH SCARS,
STILL STROVE WITH THE LAST OUNCE OF COURAGE,
TO REACH THE UNREACHABLE STAR !
Keep dreaming guys !
Dr. Nev
I think Oscar Pistorius and the rest of the Paralympians are great examples in this topic. No matter the adversity they faced, they never gave up on their dreams and have achieved the “unbelievable”.