“You have to give it everything. Then you have to give it a little more. The answer becomes clear in the practice of doing the work.”

Dear Universe,

I’m a believer in manifesting your dreams.

It’s supposed to work something like this: you have a dream, you create a vision for it, you think about it positively and voila, your dream has manifested!

Well, maybe not that easy or that quick.

I mean there’s the part of actually working for your dream.  And working for your dream includes a concoction of things like: sweat and tears, visions and vision boards, questions and advice, guidance and learning.  And some more sweat and tears.

All the while you are pushing, striving and praying for it all to work out.

You do all this because you are driven by your vision, led by your passion.

And then finally, you feel the change coming and you are ready to manifest, to move mountains.

But then? Nothing happens.

So you revaluate, recalibrate, rework it and push some more.  You feel the end in sight.  You feel really ready now.  This!  This will be the time it happens.

But then it doesn’t.

Frustration and doubt mount.  You are flooded with confusion.  You are thinking maybe you should just give up.

Who are you to dream anyway?

After all, you have things to do, responsibilities to tend to, a job to fulfill.  And this dream?  Well, it doesn’t really happen to people like you anyway.

So you let it go for a while, but then that dream comes calling again.

You just need a little push, a little motivation.  So you consult your friends, your mentors, your coaches, your favorite social media gurus.  Your horoscope says now is the time for new beginnings.  Mercury in Retrograde is finally over!  It’s a new moon!  You ask for a sign.  You get it.  You are reinspired.  Yes!  You are right there. Change is a heartbeat away.

Here’s the thing.

This might be the time your dream comes to be.  Or it might not.

It might be the time when you throw in the towel or it might be the time when you get some momentum all over again.

There is no telling how long this in between time of the present, and the what-will-be-in-the-future can last.

So how do you know when it’s time to walk away from a dream?

You’ll know it because if it’s time to go in a new direction, your dream won’t be your dream anymore.  Instead you’ll find it’s reshaped into something similar or reformed into something else entirely.

You’ll know when that dream has dissipated because you’ll no longer have the heart, mind or energy to think about it—at all.

So how do you know if it’s just a block—a detour on your way to the big moment?

“There are no dead ends, just detours.” ~Nora Roberts

You’ll know because no matter how frustrated you get, you won’t be able to shake what’s calling you.  You’ll somehow find another way, get remotivated and just keep going, even when you are not sure what the outcome will be—even if you are not sure what the heck you are doing.  You’ll have this belief inside of you that may feel guided or outside of your control at times.  You’ll have a conviction that may feel crazy in moments.

You’ll just push and push some more.  That’s what the dreamers and believers do.  (Tweet that!)

And consider the possibility that all the while, you are learning—that this work is the preparation of what’s to come.  Take the frustration and turn it into curiosity.  Growth happens when we are uncomfortable and pushed beyond our familiar boundaries.

“Lessons often come dressed up as detours and roadblocks.”  ~Oprah Winfrey

Pursuing our dreams isn’t always easy or a clear path isn’t always laid out in front of us.

But so many of us think it is.  We think that manifesting will make the dream come quicker.  We think that if we repeat enough positive mantras and meditate on the vision with all our might, that the miracle will happen in the next moment.

And it might!  Positive thinking, mantras and enthusiasm certainly help!  Of course they do!  They are just not the only work.

The key is to treat these positive rituals as part of the big picture, not the whole picture.  

Work them into the work. 

And then there are a few other things you have to do in that space.

Have faith that since the idea came to you, it’s yours for a reason.

Don’t assume that your timeline is the right one.

Trust in divine timing being exactly right.

Trust in the unknown future waiting to unfold.

Leave space for the blessings heading your way and welcome them when they come in ways you didn’t expect, ask for or envision.

(You have to leave space for possibilities beyond your dreams because you might just find what comes to be is even better than anything you could have imagined!)

Trust that all your hard work will manifest into something beautiful, maybe something even better than you hoped.

Because it will.

Much Gratitude,

A