The Philosophers Zone: December 2005

So I have been living my dreams and keeping my vision alive of becoming known as an author for children's stories. I am feeling so good these days even though I am still yet to sell more than one book. I know it is a process and it will take some time but I am moving forward even if it is only one baby step at a time. Since I have carried this dream for 25 years as I have untiringly plugged away at story after story and idea upon idea(whether still in the making or not), I am not about to give up. I had my first piece published when I was only a child and the fire has never died. My passion for writing has kept me sane through all the bad times when I have been tempted to give up and stop caring. It has been my anchor to keep me rooted in humanity when the world threatened to change me for the worse.
The following article provides a few helpful tips on tapping into your dreams and learning how to be a true visionary.

Become A Visionary – Tapping Into The Artist In You
Copyright 2005 So-lu'shunz Management Services

Purpose is what you’re created for. Mission is what you’re
meant to do about it. Visions are the evidence.

We are all visionaries.

Anyone who has ever dreamed of a better way or a bigger
brighter future on a broader plain is a visionary. If you
see a more vibrant life in you than you are living, you’re
a visionary.

America is founded on our ability and our right to dream
and then bring those dreams to pass. We’re all seeking the
American Dream and it’s not a prescribed vision but assumes
that each one of us is able to dream his or her own future.
America was founded to cradle those dreams.

Visionary is a title we’re a bit threatened by, because it
is so often ascribed to the celebrated among us, such
greats as Martin Luther King, Albert Einstein, Golda Meir,
George Washington Carver. And others with a different kind
of vision such as Walt Disney.

Some visionaries are so well known we no longer need their
first names to identify them, Edison, Bell, Gandhi,
Pasteur, Jefferson, Franklin. But to be threatened by
their greatness is to deny the greatness in you. Your name
need not become a household word in your lifetime for you
to be a great visionary. You need only to gain the tools
to insure that each dream manifests in a better reality

Vision is the ability to see what others are not (yet) able
to see; to create within oneself a new and better, bigger,
brighter reality. It is thinking outside and beyond and
above the norm. It is refusing to be harnessed or halted
by convention or opposition, distraction or disappointment.
Any inability of the visionary becomes inconsequential to
the need for the vision to come to pass. It requires a
great deal of faith and an equal degree of discomfort with
the status quo.

A visionary is one who has learned the art of creating
visions and who is then so filled with his dream that he
cannot help but bring it to pass. We can all learn the art
of creating visions, of directing our dreams to a
purposeful end.

Visionaries are fearless - they will face embarrassment,
derision and mockery. They are much like a woman in the
final stages of labor – the child must be born, regardless
of the circumstances. The process takes on a momentum all
its own and the visionary becomes accountable to the vision
and to facilitating its “delivery.”

Have you ever felt so pregnant with a dream that you were
certain you would burst if it was not delivered into the
world? Then you are a visionary. Now what can you do to
facilitate the process? (See Birthing Your Dream available
at www.solushunz.com, Resource Articles)

Perhaps you’re thinking you don’t have world changing,
revolutionary dreams, so this couldn’t possibly apply to
you. But any vision, of any size, nurtured and directed,
once realized will impact your world and deserves a chance
to grow and transform – that’s what visions do.

The difference between a dreamer and a visionary is the
determination to bring the vision to pass. A dreamer is no
less creative, but is far less dedicated to the
transformation of the vision into reality.

A dreamer dreams to avoid reality. A visionary dreams to
change it.

Can we learn to dream creatively and with direction, or is
this a gift born into a select few? The good news is that
anyone can learn the skills necessary to create
well-developed visions, utilizing the unique gifts and
talents we each possess, and utilizing the resources at
hand, bring them into the real world, fully formed and
ready to. This is a skill none of us can afford to ignore,
if we are dedicated to a better reality for ourselves and
those around us.

----------------------------------------------------
Karin is a certified Life Coach, consultant and trainer
specializing in the EffectivenessCoaching process. She has
helped leaders at all levels to increase their personal and
professional effectiveness by guiding them through the
process of learning to do less and be more. To sooth
holiday stress, visit Karin’s website at
http://www.solushunz.com