Planning, planting, tending and harvesting a vegetable garden is a metaphor for life, especially when it comes to nurturing your dreams.
The planning, planting and tending your garden is the metaphor for nurturing your dreams.
The soil is your mind.
The seeds are your dreams.
The harvest is the achievement of your dreams.
It’s is not enough to plan your garden, you have to plant the seeds for something to happen. But without the important step of tending the garden, you will not reap a bountiful harvest.
If you don’t nurture your dream it may become deferred. The how to achieve your dream may become overwhelming and keep you from moving forward. Your dream could fall prey to naysayers and other dream destroyers.
Like a gardener, when you nurture your dreams, you will be rewarded with dreams that are achieved.
Here are 6 ways to nurture your dreams for a bountiful harvest.
Good organic soil is the key to healthy vegetables.
1. Plant your dreams in fertile ground. Your subconscious mind will work with you, instead of against you to realize your dreams, if you follow these steps:
Limiting beliefs are one of the silent killers of dreams. They’re below your conscious awareness and use creative means to sabotage your success. It could be something simple – being late for an important appointment, or something more catastrophic – losing all your data without a backup system in place.
Keep your ground fertile – identify and eliminate or re-frame your limiting beliefs.
Have a passionate WHY attached to your dream. Answer this question: Why is this dream important to you? As you take action for your dream imagine and feel the emotion you’ll have when you achieve your dream. Hold on to that emotion and let it ignite your passion and keep you motivated.
To have a successful harvest you must plant seeds that will grow in your climate.
2. Make sure the dream you’re nurturing is yours. Some of us, instead of living our life on purpose and pursuing our own dreams, we pursue dreams to make others happy. We do this because of fear. We’re afraid of losing someone’s love and affection. We’re afraid of being labeled self-centered or other disparaging names. Lacking the confidence and courage to follow our own bliss, we seek love and approval by living someone else’s fantasy. Those who really love you will support you and whatever you choose to do with your life. Live your own dreams, if you don’t, you’ll not enjoy the harvest.
Watering your garden, adding organic material, having the right amount of sunlight, replanting when necessary, removing weeds and other material that will abort the growth of your vegetables, will help you have an abundant harvest.
3. Feed your dream. Watch your thoughts – sprinkle your dream with positive thoughts several times a day. Feel your dream – develop an intimate relationship with it. Connect and maintain a strong emotional bond with your dream – make time to reflect on it. You may need to study and learn something new to achieve your dream.
4. Remove the weeds from your dream. Avoid naysayers and those who don’t support you and your dreams. If it’s a family member – put on your armor of confidence to deflect their negative energy. Recognize your negative chatter. Avoid any negative effects by replacing them with positive thoughts, right away. Look self-doubt and fear in the eyes and beat them at their own game by moving forward with your dream. It will strengthen your courage muscle.
5. Let the sun shine on your dream. Each day affirm your success and give thanks, even though your dream has yet to be realized. Speak with conviction and remain positive about your dream. You don’t have to do it all. Involve those who are passionate about your dream. Be generous; find charitable ways to give back to your community.
6. There’s a time to plant and a time to harvest. Have a deadline for harvesting your dream, and allow, accept and celebrate your accomplishment.
It’s a wrap
Dreams without action remain fantasies. Start nurturing your dreams today and live the life you choose to live.
Your turn
Do you have any dreams that you’ve deferred?
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LOVE this post – you know what I like best is the suggestion to HARVEST!! Woo HOO _- sometimes we get so caught up in the dreaming and the building and the doing involved that we lose sight of the fact that we need to HARVEST – am going back into my dreaming right now and make that adjustment – thank you for sharing!
Thanks for stopping by Amethyst.
It’s the place many of us get stuck … the harvesting. Here’s a great example: You buy a product, the mail man knocks with the delivery but you refuse to answer the door. He/she leaves the product on your patio but you ignore it. Doesn’t make sense does it? The Universe/God wants you to have what you’ve envisioned but when it’s delivered, you refuse to accept it because of limiting beliefs or other irrational thinking.
You’re right: growing a successful business is a process, and there ARE seasons to it. Nurturing your dream (growing your business) requires more than just the activity required to grow it. It requires staying focused and staying in an attitude of positive expectancy. If you’re like me, you spend SO MUCH time doing your research, afraid you don’t know enough. You buy books and course, hire mentors, research the latest trends, processes and tools online… But you still worry about whether it will all work when you actually DO it! (I’m so bad about this!)
I think that’s where faith comes in. Yes, it’s important to do your homework and then the actual work. But then we need to step back and trust that it WILL work, to act with the positive expectancy that our labor will bear fruit. (It’s easier said than done!)
It’s also super important to stay in a positive, encouraging place mentally. I find that reading inspiring books and listening to others who have been successful before me (through their audios) it’s enormously helpful in keeping where I need to be mentally. It’s SO IMPORTANT to watch what we allow into our minds!
I actually wrote a post just this past week on the topic of the power of positive expectancy: http://www.giweconnect.com/the-power-of-positive-expectancy/
Success is about more than the how-to’s. It’s also about intangibles like attitude, mindset, philosophy, etc.
I agree that a positive mindset will help us realize our dreams. It’s important to keep our minds fertile. If your mind is not receptive to success you’ll find a way to deflect it. Affirmations are the GPS of our minds, they remind us where we should be going.Sometimes, it’s possible for our minds to become overwhelmed with too much positive information. Information overload has the same effect as not enough information, you’ll remain stuck.
Adalia, we must think alike. I just wrote a blog a few weeks ago about this very topic. Interestingly enough, I also started gardening, too. It’s so important for everyone to nurture their dreams and take good care of themselves 🙂
You know what they say Kate, “great minds think alike.” 🙂
I appreciate your visit.
And for every “failure” find an earthwork (lesson/gift) to help compost the lesson into success.
Hi Lisa,
I love your play on the words earth work and compost, beautifully done … they convey a colorful and magnetic message.
Thanks for your inspiration.
And for every “failure” find an earthworm (lesson/gift) to help compost the lesson into success.