The Secret to Having Dreams Come True

I recently watched Tom Hanks being interviewed on a television talk show. The host asked him what it felt like to be the most famous and respected male movie star in the world. Hanks replied by naming a half-dozen other well-known male performers who started out when he did, and explained in his usual charming and self-effacing manner that he was simply “the last man standing.”

While attrition may have had some small role in his success, it certainly wasn’t the primary part. I think Tom Hanks had a dream and just kept on positively moving toward it. His further comments confirmed the fact that through the years he was so filled with the love of acting that he found great joy and happiness each day in plying his craft. Instead of hankering – pun intended – for the huge success-outcome to hurry up and manifest, he was happy to be doing what he loved. Tom Hanks obviously wears his success comfortably as the natural progression of his journey, which it is, and from all external appearance he is living a fulfilling and joyous life.

We can do the same. As simple as it sounds, however, the challenge is that in order to have a dream come true, we must have an identifiable dream. I believe that each and every one of us was born on this Earth to fulfill some mission-purpose that is uniquely ours. Some individuals know this when they are as young as three years old, as a friend of mind did. Gladys Taylor McGarey, M.D., knew that she was to be a doctor and never wavered from this dream. Actually, she became the acknowledged mother of holistic medicine in America.

For those of us who didn’t come in with such strong intuitive guidance or such a large dream, the steps to take to discover our mission-purpose are well known and fairly simple. First of all, we can begin by making a list of what we think are our heart’s desires, our gifts and abilities. We continue working on this and making adjustments, plumbing the depths of us, until what we’ve written resonates within our heart, mind and soul.

When we are secure that we know our unique dream, we commit it to memory, write it out as a positive affirmation/statement and place it where we will see it often throughout the day. We then use it as the focal point of our lives. Our responsibility is to remain focused, do the best we can each day and to trust the universe to determine when and how our dreams are fulfilled.

Remember, just knowing our mission doesn’t mean it will automatically manifest in our lives. Will Rogers once said, “Even if you are on the right track, you will get run over if you just sit there.” Fulfillment of our dreams and heart’s desires is not achieved by sitting around and waiting for life to zap them on us. All we learn is a variety of ways in which to fritter away our precious time on Earth.

Even if the world seems to be setting up roadblocks against us, we must continue to move in the direction of our dreams. We must hold firm and know that something deep within us knows the way. Even if life’s circumstances move us along paths that we think are diametrically opposed to where we want to go, we must continue believing in, holding fast to and moving toward our dreams, no matter how small the actions we are able to take may be.

In the interim, it is important to appreciate every bit of happiness and fulfillment we experience each day, and to have an attitude of gratitude. Anguishing over the past or worrying about the future causes many people to miss the joy of living in the present and cherishing every moment of life, which is the path to true happiness.

Calvin Coolidge may not be as famous as Tom Hanks is today, but what he had to say pretty much sums up the secret to achieving our dreams: “Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent …”
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Copyright © 2008 by Fern Stewart Welch

The author’s book THE HEART KNOWS THE WAY—How to Follow Your Heart to a Conscious Connection with the Divine Spirit Within is available at Amazon.com and other online booksellers, as well as through major bookstores such as Barnes & Noble and Borders.