How do we turn our passions, what we love, into our dreams, what we desire, into our reality?

First off, let me give you my salty definition of passions and dreams.

Passions are the things you would spend all day doing if you could.  Things that makes your heart soar.

Passions are the things that make your heart soar. Click To Tweet

Turning a passion into a dream makes it something more tangible.

Dreams are what your passions look like turned into something tangible. Click To Tweet

A few of my crazy dreams are: to publish a book, to own a women’s surf shop, to live for extended periods of time in cities around the world. To live on a farm. The list goes on. They all start with my passions at the core.

The key is to turn our passions and dreams into our reality Click To Tweet

This blog, one of my dreams, is a compilation of my passions: stepping out of my comfort zone, surfing, relationships, and writing about the things and people I love. It is the ultimate recipe for my joy.

I started looking at how I arrived here. Seven years ago I never would have believed you had you said I would be a blogger and aspiring writer. I would have laughed had you said I would be trying to find a way to encourage people to nurture their passions and chase their dreams. I would have told you, Tony Robbins already has that covered.

Well, here I am. And I couldn’t be more excited about the journey I am on. I am nowhere near the end and the exciting/scary part is I really have no idea where it will lead. But, I am strapped in tight and ready for the ride.

Here are the simple steps I took to bring me to this place. If you have been neglecting your passions, curious how to form these passions into dreams, and your dreams into reality, I encourage you to give some of these a try.

PLAY

Play . . . yes play. If you aren’t already clear what your passions are, play. Spend time discovering what you love to do. The things that make you lose track of time. The things that make your heart sing. These are your passions.  These will be the foundation of the structure we are building. Everything comes back to this. If you aren’t in love with what you’re doing . . . if you are not passionate about it . . . these are not your passions. Duh! 😉

Think about your first love. You thought about that person constantly. Wanted to be with him/her all the time. The clock was irrelevant when you were together. You felt passionate. You never knew you could feel this way. This is how you should feel about your passions.

LET GO

Let go of things that don’t fit. Sometimes I feel like I want to take my passions in a hundred different directions. Narrowing them down is a process. When I try something, let’s say being crafty for example, and it just doesn’t feel authentic – I let it go. (Cue the Frozen theme song). It just isn’t me so I don’t force it.  This enables me to leave time and space for what does fit.

Like when our kids are young, and we try to involve them in different activities so they can see what they like. It’s the same for adults. Try lots of things and then let go of what doesn’t feel right.

GIVE THEM ENERGY

Once you narrow down your passions, put energy into them. Think about them. Talk to yourself (not in a creepy way) about them. Write about them. This will help clarify a direction for you. It will guide you in working out some of the details in how to turn your passions into a tangible dream.

GIVE YOURSELF PERMISSION

Give yourself permission to nurture your passion(s). Allow yourself to spend time doing them. This is hard, especially for women. Sometimes, we feel guilty spending time doing fun things versus “productive” things. This will take discipline on your part. Tell yourself you deserve to nurture your passions. And tell your family this too! 🙂 It doesn’t have to be for hours on end. Just start to make time for your passions. Make them a priority.

Turning Your Passions And Dreams Into Reality Click To Tweet

MEDITATE

Meditate or pray on it. I am not diligent about my mediation but, it always brings me clarity. I highly encourage this. It is only when we turn off the noise of the outside world and listen to ourselves that we can clearly hear what our heart has to say. I take 15 minutes in the morning, put on a CD with crashing waves, and just empty my mind. I ask a question or say a word repeatedly. Whenever my mind tries to interrupt me and take me back to the worries of the day, I revert back to this word or question. I always come out with some sort of answer and I write it down. This clears the cobwebs for me. It helps me focus on what is true and points my passions in a tangible direction.

SET UP A VISION BOARD

This can take whatever form that feels right. Right now, my latest one happens to be a wire bulletin board with surf images, mementos from my writing journey thus far, notes to myself, goals, and inspiring quotes pinned to it. This is important because whenever I look up, I see where I have been and where I want to go.

CREATE A SACRED SPACE

Create a space for your passions and dreams. This is key. It gives your dreams importance and validity. I use my extra bedroom. I put in a desk and a book shelf and decorated it more for my passions in mind than for house guests, but they don’t seem to mind. Even if it is a little corner of your living room, you must have a place to yourself. This is the first time I have had a space all my own in 20+ years. My family calls it my “war room” and they have learned to respect my time when I’m in there.

TALK ABOUT YOUR DREAMS

Start sharing your dreams with others. And keep sharing. Keep putting them out into the universe. It’s amazing what happens when you actually start giving your dreams a voice and saying them out loud. The universe will respond. It will put people and events into your life to help your passions and dreams become your reality.

FIND ENCOURAGEMENT

While sharing you dreams with others, you will discover real quick who you can and can’t talk to. Who can and can’t be trusted with your heart. For some reason, there are always people who will try to discourage you. Stop talking to them, STAT.  Find the people who encourage you.  Luckily, you will always find these people too.  Surround yourself with them. Let them know how much their encouragement means. It is huge. Some days, this will be the only thing that keeps you going.

TAKE A STEP

Take one step that will start you on your way. Mine was actually setting up the blog. I had it on my to-do list for months but, once I finally took that first step and went for it, despite not knowing what the hell I was doing, everything starting snowballing. So figure out the first step and take it.

Good luck and I’d love to hear how it goes or if you have any ideas to add.

Salty Kisses,

Karen