Life is a schoolroom

Everyone has dreams. Most of the time we’re too busy to notice them. Often, we gave a dream a try or two but failed in some way. The easiest solution is to get rid of the sting of failure by running the other way. Life, a job, a family…there are no shortages of distractions that can carry you far away from your original dream. It’s far less painful to fail at something mundane than to fail in the pursuit of your dream. Besides, just about anybody will agree that chasing a dream is for children, not adults with responsibilities. Often the dream was discouraged long ago… in childhood or school. When a child is told they are unable or untalented they suffer a deep emotional wound. Even if you can’t recall the incident the fear of getting hurt again can cause you to withdraw from the very things that you most wanted to do. When I started my hypnotherapy practice in San Diego I created a client sheet to provide basic information and insight into the goals of the person. I included a checklist of possible complaints to assist the new client in recalling underlying issues. I’m a little compulsive so I wanted the checklist to come out in four even lines. Just to make that happen I threw in a few items just off the top of my mind. One of those items was “GUILT.” One day I looked over all the client sheets and noticed that “guilt” was the most often checked item on the list. Why do so many people feel guilty? Luckily, I didn’t have to search long and hard for the answer. My appointment book was full of people who had checked “guilt” coming in for their regular appointment that week. Was my practice awash in dishonest or evil people? Of course not. In one appointment after another I found out it was awash in people who had buried the most important parts of themselves in the daily grind of being an adult. We pay a price for our busy, over-scheduled lifestyle. But experience has shown me that most people who renew their pursuit of their dreams awaken from a low grade depression that had gone unnoticed and/or untreated for years and years. Take some time today to contemplate your dreams, both the ones you hold now and the ones from long ago. What lessons do they hold?