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Be Still, and Follow Your Dream



It is your job to fulfill your Dream.

It is not your job to right all the wrongs of the world, to teach everyone everything you know so that they will be able to right all the wrongs of the world, to in any way become involved with the struggle that always has been and probably always will be part of this planet, or anything else.

It is your job to fulfill your Dream.

If your Dream involves social or individual change, fine. Then saving part of the world is your business — but only part. If, for example, cleaner air is your passion, let someone else save the whales.

Trust that areas of your concern — but not of your Dream — are the Dreams of others. Let them fulfill their Dreams. You fulfill yours. "Nature arms each man with some faculty which enables him to do easily some feat impossible to any other," wrote Emerson. If we each bring our separate dish (our Dream) to the table of life — even if it's 'just" dessert — we can all enjoy the banquet.

One great way of pursuing your Dream — and only your Dream — is keeping still. This begins by keeping still inside. We don't have to react to news or information that doesn't apply to our Dream. If we react to everything — including all the things other people think we should react to — we will have no mental or emotional energy left to focus on our Dream.

If it's not on our path, it doesn't apply to us. Someone just died somewhere in Russia. Does that profoundly sadden you? Why doesn't it? Because it doesn't much apply to your life. It's a tragedy for someone, but not for you. The same is true of all the other events and incidents delivered by the media and other gossipmongers. This "news" is designed to keep those not on their path in a state of constant distraction.

Maintain your inner stillness. Follow your Dream.

One way to obtain a greater inner silence is to maintain an outer silence. You need not have — or give — an opinion on every subject under the sun. "One of the lessons of history," wrote historian Will Durant, "is that nothing is often a good thing to do, and always a clever thing to say."

For those who prefer the scientific formula rather than the historical perspective, we present Albert Einstein: "If A is success in life, then A equals X plus Y plus Z. Work is X, Y is play and Z is keeping your mouth shut."

Even with something you do know about, something you have very definite opinions about, something you have every right to feel passionate about (we're talking about your Dream, of course), it's good to be quiet about that with others, too.

"It is a mistake for a sculptor or a painter to speak or write very often about his job," said Henry Moore. "It releases tension needed for his work." Keep the tension — the passion — within. Express it in deeds — in actions — not in words. Ben Franklin agreed with this, too: "Proclaim not all thou knowest, all thou owest, all thou hast, nor all thou can'st."

Of attainments, keep them to yourself. ("Be smart, but never show it," advised Louis B. Mayer.) Of problems, keep those to yourself as well. ("You can't tell your friend if you've been cuckolded." wrote Montaigne. "Even if he doesn't laugh at you, he may put the information to personal use.")

Be still. Pursue your dream. Follow your path.

Do the Work

You will achieve your Dream when you've done the necessary work. The good news is, you will achieve your Dream. The bad news is, there's work involved.

Pursuing your Dream requires work — mental, emotional and physical. Work is what we don't want to do, but we do anyway to get something else. To reach your Dream, you'll be called upon to do a lot of things you don't want to do.

Some people live in a fairy-tale fantasy about the attainment of their Dream. They think that every step on the way to their Dream should be effortless — a private jet picks them up on their front lawn and transports them to Paradise. Not only that, but they are carried to the private jet, and fed peeled grapes along the way.

That is a fantasy you had best dismiss. While you're at it, you might as well dismiss the fantasy that the work ever stops. Some people like to include a completely work-free life as part of their Dream. They tend to agree with Charlie McCarthy, who said, "Hard work never killed anybody, but why take the chance?" Alas, the work continues even after we have our Dream.

If we're still alive, there's still work to do.

The work may change form, but it remains as irksome as work always is. Actors work to find agent. Once an agent is found, they work to get a part. Once they get enough parts and are a star, they work to find the right script. The work never ends.

In other sections of the book, we've discussed the mental and emotional work involved. We would be remiss, however, if we didn't specifically mention physical work.

"It is a rough road that leads to the heights of greatness," Seneca said. Part of the roughness is doing all the mundane things you know you'll hire somebody else to do once you achieve your Dream. "Our main business is not to see what lies dimly in the distance," wrote Thomas Carlyle, "but to do what lies clearly at hand." Is stuffing envelopes with your resume "at hand"? Stuff.

There are some things we can never hire anyone to do. If our Dream requires any personal physical ability or skill, for example, we have to work to maintain that. "Nothing I do can't be done by a ten-year-old — with fifteen years of practice," said magician Harry Blackstone, Jr. You can't hire someone to practice for you.

Sometimes we have an opportunity that requires extra work. Do it. 'If an unusual necessity forces us onward, a surprising thing occurs," observed William James. "The fatigue gets worse up to a certain point, when, gradually or suddenly, it passes away and we are fresher than before!

"We have evidently tapped a new level of energy," James continues. "There may be layer after layer of this experience, a third and fourth 'wind.' We find amounts of ease and power that we never dreamed ourselves to own, sources of strength habitually not taxed, because habitually we never push through the obstruction of fatigue."

The French proverb sums it up: "One may go a long way after one is tired."

Some people say they would like "more luck." What they usually need is more work. "The harder you work," the saying goes, "the luckier you get." Luck itself is fairly evenly distributed. "Breaks balance out," said Darrell Royal. "The sun don't shine on the same ol' dog's ass every day."

A lot of people miss valuable opportunities — or flatly refuse to partake of them — due to their unwillingness to work. "Problems are only opportunities in work clothes," observed Henry J. Kaiser (sounding a lot like Edison).

Do the necessary work. A lot of people decide how much that is before they really know how much it will be. They say, "I've done enough work," and give up. They were wrong. It wasn't enough.

How do we know when it was enough? Simple. When we have what we want, it was enough. Until then, it wasn't. Do the work until it's enough — until you have your Dream.

It's a lot of physical work pursuing your Dream. Be prepared for it.

In Training for Success

Consider the pursuit of your dream a major athletic event. Train for it. What we do we become stronger in. That's true mentally, emotionally, and physically.

Physically. Keep fit. What keeps us fit? Exercise. A good diet. Precisely what constitutes a good diet, however, is so controversial, that we might open a special chamber of the Gap just to accommodate the many beliefs about nutrition. We can, nonetheless, offer with confidence this diet by Joel Weldon, found on the bulletin board of Dr. William Hellman:

BREAKFAST:

1/2 Grapefruit

1 piece Whole Wheat Toast

8 Oz. Skim Milk

LUNCH:

4 Oz. Lean Breast of Chicken

1 Cup Steamed Zucchini

1 Oreo Cookie

1 Cup Herb Tea

MID-AFTERNOON SNACK:

Rest of Package of Oreo Cookies

1 Quart Rocky Road Ice Cream

1 Jar Hot Fudge

DINNER:

2 Loaves Banana Bread

1 Large Pepperoni Pizza

1 Large Pitcher of Beer

5 Milky Way Bars

1 Entire Frozen Cheesecake — eaten directly from the freezer

"I went on a diet," said Joe E. Lewis, "swore off drinking and heavy eating, and in fourteen days I lost two weeks."

"Only Irish coffee provides in a single glass all four essential food groups:" Alex Levine tells us, "alcohol, caffeine, sugar, and fat."

Emotions: Keep them flexible. We keep them flexible by practicing unexpected emotional reactions to life's challenges. For example, be loving even if you don't get your way. It won't cause people to come at you any less, but you will learn to be magnificent in the handling.

Mind: Keep it open. Eagerly consider new ideas, thoughts, suggestions, information, insights, perceptions and intuitions.

Comfort Zone: Keep expanding it. Each day, do at least one thing you don't want to do that has absolutely no practical benefit whatsoever. This keeps the comfort zone growing. For example, walking up and talking to people whom you don't want to meet will expand the comfort zone. Eventually, walking up and meeting strangers will be easy — comfortable. Then, when you see someone you want to meet, saying "Hello" will be an easy thing to do.

"Do something every day that you don't want to do." Mark Twain advised. "This is the golden rule for acquiring the habit of doing your duty without pain."

Your duty is fulfilling your Dream.


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