CHASING YOUR DREAM vs EMOBODYING YOUR DREAM

Recently Diana Nyad swam for over 54 hours swimming from Cuba to Florida through shark and jelly fish infested waters and she walked out of the water victorious!

She fulfilled a dream that she said she has been chasing for 35 years.

The world is looking at her with awe and wonder. How could a woman whom some said would never complete this at her age be able to finish this and fulfill this lifelong dream?

These are some of the things she said about the difficulties:

“I did not know truly realize how hard it would be or how much suffering there would be in this”.

“The Prosthetics mask did keep the   jellyfish away but it also caused me to   ingest too much salt water”.

“The salt water made me vomit nearly the entire swim so I could not eat or drink.”

“I was dealing with a crisis continually.”

These are some of the positive things she said that kept her going:

“I had raw determination.”

“I focused on one thing: taking Stroke after stoke and one stroke at a time.”

“My motto was: Never ever give up”.

“I love the journey.”

“My Spirit was soaring and I know you can be vital and are in your prime whenever you say you are.”

“My team and my crew enabled me to survive.”

“In the past I just had HOPE. I hoped   that the jelly fish would not hurt me even though they are the most deadly creature in the ocean.”

“This time I took action and I got a jelly fish expert to help and the expert was with me while swimming. She was diving beside me, protecting me and keeping my spirit up.”

“I also had a new protective suit, a specially designed mask and a sting stopper cream.”

“My emotions lifted me up above the physical pain.”

“I had a new resolve: since I was swimming through the fish’s world, I needed to take better precautions.”

“The Gulf Stream was going right through where I was and this was a big plus.”

“My attitude was and is: Never give up, we are never too old to fulfill our dream.”

“The fulfillment of this dream is always about the team and not about the individual. I could not have done this without my team.”

Diana obviously had many more positive statements than negative ones. The positive statements reflect her truest attitudes and this is what I am focusing on in this blog.

Diana took on a new attitude which enabled her to fulfill her dream this time despite the odds being against her. By embodying her dream, she became aware of the entire picture. More than just hoping the Jelly fish would not attack her, she found a “Jelly Fish expert.”.  More than just hoping the fish and sharks would not attack, her new attitude was that she was a foreigner in “their” world. Can you imagine how this attitude affected her swim? Rather than just seeing herself as prey for the predators, with an attitude that she was entering their world, one might imagine that she reflecting respect.

I could analyze each of her positive statement but for now, I ask you what dream do you have?  How might you embody it today? By embodying the dream today, you might find one step you can take in its fulfillment that you had not thought about before.  Even if the dream is to visit another country and yet you have no idea how this would happen. Rather than just “hoping” you will just wind up there someday, “see” yourself taking the steps necessary to allow it to happen. For example, with travel, get brochures of the country you want to visit. Take 2 minutes every day visualizing yourself traveling there.

Soon, you will be there and you will know it happened because you did not just wish or hope but you took actions everyday that enabled you be there.