decisions
What is in a Dream?
I've found myself thinking lately about the dreams that live within the heart. I fight for dreams realized, yet wonder just
like everyone else if they should be given up for a different road that could grow into a new dream. Within my deepest longings, I've always longed to live by the warmest of seas...and walk barefoot 12 months of the year. I also dreamed of an amazing and fulfilling love. Today, I'm here in Gothenburg, Sweden...an amazing city near a chilly sea. It is for love that I'm here.
As I try to imagine my future, I am struck with how dreams evolve...and how things like love and family can reshape destiny. The balance of compromise and dreams realized is an art to say the least.
My mind tosses between my love for a dream and the call of reality. Today, I wandered into a tiny coffee shop called the Mahogany...it's a famous spot with amazing coffee drinks and fresh pastries. Behind the desk was a man from Washington D.C. He was excited to hear that I am from California and shared with me how he misses his hometown and followed love to Gothenburg. "I miss my home," he said with emotion-filled eyes. "I'm just not sure how things will shape up." Now with a child and a Swedish wife, he's in a beautiful place, but lives between an amazing town and the place he calls home in his heart.
We all make decisions that lead us down a path...and sometimes our decisions split our hearts in two pieces. One piece loving a person...and the other loving a place or a cherished dream.
Yesterday I read the theory that Amelia Earhart may have survived her tragic crash and tried to make it on a small island in the pacific. Items such as a comb and compact mirror were found some time ago, along with a bit of bone thought to have belonged to a woman. DNA tests are currently being conducted. What if it were Amelia and her belongings found?
In an attempt at following her dreams, can you imagine her gazing at the stars at night on an island all alone, as warm winds swept from one end of the island to another? I wonder if she concluded that her dreams were worth the result? She could have played it safe and been strolling around the streets of Kansas or New Your City with a skirt and high heels...instead of sitting under the stars with a pair of torn trousers and only her thoughts. During the time she was praying she'd be rescued, did she dream of what life would have been if she had played it safe...or did visions of all she'd seen while flying in her plane flood her mind?....of her solo flight across the Pacific to Europe...gliding high above animal herds in Africa...or circling the majestic skyline of New York City...
Dreams and decisions can be tricky...the process confounding. How about you? Things shaping up OK?
- Jen Engevik
Project BE Bold
Boldness Grows with Bold Choices
Our quest for boldness is one that we must take moment by moment. We must look at 
it like this...things happen throughout our day, and we are always faced with decisions. We can either choose the bold (right) way of action or we can choose the limited (weak) way.
For instance, say that your friend calls you and asks you to do something. Your mind says, "I need a break...I really don't want to do it." You can either be direct and truthful and say "I need a break. Let's do it another day, or you can weave a convoluted story that paints an untrue, over-dramatic story. Being direct is the bold way to act. Weaving a story takes energy from both you and the listener.
Or...say you are at work and you make a mistake. You can blame others or circumstances, or you can stand up and say, "I made a mistake...it is my fault." The bold course of action takes the confusion and negative energy from the moment and then you move on to correcting the situation.
Or finally, when faced with the decision to gossip or share negative thoughts about others, the bold decision is to say something positive or try with all of your might to say nothing at all. Bold living doesn't have time for petty thoughts that aren't empowering.
Each day we are faced with decisions and we become bolder and happier when we make the right decisions -- even though bold action may be scary or cause momentary setbacks. Successes built on wrong action lead to future pains and failures.
The soul craves simplicity. Bold action will get you there...