All Of Us Have Dreams

"Get a dream for your life, regardless of your age or position." - Jill Sweetman

This week I have been working in India and this being my first time here, it is a pleasure getting to know the people and culture. As I have seen throughout my travels is at one level, people around the world are the same. Each of us sleeps, get up in the morning, get the kids ready for school, struggle with traffic on the way to work and deal with work stresses through out the day.

We also have to commute home, get dinner ready, reconnect with our family or maybe attend a function (soccer practice, school play, religious event) and then come home, prepare for bed and try to get to sleep. All in an effort to repeat it again the next day. As my parents said to me years ago, "people all around the world, regardless of ethnicity, class or location put their pants on one leg at a time." A lesson simply to show how much alike all of us are.

In travelling back and forth between the hotel and office, a regular driver picks me up and returns me to the hotel each day. Not that I am above driving, traffic here in India is certainly different then what I am used to. If I were to drive, I would be more of an impediment to others on the road. So for an hour each way, each day, I have the opportunity to talk with my driver.

His name is Mitra and has been a pleasure to be with. A young man with a child and a wife due to give birth at any time to twins. Life has the same concerns for him as any would have any place in the world. Things concerning the health of his wife and as yet unborn children, how will I pay the medical bills, will I get enough work, on and on and on. The stress of driving in this type of traffic and the potential for an accident. Anything you can think of is a potential conceren for another person any place on this planet (with obvious exceptions).

Mitra though is such an upbeat person about all that is of concern. He understands and appreciates all that he has. His attitude is so positive that he opens himself to opportunity that will present itself. Faith and belief in what is good and in his own ability says alot about him. He also has a dream that sustains him. He believes in that dream and I for one believe he can achieve it.

Establish a vision, a dream for your own life. Believe in that dream, act upon it and you will eventually realize your dream. All around the world, people have dreams...each of us can attain them at some level. Continue to believe in yourself.

Farming Hearts and Minds

The environment around you regardless of where you are is your field of influence. A field that includes the hearts and minds of other people that enter in, pass through and generally any one that you encounter through out your life. It is a field that you impact by your actions and words.

As a farmer plants seeds and tends to the field, you also have responsibility for the seeds you plant in the hearts and minds of others. You can tend to them over time and watch those people grow and move to greatness. Or you can ignore them and watch them wither. These interactions go on everyday both to you and by you.

You may be 'planting' seeds within the fields of your influence, but others are doing the same as you enter theirs. When two mindful farmers enter each others environment, a wonderful thing happens to both people. The metaphor for tending a field of influence can be difficult to follow in its concept, but the more you think about it, clarity will come to your understanding.

The basic premise for me when it comes to 'farming' your field of influence is this. Do not leave people where you find them. Help them, nurture them and bring them to a higher place. Leave them with hope and understanding that life has much to offer them.

The 'harvest' of a well tended field will yield much to you. Your life will be enriched for the experience and be more bountiful in its rewards. In all that you do, leave that which you enter better then when you found it. Leave the heart and mind of others in a better place.

Look At Life From A Different View

Everyone have a great day today and also tomorrow. I'll write again soon about how each of us has a field that we tend to. Where that field exists and how we sow into that field and take care of it. Of course it is a metaphor for life and how you can live it.

“If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.” - Wayne Dyer

Your Field

Recently I listened to a speaker talk about your sphere of influence. That area or impact that you can have on those that enter or pass through your life. Taken in its simplest form, as you go about life, your family, friends, co-workers, people at the store you shop in, where you buy your gas, church and everything you do.

During these moments of interaction when you speak, the way you conduct yourself and the way you respond is a chance to impact another life. If you think about it, everywhere you go you create a sphere of influence. As the saying goes, "wherever you go, there you are" and so is your ability to impact people.

What all of this means is that your influence and ability to impact people moves with you. In example, I will be leaving on a business trip to India in the near future. Many would say to me that I'll be out of my comfort zone, out of my environment. But my environment is all around me where ever I go. I carry my own environment and people I come across are coming into my field as it is called.

A field you may wonder? I'll talk more about that next time I write. Just know that as you move about in your daily life, that where ever you go, you can have impact on others. Try not to lose any opportunity to engage and create change.