4 Secrets Every Dream Catcher Knows

4 Secrets Every Dream Catcher Knowsrnby Aimee Bernstein “Slow down and everything you are chasing will come around and find you.” - Author unknown After ten years of pitching my book to publishers, it was finally picked up and published a few months ago. A dream come true! rnI was flooded with a sense of delight and satisfaction however this feeling lasted about a minute. I realized if I wanted to spread my message that pressure — the energy of change — can be used to evolve ourselves and our performance, I had a lot of work in front of me. It seemed like a huge mountain to climb and I still had to make a living. For a couple of weeks, I felt overwhelmed until I remembered what I taught and deeply believed. I realized it was not about me making it happen but about stepping into the flow so spirit, in all its wisdom and timing, would carry it. That’s when I decided it was okay to be the tortoise and not the hare. As is my practice, I began to internally map out the road — energetically, psychologically and physically — as I moved forward to catch my dream. Now, five months into my journey, here’s what I’ve discovered so far…. 1. Be open to experiences.rnSome people’s dreams have been clear from an early age, but if you are like most of us, it sneaks up like a shadow. At first you may not see, hear or even want it, but when you finally allow yourself to feel it, you know you must have it. Once you decide that you are going to go for your dream, you feel pumped up, passionate and on fire. Energy principle: Whenever there is a job or task to do, energy in the amount needed to achieve the job, streams though your mind/body system. If you open and align to it, you experience high performance, joy and aliveness. If you close to it, you feel discomfort, distress, and over time, disease. 2. Focus your attention inward.rnAlthough you realize at the start of your journey that there is more energy swirling through your mind/body system than is your norm, you feel on point, centered and alive. However, somewhere — usually not that far from the starting gate — you notice you’re so focused on all the things that need to get done that you begin to lose a sense of your internal rhythm. Wanting everything completed yesterday and good results NOW, you force your will and soldier on. That is until something internal or external happens that shakes you up and you recognize you are stressed.rnIf your attention is focused out there on the multiple demands and priorities, you’ll lose connection with yourself and with the field of universal energy that supports and nourishes you. As you resist and close down to the energy, instead of it being a gift, it becomes your enemy. Wake up! Time to gather your attention back inside you. Beyond your yoga class, walk in nature or any other way you usually center yourself, learn to re-center yourself in this moment, no matter what you are doing.rnTake a deep breath into your lower belly, allow your back to soften, surrender to gravity, sense/feel the outflow of energy that radiates 360 degrees around you and say Ahhhhhhhhh. Energy principle : Wherever you place your attention becomes your center. 3. Stay the course.rnSomewhere along the road, your commitment to your dream will be tested. Suddenly you doubt whether you can achieve it or wonder if you really want to work so hard. You may see other people having more fun or being more successful so you start talking yourself out of your dream. However, instead of being upset, shamed or depressed by this negative state, realize you are in the right place at the right time. My aikido/energy teacher, Robert Nadeau, calls this the 180 degree turn. For example, you are excited about going out with that hot guy. You even spend hours planning what you are going to wear. Then just hours before your date, you think, I’m tired — I’d rather stay home and read a book.rnIf you listen to your thinking mind, you’ll miss a good time or in the larger sense, the achievement of your specific dream. Better to say, Cancel, cancel and imagine/pretend that you are changing the channel in your mind to a more positive uplifting programming. Energy principle: Just as you are moving towards your dream, the energy builds so much that you are pushed in the opposite direction. 4. Increase your capacity for energy.rnIt is my belief that we all are here to experience creation unfolding. As we are part of that creation, we are going to experience the ebbs and flows in our own life particularly as we move forward to catch our dream. Notice that after the energy ebbs, the flow is often stronger than it was. To ride the wave of this flow, remember that you need to open to it or the extra pressure you feel will overwhelm you. Think of it this way. You buy a plant at Home Depot for ninety-nine cents. You re-plant it in a bigger pot , its roots grow deeper and its stems taller. After a while you re-plant it again and it begins to bloom as it roots now have more space to spread out. Once more you re-pot it, and the plant grows into a small bush. This metaphor applies to each one of us — to attract and achieve your dream you need to increase your capacity to embody it. Energy Principle : To catch your dream, you need to be energetically as big as the job. That’s not just a mental idea — it’s a mind/body/energy field experience. rnThese are the principles I’ve been using to catch my dream. The more I stay open and centered to this energy flow, the more the clues of how I need to proceed reveal themselves. As for the mountain of work that seemed so daunting, it has been transformed into the mountain that I love to hike. Only spirit knows whether I will catch my dream. What I do know is that the road is much more interesting and luscious as I walk with ease and grace. And as I do, I discover a version of me that is lighter and more consciously embodied than who I knew myself to be. Now that’s a dream come true. Aimee Bernstein