If you’ve got a dream you’re intent on pursuing, chances are you’re going to bog down at some point. That’s just the way dreams are. In fact, there’s a little known rule about this called the Second Rule of Thermodynamics, which states that sooner or later everything returns to chaos.

In other words, expect your dream to come crashing down around your ears periodically.

Yet, no need to despair; such meltdowns are actually good for your dream, because they force you to stop and rethink your approach if you want to continue. That’s the only way you can find the footing to continue, and in that process, you’re forced to learn and grow. This is when I always pull out my trusty guided visualizations.

Nothing, but nothing, can turn your mind around quite as effectively as a good guided visualization. It can create hope were there was none, clarity in a space of confusion, and immeasurable inspiration. If you subscribe to the same notion that I do – that all of our ideas and instincts around our dream are guided – then this is where you’ll find the mother lode of such information. A good guided visualization will connect you with deep inner truths that most of us simply can’t tap into consciously.

So basically, you, too, can be a Ghandi or a Nelson Mandela or a Thich Nacht Hahn … if you dig deep enough and surrender fully enough. (Those enlightened souls have taught us that such round-the-clock access to the spiritual goods requires one heck of a lot of meditation, not to mention a saintly obfuscation of the ego.) In the meanwhile, the next best thing is to turn on the guided visualizations.

By guided visualization, I mean a recording of someone leading you through a meditation. First they relax you; the they help you imagine yourself in a particular place, or having a certain experience. A great guided visualization will lead you into situations where anything can happen and anyone can show up. You simply sit back and observe as helpers show up, insights are gained, and instructions are received.

Sometimes the path you see is a familiar one you’ve imagined often with your conscious mind, and the meditation serves as a wonderful confirmation of your plan. Yet, other times it can be strange and dark, making no sense whatsoever. My own students have come to me with alarm when they saw a picture of chaos, or violence and degradation. And yet, in talking it over later, they usually recognize a deeper meaning to the picture. Over time, if they repeat the process, they are often left with a greater insight than they anticipated.

For instance, Rosemary was a frustrated writer who hated her daytime job, and was given to fits of gallows humor about it. When she first did my Discover Your Soul Purpose meditation, she uncovered a chaotic back alley, full of lurking, menacing figures. She did the meditation several more times and the situation only marginally improved. Yet, what Rosemary took away from the experience was that her life was out of balance, and filled with dark, negative energy. She quit her job, attended to her failing health, and re-approached the meditation some months later. Now the scene was remarkably different, a sunny courtyard in which she could see herself as a writer for the first time.

In fact, Rosemary had not ‘done the meditation wrong’, as she’d been quick to assume. ("I must be the only person who didn’t do this thing right!") Instead, her soul was giving her a direct signal that she was tangled up in life circumstances that were obscuring her dream. The meditation, for all of its supposed lack of clarity, had really been clear as a bell.

The only real way to interpret the images we get in these visualizations is to check in with our gut. There may be age-old gypsy wisdom that water means good luck, or that a duck is an omen of impending death … but I say that’s all poppycock. The only person who knows what your visualization means is you; your gut is the only

Often we get images of ourselves leading such a life of power and abundance that we can barely stand it. It brings tears to our eyes as we acknowledge that we really can do that thing we sorely wish to begin. In that instant, we see how small and constrained we’ve allowed ourselves to become; yet, we also see how much impact we could have, if only we could choose the right path.

Above all, guided visualizations give us permission to dream. They allow us to see ourselves graphically living a different life, feeling the feelings, smelling the smells, and owning the power. We see a higher, truer aspect of ourselves, and in that instant, understand how unstoppable we really can be.

This is the biggest reason I rely on guided visualizations in my work – because they take you beyond the sugary platitudes about ‘going for it’ and ‘reaching for the stars’. Instead, they deliver you smack into your dream for a moment, so you can see the impact and importance of what you’re here to do.

Once you really know the true rightness of what that feels like, down deep in your gut, nothing can keep from making that vision a reality. Even if the images you see are more fleeting or obscure, they will leave you brushed with truth. This is the wisdom that lurks in our bones; wisdom we can access simply by taking the time to turn on a visualization.

You can learn more about guided visualizations at www.howmuchjoy.com/tangdysp.html Suzanne Falter-Barns’ free ezine, The Joy Letter, brings you practical tips and tools for your dream every other week. Sign up at http://www.howmuchjoy.com/joyletter.html and receive her valuable report, "Thirty-Five Guaranteed Time Savers". It helps you create time to finally live your dreams.

©2002 Suzanne Falter-Barns. Reprint permission available by request. Article must be complete and must include all contact information above. Apply to info@howmuchjoy.com

Suzanne Falter-Barns is the author of How Much Joy Can You Stand? A Creative Guide To Facing Your Fears and Making Your Dreams Come True (Ballantine), a powerful little book about getting on with your creative thing in life. More than 75,000 people have read the book, it’s been a Main Selection of The One Spirit Book Club, excerpted in Fitness and Writer’s Digest, and a Publisher’s Weekly ‘Hot Pick’. It was featured in SELF and has 30 five star reviews on Amazon.com. It's also been covered by more than 100 t.v. and radio programs including Joannie Greggains and David Essel.

Suzanne is also the happy doyenne of http://www.howmuchjoy.com, a website loaded with practical tools for digging into your dreams. She is a popular motivational speaker, and has led creativity workshops across the U.S. and Canada. She was a regular columnist for New Age Journal, and has written essays and articles for The New York Times, SELF, Fitness, New Woman, Prevention, Cosmo Girl, More, and Parent's. Suzanne is also the author of a novel, Doin' the Box Step (Random House), taught creative writing at NYU, and appears as a cabaret singer from time to time.

Her work is all about helping you reignite your creative spark, and stamp out all the little lies and energy drains that get in the way of creative, joyful living. Cheryl Richardson says,

"If you've been afraid to pursue a creative dream then How Much Joy Can You Stand? is your salvation... Suzanne will not only inspire you to take action NOW, she will give you courage and energy to make the process fun! "

info@howmuchjoy.com