Dreams - By Karen Lynch

“Fairy tales can come true, it can happen to you
If you’re young at heart”

I can remember being a kid and hearing that song and getting so excited. It always reminded me of the magical dreams and all of the fairy tales and princesses and dreams of Disneyland. At that time there was only one Disneyland, the one in California. Disneyworld in Florida came a few years later. Don’t we all still think of Disneyland as that magical place? And Disney has become a large part of the American and even the International Culture. Disney has given the world magic, whimsy and optimism.

Walt Disney is remembered as an innovator, a creator, a folk hero and a legend. Walt Disney was a self-made success in the American tradition.
But apparently it wasn’t always easy. Walt Disney was forced to file bankruptcy five times on his way to success. Many people would have given up and quit with the stress and failures of that many bankruptcies but not Disney. He pressed on and the rest is history. The world is a more magical and wonderful place for it. Aren’t you glad he didn’t give up?

Ray Croc, the founder of McDonalds was 52 years old when he came up with his idea to sell hamburgers. He was in need of some investors so he presented his plan to a few people who could help him out. These two men with their vast business acumen and years of practical experience reviewed his plan. On a Monday morning as the one came to his office, Ray was waiting for him and his answer. He took Ray into his office and he told him that they had run the numbers, they had reviewed the plan, and they knew what could work and what was not a good business decision. After much study they had determined that it was absolutely not possible for Ray to make any money selling hamburgers. Well, Ray disagreed and he pressed on and the rest is history.

When I was a kid I used to love to read. Still do in fact. It is definitely one of my favorite pastimes. But when I was a kid one of my favorite books was “Little House in the Big Woods”. It was the first book of the “Little House” series of eight children’s books. Most of us remember the “Little House on the Prairie” TV show and few are not familiar with these books. But it is less well known that the author, Laura Ingalls Wilder was 65 years old when she published “Little House in the Big Woods” and of course she was older than that as the remaining seven books in the series were published. Many people get a nasty notion in their head about life when they get to a certain age that they are too old. Nope, I refuse to believe in too old!

Okay, there are people who have overcome obstacles on their way to success, but what about ordinary, everyday people? Well, here’s another story.

Just a few short years ago Lori McKenna was an “everyday, 30-something” stay-at-home mom. She had married at a young age and she was busy raising five kids and taking care of a household and a husband. But she still dreamed. And she wrote down those dreams in the form of music. Lori is a songwriter. But she didn’t know how her dreams might come true or if they even could come true. It seemed impossible. Her family responsibilities seemed to have taken over her life and there were times I’m sure that she felt the pain of thinking that her dreams and aspirations were in vain. But a couple of years ago, some of her songs were brought to the attention of Faith Hill. Yeah, that would be Faith Hill the country music superstar. Faith is at the point in her career where she can pick and choose the songs that she records. Well on Faith’s last CD, Fireflies, she chose three of Lori McKenna’s songs- “Stealing Kisses” (a beautiful song but very haunting, haunting lyrics!), “If you ask” and “:Fireflies”.

Now Lori McKenna is described as an “Acclaimed singer, songwriter” when just a few short years ago, Lori was just a stay-at-home mom trying to get all the laundry done and the house cleaned and only daydreaming of her songs being heard.

What is your dream? Maybe in a few short years you can be the one who is acclaimed!

If you can dream it, you can achieve it. It might not come easy. There are always obstacles in life. That’s just the way it is.

But Dreams are the high-octane fuel, the premium ice cream and the combustible electricity in the game of life. They keep you going, they sweeten it up, and they serve up the energy. Just having dreams makes life better, sweeter and more satisfying to the soul.

Keep on dreaming because “Fairy tales can come true, they can happen to you, if you’re young at heart”.

You can learn about using the power of your own mind by
picking up a copy of a Free Ebook of "The Power of the Subconscious Mind" by
Dr. Joseph Murphy at page at http://www.livethepower.com/blog/