Recently,  I presented a talk at Calgary Unity to introduce Thoreau’s words as a ‘code’ to live an ever expanding, full and meaningful life.  He himself conducted an experiment with his life to ‘suck the marrow’ from it. The following interpretation of the oft quoted lines is adapted from and build on Mary Morrissey’s work in the highly impactful coaches training I completed at the Brave Thinking Institute. May you find something of value in it for your own life.

“If one advances confidently in the direction of their Dream, endeavouring to live the life they are imagining, one passes an invisible boundary and meets with a success unexpected in common hours.  All sorts of things begin to occur that never otherwise would have occurred.  New, more universal, liberal laws begin to establish themselves around that person or the old laws are rearranged in ones favour. Nevertheless, one begins to live with the license of a higher order of being.”Henry David Thoreau

Our starting point is the understanding  that we are Spiritual Beings having a human experience.  This is not news to any of us but we sometimes fall asleep to the awareness that we are both human and Divine, in all ways and across all time and space. I kind of love thinking about the image of an equilateral cross as I use this understanding consciously and with intention. The human side of our nature has a birth date and an end date; the horizontal line.  Intersecting this, is our divinity; eternal, infinite, Love, God.  I love the idea of broadening  this vertical line to inform more of my human experience, knowing that as I do, life just gets better and better, from the inside-out. Freedom. Peace. Joy. Abundance. Love. Taking a deep breath, as we do during meditation, calms our nervous system and puts us in a state that is aligned with the infinite side of ourselves.  I like to think of my breath as sacred – and the interaction of the in-breath and out-breath being the point of Now – the point of co-creation. 

All that is, is part of an ever-evoloving, upward spiral of becoming, including us.  Think of the grass growing through cement or the trees we saw this summer, growing strongly from rocks in the middle of a river.  For years I had a magnet on my fridge with this saying from the Talmud, “Every blade of grass has its angel bending over it, whispering, Grow.  Grow!”

When we experience an ever-increasing, up-leveling well-being in life, we have learned how to unlock universal laws and then practice them with ever-greater skill throughout our life and beyond – this starts with knowing with a capital K who we really are; One with all that is.   

Let’s unpack the code! 

• If one advances confidently The confidence that comes from knowing who you Truly are – forever connected and One with an Infinite Power for Good – Love expressed – LIFE.  This recognition and awareness allows us to be confident. We are one with the power that creates worlds!
• In the direction of their Dream  A dream that I believe is uniquely downloaded to every one of us – as unique as your thumb print – the thing that gives you Joy.  Gives you Life!  Taking steps in the direction of that; what feels right and true for you and that is connected to this forever stream of Good.   
• Endeavouring to live the life they are imagining I love this word ‘endeavouring’. We begin to take steps in the direction of our dream, not perfectly, but striving and doing what we can from where we are with what we have.
• One passes an invisible boundary The invisible boundaries are the thoughts and beliefs that keep us in place within the walls of the way it has always been. It’s the stories we tell ourselves about the ‘way it is.’ When we start to live from the code, and from our Vision rather than conditions, we cross those invisible boundaries.
  

Mary tells a story about a seasoned fisherman spotted from a distance by a couple of young men fishing in vain downstream. They notice that he is very successful, casting in his line and pulling out fish after fish. They want to learn his secret so begin moving closer to him and they see something very curious. Every time he pulls out a fish, he also pulls out a broken ruler and measures the new catch against it. To their bewilderment, he tosses many of the fish back into the river. When they get close enough to talk with him, the older fisherman lets them know that he has a frying pan at home and that his ruler is the exact size for the fish that will fit in it. All those big fish, they get tossed back.

The frying pan is his invisible boundary.  

What is yours? What belief systems do you hold that limit your infinite potential for ever-expanding Good?  

In my own life I had spent decades on diets, that felt constrictive, limiting, punishing, and defeating. I had a belief that I had tried everything and nothing worked.  As I was doing my coaching training, I named a number that I was before I had children. I clearly felt it was impossible, and tagged it with the energy that I will never deprive myself again.  But I played along.  I gave my Dream a few minutes everyday and over time, my awareness shifted and opened to new possibilities I had never thought of.  People showed up and ideas showed up and I started to feel wonderful inside and I stayed off the scale. When I finally did have a look, I had crossed an invisible boundary! This was my first conscious affirmation of the power of living a Vision-Driven life versus a condition-based life.  

• and meets with a success unexpected in common hours – You are living your life – washing the dishes, getting groceries, showing up in all the ways you always have, but now you are coming from the energy of your Vision, and suddenly you see yourself living in it.  When you look back, you can see the breadcrumbs of what brought you there; and each step felt like ordinary life,  so it feels like a kind of miracle when you realize what has been created; in common hours.
• New, more universal, liberal laws begin to establish themselves around that person or the old laws are rearranged in ones favour. We start to live less from the energy of the conditions in our lives and more and more from the energy of our Vision.Sychroniciites and coincidences and ideas and people show up and all this starts to occur that supports us to be our Vision. The patterns of our Dream are now reflected in the experiences of our Life.  
• Nevertheless, one begins to live with the license of a higher order of being. Think back to when you were a child and that first day when you felt yourself begin to soar on your bike – the places you could go – the experiences you could have – the freedom you felt!  Take it a step further, when you turned 16 and you learned to drive – there were ups and downs, and so much to learn, and you kept at it and took that driving test.  At the end, you were given a license.  This was a license for even more expanded Life!  Independence!  Freedom! This is how it works for us as we truly begin to live life from the point of power within!  There is awareness that recognizes the principles in the code and then a willingness to implement them.  

In order to move confidently in the direction of your Dream, you need to have one! I invite you to join me in making a bold experiment with your life, and dare to Dream!

Why is naming and claiming your Dream so powerful?  

There is a lot going on in your Subconcious mind.  When you go to the movies, do you ever laugh or cry?  You know it is not real, so why do you have the reaction?  Your subconscious mind does not know the difference between something you are vividly imagining or actually experiencing. 

You can’t stop your brain from processing this way.  Here’s the good news.  If a movie can do this, imagine what can happen with your Dream? Your conscious mind knows it isn’t real, but your subconscious mind responds anyway.  So, if you are making stuff up, why not make up stuff that serves your Vision, sense of self, and others around you that helps you step into the highest version of yourSelf?

Crafting Your Dream

• Ask: What would I love?
  • Breath deeply. Feel the connection to the part of you much deeper than your human energy.
    • When we ask that question, it seems simple. It is powerful because it bypasses the logical, ‘human side’ of ourselves and taps into the Infinite side of us that is Love – our Christ self. The answer may make no sense to the logical side of you, but it will make sense to your Soul.  The question, in big or small ways will always lead to more expansion.  BE in love with the minutes, hours, days of your life! 
  • You will be pulled to something anyway, so why not to something you would absolutely love? It is your own experiment – play big  – you are making it up anyway.
    • What would I love to have, give, do, be create?
    • If time, money, commitments, my past, were not considerations, what would I love?
  • The criteria
    • Positive terms – no looking back to what was
    • Present tense – as though it is happening now
    • Specific and sensory – everything in this part of your vision has worked out. What does it look like, feel like, smell like – what are you doing and with whom? What are you wearing? Write as though you are starring in your own movie, experiencing it – a moment in time.
    • Bring gratitude in

A personal example: 

I would like to share an example with you, that I wrote for a group last September.  I had moved in with Neil in his house in Airdrie with his daughter and his remarkable and loveable nearly 100 year old mother.  He had painted an office space for me in the room adjacent to the under-the-stairs storage that also housed the sauna which covered up half of the basement-sized window.  I was still able to have the background for my Zoom calls, but if anyone saw me making those calls, they would have seen my desk squished up close to the back wall after doing a ‘side slide’ to get in behind it.  

The living room was open to the lower level and Neil’s mom required the TV volume to be at the highest level all day.  She loved the news, in her words, “To see what the Russians are up to.” 

I thought I was quite happy just being with Neil (happier than I had ever been) and loved the cozy space we had created when this mini-vision popped to mind as I was preparing for the workshop.  I wrote it.  I shared it with the group. Then I promptly forgot about it. At the moment I wrote it, similar to my experience with the bathroom scale, it seemed an impossible thing to even consider with too many other lives hanging in the balance.  I felt kind of stuck. I forgot what I was partnering with. 

Here is what I wrote:

I glance up and out the window of our workspace overlooking the layers of green and water in the distance.  The sun is beginning to set, and the colours outside are warmed and washed in that magic glow.  I breath in the beauty with a deep, cleansing breath and move to the balcony where Neil waits with a freshly poured cup of rooibos tea.  We both breath in the wonder of the moment, hearts swelling in silent appreciation, peace, and awe before taking out our books and beginning our nightly ritual of treatment, reading and discussion.  I love my life!  

Fast forward to our house-warming party in December, less than two months after writing this ‘moment-in-time.’  One of my friends and workshop participants brought my mini-vision to my attention, saying, ‘Valda, your Vision came true.’  I argued with her and told her it was Neils Vision!  She reminded me of the workshop and what I had said and then the ‘Truth bumps’ started.  Because so much of our Vision takes place in common hours, I find (with both myself and my clients) that I can forget where I started!  We had all moved into a larger home in High River, backing onto a green space and a pond adjacent to the golf course.  Everyone in the household had the right space for their needs.  Marion’s bedroom was attached to her own bathroom, and Christy had her own space with enough room to keep her massage table set up, permanently. Neil has an office and I have a beautiful office/studio lined with windows taking in the nature of the backyard and park. The upper deck overlooks it all.  

I invite you to take about three minutes, and Journal this moment-in-time for you.  Zero in on a moment in the day in the life of You that you would love.  When you are done, ask, “If I were the person in my Vision today, how would I feel?  If I felt that way daily, starting now, how would my life change? 

Go confidently in the direction of Your Dream. It is a downloaded step for your expansion in this wonderful one-of-a-kind life of yours. You are one with an eternal Love that passes all understanding. Your Dream is for you.