I said I would talk about other transitions in life for which doing Dreams & Visions sessions is a good strategy!

If you read Gail Sheehy’s famous book on passages, you know that we go through certain periods or passages in life - partly based on the age we achieve (i.e., a bar mitzvah for young Jewish boys or confirmation in the Christian tradition) and partly because our life is made up of ’seasons’.  In going from one ’season’ to another, we transition through a “rite of passage”. 

It may be high school graduation (I remember the day after graduation was pretty traumatic for me - eek, what do I do now, I thought!).  Or marriage, or the rite of passage from college to the work world.  Each of these seasons or passages comes with its own set of challenges and/or unique opportunities.  (Remind me to talk more about challenges vs unique opportunities later as it’s an important attitudinal distinction).

How do we know we’ve come to the end of a season and are entering into a ‘rite of passage’?  I can’t speak for anyone but me, however, women I’ve encountered over the years report same or similar emotional experiences during these periods of life.

The end of a life season often carries with it a sense of sadness; and in extreme situations, grief felt in the heart.  Confusion, doubt, fear and a strong sense of loss often accompanies the end of a life season.  A child leaving home, what we call “empty nest syndrome” is an excellent example.  It’s as if our usual rational mental processes take flight.  For me, I again feel like a little girl who has lost her way and doesn’t know where to turn.

Does any of this sound familiar?

These ’season-ending’ life episodes are perfect times to engage in the Dreams & Visions process.  I know, the head doesn’t want to participate or maybe it’s the heart that says “no, I don’t wanna!” 

But forcing ourselves to sit down and enter into the process is healthy because it causes our brain to focus.   And focusing our brain on any task tends to turn off the emotions that have taken over control during these stressful times.

So, take a look at the events of your life and see if you can identify the ’seasons’ that have ended and the feelings you experienced during those periods.

Then look out at your world and try to identify what season you’ve transitioned into and give it a ‘name’.  Sounds silly doesn’t it, but it’s great stuff.  I just had a season end in my life and all the above of which I’ve just written were a part of the season-ending episode.

Most importantly, it coincided with a “rite of passage” into the launch of AWP and the knowledge that the next season of life was just starting to ‘take off’.

What’s this have to do with the Dreams & Visions process?  Everything!

Make it a practice to do a Dreams & Visions session on a yearly basis - even when life is coming up roses!  Don’t always make it at the end or beginning of the year.  Try doing it when the summer is giving way to fall.

Keep a record of your sessions and revisit them frequently.  They are much like a chronicle of your growth and development.  They also serve as a refresher for a ’self-checkup’ to see how you’re doing on accomplishing the goals and objectives that are the outcome of each session or process.

Tomorrow, I’m going to talk about STRATEGY or strategies.  It’s a word we use often in the work world, but we seldom stop to study what is meant by “strategy” - so I’m going to do a little something with the word and why it’s an important process word for the 2nd half of our life journey!

 I’ve given you a little break from outlining additional steps in the Dreams & Visions process so that those of you who are just starting the process can get caught up.

In addition to talking about strategy, I’ll take us through the next step in the D & V process (shortcut for Dreams & Visions - okay?!). 

You’ll need to do a little preparation for some steps I’ll give you over the weekend - so be thinking of one or two persons (male or female) in whom you have considerable trust.  You trust them with much of who you are as a person - but it’s also important to TRUST THEM to tell you the TRUTH (hopefully in love)!

At the bottom of your list tonight,  jot down the names of that person or persons so you’ll be prepared when we get to that point.

Enough for today!  Have an AWESOME evening!

Linda