Write Down Your Dreams

I was reading snippets of the book Charmz and the Rotary Silangan gave me as (ahem, ahem) token for being the guest speaker the other night and I was struck by one chapter. Bo Sanchez wrote down his dreams, at some point in his life, and when he looked back years after, guess what? Most of them came true. It struck a nerve because I have this little notebook, a memento from one of those trips in Japan when I was 19, and it is handbounded by thread, where the cover opens from the end, and on the cover is an origami of a woman in kimono, except it is tattered now, and the black hair is gone. But there on the pages are the dreams I had when I was 19. The notebook fits perfectly in my bag organizer, so small it is now sitting alongside my Benefit and Nars make-up. I tell myself a writer should always have a pen and paper on hand, but I think it's because that tiny notebook is a reminder to myself to write new ones, because yes, most of them I have achieved.
And so, even if I have more gadgets than a girl should ever have, and more beautiful, bigger, made of finer paper notebooks, I'd like to hang on to this one and look at it from time to time, and when I have rewritten new ones, I will joyfully cross the old ones out. Those dreams were written in Mongol # 2 pencil, dated June 25, 1997, when my longhand was still legible.
Yes, it is time to write new dreams. I have big and small ones; it will be a longer list, this time, I'm sure. The best part about the act? It is free, and so spiritually healing.

I used to think that dreams end with the happy ever after line. I was so wrong. But who said one can't rebuild dreams in our most broken state? In fact, if there's any chance at all to start spinning new webs for new dreams, this is it. Time to start anew.

Let's see how it works out this time. I'm pretty sure, though, that it will be just like the first list, achievable, despite the odds. For I am not me, without the fighting spirit and the resilience of a warrior.

Chase after your dreams, write them down
one by one, list them, with no regard to time,
let the vision flow freely--look up to the stars
look up when you write them down!

chase after your dreams like a knight in the dark
seeing and believing, without groping or stumbling,
chase them like a child chases after fireflies,
chase them like the wind, like the thoughts in your brain.

chase after your dreams morning, noon and night,
pin them down,sleep with them,awaken in them
focus on the vision, never let go,
don't let yourself be eaten by the realities--
dont falter, don't let go.

chase after your dreams; work hard, work smart
rest when you're weary, but
chase them in your dreams, continue while asleep--
spinning,weaving, rebuilding hope.

chase after your dreams, do what you can
paint,write,make today what you can
when you look back, maybe you're half way there,
when you look back, you'll know you've reached that far

chase after your dreams.grow.