It is important that we learn how to nourish our dreams, define our mission, and set our goals. Can we do this successfully? Absolutely!!

Dreams are an integral part of living. They reside in that familiar place in our minds that we can access at will, and they have the ability to renew our souls, and build us up at times when all around seems dark and dreary.

They cater to our alternate reality. There are some dreams that we boldly share, and others that are so fragile that we wrap them protectively around our hearts. But always, always, we pray, and wish for them to come true.

I believe in the power of dreams. I believe that they are inspirational gifts from God that must be treasured and nourished. I believe that dreams act as treasure maps to assist us in defining our life’s mission. How can we nourish our dreams? We can do this by refusing to let them die.

Against any seeming odds of realizing these dreams, we must continue to be bold in our acceptance of them, for they strengthen the power we each hold within us. With the uniting gifts of hope, and faith, we can turn these dreams into goals, these goals into reality, and reap many blessings. As a favourite song says, ‘If you never have a dream, you’ll never ever have a dream come true!

Dreams can be the wake-up call in defining our life’s mission Have you ever felt so strongly about an event that happened in your life that you dream constantly of changing the outcome? I have. The book that did it for me was called "Black Beauty", and was required reading for my class when I was about eight years old.

It was the story of a beautiful, black horse that won many races for its owner. As its racing years ended, and it became old and lame however, its owner forgot the wealth that the horse had brought him, and, in a fit of rage at having to feed and shelter a now useless animal, he sold it to be hackneyed.

The story continued to describe the pain, discomfort, and indignity the animal endured until it was finally rescued by a kind-hearted farmer who welcomed it to his farm, showering the animal with love, kindness, and the companionship of other horses, until the end of its life.

This book defined one of my missions in life-to be protective of any animal in need of care and shelter, to find a loving home and family to rescue them, and someday, to be able to found a shelter where any animal who needs it may safely and happily live out the remaining days of their lives with loving and helpful services provided free of cost to the providers.

To ensure success in any project we desire to implement we should make the setting of our goals our first priority. What then are goals and how should we set them? Goals can be about anything that we choose, as important or as simple as we like, and can cover any aspect of our lives we wish to change, or at which we desire to become more successful, whether it is along career or personal paths.

Preparing a goal plan and then putting it into practice is a great way to begin the process, and there are some relevant criteria which should be followed.

If we are to be certain we will achieve our goals, we must create them in such a way that they are specific, practical, challenging, attainable, targeted, and fun. We should make short- term goals, medium-term goals and finally, long term-goals. Goal setting should be precise, and we should be realistic about the time-frame in which we would like to see completion.

If we are considering setting several goals at once, it is necessary that we prioritize them, so that we complete the ones we feel are most important for that duration of time we have envisioned. This prevents us from becoming overwhelmed with which goal to pursue first. When we write our goals down, we solidify them in our mind’s eye, and we set the course for progress.

Goals should be crafted in such a way that there is time to pause along the way and reflect on our progress. We should also make time to keep ourselves joyful, or to simply ‘smell the roses’. We should also be willing to unhesitatingly congratulate ourselves once we have accomplished any one of our goals. It will give the inspiration needed to continue on our journey.

When we follow these simple rules, we will be well on our way to building our life of success.