Written By: Michael Sandoval

The Thanks I

Give P.III

What Dreams May Come

The horizon seemed to never end as Poseidon’s (the God of the sea) ocean glistened in the distance showcasing its beauty and elegance.  It seemed as though the “Gods” were in a prolonged quarrel for attention as the enchanted Greek sky full of clouds was decorated by Helios’s (the Titan God of the sun) radiant star. While I listened and watched the majestic beauty of the deep blue sea sing its melodic chorus of rhythmic pulse, I found myself disoriented in thought. I began to think and wonder… What are dreams? Are they merely a combination of thoughts, images, and sensations occurring in a person's mind during sleep? Or, are these nightly series of unconscious theatrical films something deeper and more important? Is it possible that these “dreams” can sometimes prevent us from accomplishing our true “dreams” of cherished aspirations and ambition?

Earlier in the series of writings “The Thanks I give”, I described the wide variety of challenges that I have experience in the pursuit of my personal happiness and enchanted dreams. The challenging path sometimes consisted of many undesirable sleepless nights. The nightmares were unbearable! I couldn’t stop thinking about what was happening in the world and how it was impacting the future as it related to my hopes and desires. They made me fearful! The bad dreams started to control me by eliminating the positive drive that I was known for. It was dissipating my positive armor and my true purpose was becoming irrelevant.

“let me ask you a question. The only question that really matters… Who are you”?

Throughout my life, people have asked me what my dreams are. It has always been a hard question to answer. I have always felt as if I was searching for a purpose, a vision or an idea that would give me direction and clearly be able to define my dreams and aspirations. I also wondered if there was such a thing as a “bad dream”. Could wrong choices and wrong turns lead us to the nightmares of our very own existence?

After years of reflection, I realized that my dream was straight forward; I wanted to be happy! Was it that simple? Was being happy a task that we could wake up and decide on without considering anything beyond our control? Was being happy relative to the people we surrounded each other with and or the decisions we made? Was being happy a big enough dream to have? What was it about achieving it that scared me the most?

I have realized that with happiness comes a form of vulnerability. As we receive our personal form of bliss we soon find out that there may be a chance that one day we wake up and that euphoric feeling of internal desire may be gone. We allow the undesirable fear to control our hope that sometimes it prevents us from reaching our desired ELYSIUM!

 As I seemed to be moving forward towards an achievement that I set out to have since the age of 18, it seemed as though reality felt to be making things more complicated. The fear of losing my happiness and lifelong goal was sometimes unbearable. I reflected on an inspirational speech that I watched often given by actor named Denzel Washington; he Said…

“I find that nothing in life is worthwhile unless you take risks”. “I never understood the concept of having something to “fall back” on…” If i’m going to fall, I don’t want to fall back on anything! I want to fall forward! ”   “Don’t be afraid to FAIL BIG, don’t be afraid to DREAM BIG, but remember….. DREAMS without goals…. Are just DREAMS! “

As I listened to the speech over and over again, a form of comfort set in as I remembered the great minds of the past.

Thomas Edison conducted 1000 failed experiments; the 1001st experiment resulted in the lightbulb. He didn’t fall back on anything after his challenges; he “Fell Forward” with progress! Every failed experience is one step closer to success and I began to comfort myself with the thought and reminder that inevitably I will fail at something; but, “To get something I never had, I was going to have to do something that I never did”. 

“Time wasted waiting for inspiration is time lost”.

The Universal element of time is something that we sometimes take for granted. It is when time has withered away that we realize that it is precious and unforgiving. We forget that the cadence of life’s moving rhythm will ever stop for neither anything nor anyone. It is special but scary to think that as each minute passes we lose a piece of our past as well as a piece our potential opportune future. The melting clock of life seems to always fight against our attempt to beat it and sometimes leave us with an undoubted depth of regret or remorse. I realized something interesting during this moment of reflection; “Time is not the main thing! It is the only thing!!” How we decide to use each minute on earth will determine our individual legacy and define how we achieve these dreams that we are so destined to achieve.

I figured out that my dream of achieving happiness was like trying to figure out the meaning of life…. Very difficult to understand but as we begin to surrender ourselves to “its” uncertainties we can begin to find the possibilities to see its true enchanted opportunity.

The time was now! “Time” to turn a “DREAM” into a reality and experience the true beauty of…….

What Dreams May Come