How to DREAM BIG and stay content

I’m a dreamer and I always have been! I’m realizing as I get older that it’s not necessarily a skill that everyone inherently has. Which I’m excited to follow up later with different steps on how to begin to dream.

But for now, I want to talk about two very important practices that every dreamer needs to step into. Which I talked about in detail on my latest podcast episode on “IN THE MEANTIME WITH TIMMY RIGGS”

See, I have an audacious, massive, possibly embarrassingly huge dream. It’s to have a Disney level wholistic resort called Riggs Oasis…ok I’m still working on the name, but for now that’s what I’ve been calling it! I go into a lot of detail about it on my podcast which you can also listen to on apple or Spotify.

But in short it’s to have a high level resort center based around becoming more healthy and whole in all major six components of our life: spiritual, mental, physical, relational, financial and vocational. Who doesn’t want to thrive in all of those areas of life?

I dream about and talk about this idea, on a pretty regular basis with those in my inner circle. When I wrote this I also had another dream. It was 30 degrees and snowing…I love warm weather and I love the beach. So I instantly started looking at flights for my family back to my home state of Florida…Alas, that was just a dream. Ticket prices are astronomical.

So with having my dream, in the meantime, of being in warmer weather, and my dream of seeing Riggs Oasis come to pass, there is something that can happen to me and I know others face this too.

I’m calling it dream paralysis. Essentially finding yourself in a spot where your current reality doesn’t look anything like your future dreams. And before long you can start to feel discouraged and possibly even discontent with the spot you’re in. So how to we make sure that we are moving in the direction of accomplishing our big dreams while maintaining a spirit of peace and fulfillment with where we are?

Here are my two practices that serve me well and hopefully will serve you as well:

#1: BE a person with an Attitude of Gratitude

The best path to living a fulfilling life comes from having a grateful heart. I know you might hear it all the time, but it’s a reminder we need. Most of us walking through life have so many things to be thankful for! It could be friendships, food, our bodies, a place to sleep, a car to drive, a toilet, a cup of coffee, etc. I just pulled those out of the air in 5 seconds.

There is plenty of things in your current reality that you could begin to start being grateful for. Whether it’s macro or micro. I remind people that I never think about the blood flowing thousands of miles through the veins in my body, yet it happens! That right there is enough to be grateful for. You’re either reading or listening to this, and that’s something to be grateful for.

Whether you’re dreaming about a deeper connection to God, a new job, a spouse, or more money…in the meantime if you find ways to be thankful along the way you will help guide yourself past the dreaming blues.

#2 Reverse Engineer your Dream

After you have decided in your heart that you carry around the posture of a grateful person, then some more fun work is to be had. Begin to look at your dream and work backwards. If your dream is to lose 50 pounds, that’s a big dream, then begin to look at all the steps that can get you there all the way down to the small things you can do today. Which would probably be things like taking a walk and eating the salad with grilled chicken instead of the pizza and pop.

For me, Riggs Oasis, feels so distant. But some of the key steps of getting there are me building relationships and practicing and preaching healthy practices! Those are the things today that I can do that help me feel like I’m moving in the direction of one day realizing my dream on some sort of scale!

This is the process of moving from inaction to action. Because staying still and not doing anything that moves the needle toward the side of our dream is the fasted way to feel discontent, especially if you don’t change your dream.

Now, you 100% have my permission not to try and live into these practices, but if that’s the case, then you should probably release any dream you have! It’ll just be a recipe for being sad otherwise.

Dreams, are relative. so don’t get caught up in comparing your dream to someone else’s, that’s another way to keep fulfillment at an arms length. Instead, be grateful for who God has made you to be, and keep taking more small steps in the direction that you know he has called you!