Dream as if you'll live forever...

James Dean once said, "Dream as if you'll live forever, live as if you'll die today."  This is one of my favorite quotes.  I first heard it when I was in elementary school--my friend had a poster in her room with a picture of James Dean and that quote on it.  I didn't really think much of it at the time but now I realize how much meaning it has.  Wednesday March 11th was "Dream 2009" Day; a day to think about your dreams and how you can make them a reality.  It is so important for people to dream.  Dreams can be conscious wishes or subconscious desires brought to life in our sleep.  Either way, it is a way of expressing our true desires and aspirations in life.

People have been analyzing dreams for centuries, trying to figure out their true meaning and picking apart every detail of them to look for what each piece represents.  Back in ancient times they used to believe that prophecies were sent to people through their dreams.  People would come flooding to the kings and tell them of images they had in their dreams, in hope to becoming an assistant to the king because they had helped him.  The ancient Romans and Greeks believed dreams to be messages from their gods and often brought dream interpreters along to battles.  Some even believed that the dream world was even more important than the real world because we have no control over what happens when we dream.  

Although I believe dreams that happen when we are sleeping are very important insights into our inner thoughts, in my opinion conscious dreams are the more important of the two.  Whether it is a "daydream" or a dream you write out on paper and put on your mirror to be reminded of every day, these dreams are what keep us going.  Dreams are the open-ended version of goals.  A goal has a set deadline and a specific line of tasks that are to be accomplished in the process of achieving it.  A dream, however, can be as broad or as specific as you want it to be.  When we are young kids we dream of being a ballerina or a firefighter because when we are just learning things about the world, those are the most impressionistic figures in our lives.  As we get older, we dream of being things like teachers or astronauts.  And when we are older still, we realize which of those things are the most important to us.  

Dreams are the first step at becoming who you want to be and what you want to achieve in your life.  There are no limits to how much a person can dream.  So dream big.  And more importantly, don't give up on your most important dreams; make them happen.