Did you ever have a film crew invade your home? Well, I just had that experience.
Last weekend 20th Century Fox took over my Upper Manhattan street with movie trucks, trailers, and a swarm of intensely focused people.
They were filming The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, with Sean Penn and Ben Stiller (no, I didn’t see either of them). It’s based on a short story that you may have read in high school, about a man who seeks escape from his humdrum existence with fantasies of derring-do in which he casts himself as the hero.
In James Thurber’s amusing tale, Walter Mitty is as ineffectual in real life as he is heroic in his daydreams.
This got me thinking about the role of fantasy in my own life.
It’s hard to admit, but I often have a tendency to project my plans and visions onto the future. The result 
is that I feel inspired and optimistic, while keeping my dreams safely at a distance. I can convince myself this future will come to pass, but for now I don’t have to take action.
It’s as though creating the vision and feeling the excitement is enough. And besides, I get so many great ideas – which one should I pursue?
Does this ever happen to you? Do you, like me, sometimes find it easier to think, plan, vision and dream than to act?
I think this is true of many creative people. And a lot of entrepreneurs, too. We come up with idea after idea. We open ourselves to inspiration and receive amazing “spiritual downloads.” But we may not be so grounded in the physical realm. It’s often easier and more fun to stay “up there” – am I right?
It’s only recently that I started using the word “fantasy” for this tendency I have.“Fantasy” does not have as nice a connotation as “vision” or “inspiration.” But if the vision never takes form, while I keep convincing myself I will do it soon, then it could be called a fantasy.
When I first confronted myself with this word, it stung a little. But it also brought much-needed clarity to something I had not been looking at.
I don’t want my creative visions to be my “secret life” – do you? I don’t want to pretend to myself I’m really “going to do it,” all the while avoiding the real life risks that I’m afraid of. That fear is one of the largest factors in keeping action frozen and allowing fantasy to lull me into false complacency.
If you have a “secret life,” it may mean you have visions you’ve not known how to bring into manifestation. It may mean you don’t believe you can stretch that far, and be the person you’d have to be to live them. It may mean that your inner desires are at odds with your image of yourself or what you, or anyone you know, has done so far.
Your secret life may be a dream you haven’t ever spoken to another soul. Maybe you’ve not even fully admitted it to yourself – yet.
Moving from dreams to creating a new reality is not so easy. I won’t pretend it is. But here’s what I know: you CAN truly become the hero or heroine of your own life. It’s a process and there are steps.
The most important steps are identifying your vision, knowing what actions to take, and starting to take them.
For that it helps a whole lot to have someone to guide you, to hold your hand, and to believe in your vision... to believe in you even more than you believe in yourself!
If you want to stop living a SECRET LIFE and start manifesting your dreams right here, right now, give me a call. It’s on me.
By the way, I am currently offering a trio of sessions to help you identify your Vision – and to look at the first steps you need to take to make it a reality.
You can find out more by clicking on this link:
http://www.yourtimetobloom.com/springspecial/
