Wishing

This spring I took an e-course called Mondo Beyondo. It was about dreaming big. That is, it was about the things we wish for – how do we figure out what we want and how do we go after them? Among the books on the recommended reading list were The Alchemist and The Wishing Year, neither of which I had read before.

The Wishing Year in particular spoke to me because the woman who wrote it, Noelle Oxenhandler was a bit of a skeptic. I loved Mondo Beyondo and I got a lot of out The Alchemist too, but sometimes there was this one little thing that rubbed me the wrong way. It’s hard for me to believe the claim that the Universe wants us to achieve our dreams and if we just wish hard enough, it will happen. I mean, every single day there are millions of people wishing very hard that they weren’t living with drought, or famine, or war, or genocide. I refuse to believe that the Universe doesn’t care to remedy those situations but is willing to help Noelle Oxenhandler in her dream of “a house, a man, and [her] soul” or me with my (comparatively) insignificant dreams. I appreciated The Wishing Year because Oxenhandler raised those same concerns.

Yet, she still became a believer in wishing (or dreaming) and in fact, she even achieved her dreams for a house, a man and renewed spirituality. Mondo Beyondo (and the above mentioned books) turned me into a believer too, but not because I ended up convinced that the Universe does care about our dreams. What I gleaned from all the reading and thinking I did on the subject was that wishing makes dreams come true for three reasons:

1. The act of wishing or dreaming, particularly if associated with some ritual like writing the Mondo Beyondo list or following the varied and elaborate steps in The Wishing Year, clarifies what you want and puts it front and center for you. To achieve your dreams, you need to keep focused on them. You can’t let them get swept into the corner. Having a clear intention is the first part of taking a step towards a goal.
2. Making a wish often involves an element of release or letting go, closing it up in a box or forgetting about it. This is the part about believing that there are outside forces involved. For me, this doesn’t mean that there will be divine intervention. It means that part of making a wish or daring to dream is to allow it to unfold. Because we can’t foresee the future and the ways we may change as we proceed towards our dreams, it’s important that we give our dreams some wiggle room. You may get exactly what you wished for despite the fact that when you wished it you couldn’t even see clearly what it would look like. You have to leave some of it open to chance (or divine intervention, if that’s what you prefer).
3. The reasons some people seem so good at having their dreams come true is because they change their attitude. They approach life ready to say yes, to try new things and they go about their day with a sharp eye for opportunity (signs or omens if you read The Alchemist). They are willing to change their lives. They don’t let fear or negativity hold them back and because they take more risks, they get more rewards.

To me, wishing involves all the things we call we prayer, asking the Universe, certain meditations, superstitions and if they are heartfelt and accompanied by the attitude change and willingness to be flexible that I described above, I really believe that all of these forms of wishing carry power and beauty with them.

Do you make wishes? Do you believe in wishes and dreams coming true? Has it happened to you? What do you wish for right now?