Dreams Do Come True

Theme song: Dreams

Thanks to the generosity of my friend Brett, I went on a brief but very inspiring yoga retreat at Wilbur Hot Springs this past weekend. I wanted to share an experience I had while there.

Before I left, a mentor of mine asked me to consider my legacy--what will be left of me in 100 years?

It was a pretty difficult assignment. It felt hard to be inspired by the future when my days are so full and I often feel like I'm just getting by and am sometimes afraid that I won't.

During meditation, I suddenly remembered that when I was a very young woman just starting college, I got a small scholarship for "girls from a small town or the open country" funded by a woman long since dead. I guess you could say that funding part of my education was part of her past future.

My financial resources were limited, and this scholarship meant a lot to me. It also captured my imagination. I decided that someday I'd like to create a scholarship for a young girl like myself: someone who needed support to make her life happen.

In the rush and tumble, I had forgotten about that dream of mine. When I remembered it during meditation, I instantly wondered how I could make it happen with my current resources and financial obligations. Then I realized it is already happening because of my work with backHer, a startup crowdfunding platform, which, when launched, will exclusively fund projects by and for women and girls, as well as set aside a charitable fund to benefit women and girls internationally. This project has the potential to be much bigger than my 18 year old self had imagined (My 18 year-old self would have been pretty imaginative to come up with crowdfunding in 1987!).

It's very possible my work with backHer will fund not just one, but many, girls from small towns or the open country!

My life is definitely not what I had imagined it was going to be. In fact, it's much richer, deeper, and more filled with magic than I had thought to consider possible.

I guess the take home is that success can look many ways. The important thing is to hold fast to your values and goals and let dreams come true on their own terms.