Have you lost your ability to dream?

If so, reactivate your hope with this simple exercise...

Sometimes my clients lose their ability to dream. They feel exhausted, discouraged, and have no desire to imagine a better future. I felt this experience too when I was a CFO working eighty hours a week and growing my own business on the side. My ability to dream (the capacity to hope) got lost in a busy schedule. It wasn’t until I started taking regular Sabbaths each Sunday that my capacity to dream reawakened.

Dreaming is important, and it requires two things:

• Imagination

• Memory

Imagination allows us to look forward and “see” what does not yet exist. It inspires us to move closer and achieve the goals that we’re hoping for. Memory, in contrast, is what we’ve experienced in the past: some moments incredible, some painful.

Many of us have endured difficult events that have shaped our lives. We don’t need to deny these past pains, but we also need to recognize the benefit of moving forward. That’s where dreaming serves us well. We get to ask God, “Who am I? Why am I? What do I see?” and then follow that dream.

If you’re exhausted and feel like you’ve lost your ability to dream, here’s a simple exercise to follow: 

1. Get out a lined sheet of notebook paper. On one side, write a list of your dreams, skipping every other line so that it appears double-spaced. Ask yourself, “What am I hoping for?” Write down every dream that God brings to mind, even if some feel too big or scary.

2. Once you’ve completed this list, flip over to the other side and write down every testimony God has done in your life. Again, leave a blank space between each entry so that the page appears double-spaced.

3. After this second side is completed, flip back over to the front. You’ll see your double-spaced record of your dreams. Fill in every empty space between each dream with a testimony. This will start to blend your dreams and testimonies together. When you’re finished, do this on the second page as well and insert your dreams between each testimony.

This exercise is a great way to jump-start our dreaming capabilities. Sometimes all we need to activate our hope is to remind ourselves of what God has already done.