Paint Your Mona Lisa Dream

“It had long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them. They went out and happened to things.” — Leonardo da Vinci

Paint a vivid picture and implant yourself in your Dream. What does it look like? What’s your Mona Lisa Dream?

One of the first steps to dreams is to go beyond simply saying you will do something or be something at the surface level. It needs to run deep and truly be something you can visualize yourself doing and being. You want to paint a picture in your mind that’s as detailed as you can possibly imagine. Make your dreams a reality in your mind. Envision yourself living your dream. Imagine everything about yourself and also note who and what you are around. What’s different than your current life and what’s the same? Dream this as well. You want the Mona Lisa painting of your dream! What will this dream of mine look like in the most detail I can ever imagine? Paint a vivid picture (your Mona Lisa Dream) and implant yourself in it. Now look around, imagine, and create in the most intricate detail you can.

Some people do this by writing, talking, creative outlets such as vision boards, or a combination of these three or countless others. The key is to do whatever you need to do in order to paint the picture of your dream in your mind. There is no right or wrong way to do this. Everyone is different and that’s what makes us unique and in turn our dreams unique.

Now, when you paint your dream… please do not implant in your dream people who are criticizing you in your dream including yourself! This limits the detail and beauty you can create the first thing and you may not even get past the dream stage. Remove these barriers. Paint your dream (your Mona Lisa Dream) in detail without negativity.

Many people always say that you can get ahead of yourself by thinking too much. I certainly do not think this is the case in the beginning. There’s a fine line later on, but in the beginning… think with all your might, paint the Mona Lisa version of your dream, and implant yourself in it. It’s later on that thinking will get the best of you. Start by creating your Mona Lisa Dream in vivid detail.

Create Lasting Inspiration, Confidence, and Enthusiasm while Sparking Creativity

Painting your Mona Lisa dream does a wonder on creating lasting inspiration, confidence, and enthusiasm. If you don’t do this level of dreaming or cannot do so, you stand a chance of easily moving onto the next dream instead of making anything a reality, giving into poor criticism that just isn’t true or negativity by those around you or yourself, and you simply have nowhere to turn back to once you hit a wall or a hard spot with your dreams. This painting will also spark creativity. It does so by allowing your mind to not be bound by the present (where your life lives without making your dreams a reality) or by negativity. It allows you to think with a fresh sheet of paper for your mind. You’ve created this and it is truly beautiful. The sheet of paper was blank before you dreamed and now it’s so lush of reality and beauty. So much so that you are confident and passionate about your dream entirely more than ever before this.

You have it in you to create…Remember this, always.

Paint your Mona Lisa Dream.

Hold your Dream in the Corner of your Mind left Untouched and Put Away but Easily Accessible

Now that you have painted your dream (your Mona Lisa Dream) and implanted yourself in it, you need to hold that dream in the corner of your mind left untouched and put away but easily accessible! This is the point where if you continue to think and think and think about your dream, you will hurt yourself. You still must pull your picture out, but it has to have a time and a place. Pull your painted dream out of the corner of your mind when you need to. You should regularly pull it out, but not so much that it overwhelms your ability to take action and make progress. Every person and even dream might differ in how much they can go back to their painting and dream stage. The key here is that you want to be able to make your dream a reality by creating action yet you still want that painting to fall back to in order to remind yourself of your dream and to keep you mentally fresh and creative.

Act and Plan and Be Open to Change

“I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do.” — Leonardo da Vinci

Now, you’re in the action phase. Start by making a plan, however, if you haven’t yet. Even if your plan is not all entirely fool-proof, you act. Then, perfect your plans, if needed. Be open to change. Take that picture you created (Your Mona Lisa Dream), and make it real, step by step.

Progress towards your dream.

There’s a reason the word act is before plan in the above. You must be open to change. Change involves taking action by tweaking your painting as you make your dreams become a reality. Please never lose sight of or throw away your original Mona Lisa. You pull it out when needed.

You enhance it, perfect it, and let its beauty shine through even more. Continue to work on your Mona Lisa Dream.

You can do it!

Old Treasures can Spark Memories of our Inner Passions and Help us with our Future

Today, I was sitting at a local coffee shop flipping through an old folder on my computer full of pieces of writing I started years ago. I found a book I started drafting about my life that I started writing about 9 years ago (when I was only 20 or 21 years old!) but I never finished.

Even if you don’t read all of the old scribbles that I share below, my intent with this post is to share a simple, positive message…We’ve had it in us all along to create and follow our passions even if we don’t necessarily think we have. Our past can reveal a lot about ourselves and our inner passions, and in turn, can even help us with our future.

Right before I ran across this writing draft today, I read an article about something similar. (Ironic, huh?) If you have the time, I highly recommend this article titled, “To Find Your Next Act, Look Back To Your Childhood”.

Below I share the few pages of unedited writing I started around 9 years ago for a book called, 

“Life of Aleesa”

What should you do when you have faced many battles to get to your future? This is a question that is reoccurring in my mind each day. When I came from the ground bottom, and I have fought hard to make to where I am now, I feel as though I should spread my experience to others in a community-serving — life-touching way. My story is a challenge that I hope to enlighten others to forgo so they will see what life will bring them. Go the distances and do everything you can to make your goals and dreams in life a reality.

I grew up in a single parent, poverty-challenged lifestyle. It wasn’t evident to me until I noticed in the lunch lines in elementary school my lunches were registered differently than other students. Why was I unable to get the Ali-carte lunch menu? I noticed something was different about me. Every weekend my mom and went to the local pantry to receive our box full of the necessities we needed to make it through. For many years at Christmas time, remembering faintly, I remember walking into a small corner room connected to a downtown business building. Inside it was like the North Pole before Santa made his deliveries, in my mind that is. Why did I go to an unfamiliar building for Christmas presents and not my apartment? It was hitting me that I was different.

I was told at a young age in a settle way that college was important. My grandmother made me a unicorn bank when I was born which was placed on a tall shelf in my bedroom throughout early childhood. My mother would put a few pennies in the bank and say leave this here and keep adding to it throughout your school years and maybe just maybe you’ll have enough money saved to go to college.

It was always there inside me after the realization that I was different than others that I had to be different than most children. I would detain from my friends and talk to grown-ups as though I was all grown up. I wanted to change the way things were. I told my mom I would find a job so we could get a house when I was only nine. I was unaware that no one would hire me. I know now what she must have felt. I learned the greatness of charity and donation at a young age. The nearby Christian Summer Camp named Kimble Camp always seemed interesting to me, but my mom would always say it was too much money. One year the camp offered students to come to the camp for fundraising efforts. Walking door to door around the community and standing just inside by the doorway at a local gas station named Eddie’s I raised all $700.00 to attend camp that summer. I felt great! I knew hard work meant you can receive something that’s great. I continued fundraising to attend for five years after. School was important to me growing up. I was told again and again by my mother I could do anything and be anything. I was going to make it happen.

I was the nerd that everyone wanted their homework answers from. I was the unfashionable queen who sat with the “Dirty Ball Crowd” and wore those ugly nylon, stretch around the foot spandex. I was the band geek. I was a National Honor Society member. I was the person who respected everyone. I was the news nerd that watched c-span and news reports because that’s the only channels that would come in without cable. I was the one who wore elf ears to help with Santa’s Workshop. I was the shy girl scout. I was the young volunteer who stood outside Walmart in zero degree temperatures ringing the Salvation Army bell. I was the girl whose family bought food at Save-A-Lot.