Dreams On Wheels Part III: Olympic Dreams

Dreams On Wheels 2012 Tour Route

Thought for the Day: As I prepare to start my Dreams on Wheels 2012 tour tomorrow, the Olympics are in full swing. When I began planning the tour, I did not realize that the Olympics would coincide with my trip. I regret that my TV viewing time, as well as my time for writing blog posts about the stories of the athletes, is limited, since I love the Olympics. In particular, I find the stories of the athletes' overcoming adversity inspiring. Olympic athletes are true 'wake up dreamers.' They can inspire us all to push ourselves & reach our own personal best.

Triumph

Jordyn Wieber Tears

Often their dreams to attend the Olympics start when they are children. Their parents enroll them in a sport and they discover their passion. Many children dream of becoming a world class athletes, but to make it to the Olympics they must train diligently for many years before they are old enough to qualify. Years of early morning practices,  countless competitions, wins and losses, triumphs and failures, as well as tears of joy & tears of disappointment, mark the journey towards their dreams. It takes talent,  perseverance, and passion to make it to their Olympic dreams. There are many obstacles that get in the way. The newscasts are filled with tales of bouts with injuries, cancer, loss of loved ones, financial hardships that could easily stop many people from continuing on the path to their dreams. When they overcome adversity and reach the Olympics the achievement is even sweeter. Winning is glorious, but just being among the world's greatest athletes should be enough to make every Olympian proud.

Athletics lend themselves to quantifiable tasks which can be measured by numbers of repetitions and the results can also be easily measured. In life not all dreams are as easy to map out and measure. However, when you chart out your dreams, you can find ways to measure and assess your progress.  'Wake up dreams' using the Dream Positioning System, can help you map your way to your dreams. Listen carefully to the stories of the athletes. Let them inspire you to start moving towards your dreams.

No 'wake up dream' is too small or too lofty to aspire to reach. Tomorrow I will be starting the Dreams On Wheels 2012 book tour, celebrating dreams & dreamers, the release of my new e-book versions on Amazon.com, The Wake Up and Dream Challenge, benefiting 21 dream nonprofit organizations helping people overcome adversity and reach their dreams. I will be visiting with three of the charities benefiting from my book, Boaz & Ruth, Elimination of Prejudice & Menorah Park. I will tell you more about them in subsequent posts.

Dreams On Wheels is also a traveling positive psychology research project complete with a Dream Team of interns conducting & filming interviews with people along the route, in NYC, Philadelphia, Washington DC & more. I was into positive psychology long before it had an official name & hope to discover how Americans' dreams are faring in these tough financial times. The tour & clips from the interviews can be followed live & on multiple social media sites.

I hope you will make some time while you are watching the Olympics to visit my blog & facebook page to hear how people along the way are meeting the challenges of today's world as they move towards their dreams.

Part I: Dreams On Wheels 2012 Coming Soon

August 1 - 8, 2012

Thought for the day: When you start using the Dream Positioning System™ (DPS) it goes on automatic pilot. The end destination & dreams remain the same, but how you get there can shift & adjust as road conditions change & new circumstances arise. Dreams start falling into place & sometimes turn out even better than you originally planned. (Just in case you are wondering how many people read this blog, since January when I started writing it, there have been over 10,000 page views! Thank you for visiting & please share this site with your friends. Dreams are happening here!)

Lifelong Learning at Menorah Park

I knew that I would be going to Ohio this summer to be a Scholar in Residence at Menorah Park Senior Living Center. I was excited to have the opportunity to share my knowledge with a wonderful facility that helps senior citizens accomplish their dreams. I also planned to visit Richmond VA where I will be speaking about how Dream Positioning can help fight bullying to leaders of Elimination of Prejudice from colleges across the US & Canada at their national convention.

Originally my plan was to fly to Richmond & then to Cleveland, since the events are happening one right after the other. As the plans for the 2 events began to unfold, the idea of videotaping some of the conference participants about bullying & their dreams as part of my presentation arose. Initially, I had what I thought was a wild idea. Since I have a film student as one of my interns, I thought it might be helpful to have her come along.  If I drove instead of flying to Richmond, I could see if Allie, my intern, could accompany me to Richmond. I would have to help her with bus fare back home, but thought it would be worth it to have her extra help & knowledge of film making. When I brought this idea up in my Dream Team meeting, the other interns asked if they could come as well. They volunteered to help with gas & to pay for their own lodging & expenses. I was touched & impressed by their enthusiasm & initiative.

I decided to ask Menorah Park if they would consider paying for the rental of a van to bring me & my team to both Virginia & Ohio. Even though it cost a bit more than airfare, Menorah Park generously agreed. They liked the idea of helping the other nonprofits included in the book & of having a cross generational element to the presentations along with some videotaping at their site as well.

Firehouse 15 Restaurant

Since Boaz & Ruth, a program that helps restore the lives of ex-convicts is in Richmond, I arranged for another event & book signing at the Firehouse 15 Restaurant which Boaz & Ruth operates. They may also help with some of the plans for the Elimination of Prejudice's workshops. I will be seeing if any of the other Dream Nonprofits featured in my book would like to have our Dreams On Wheels Van stop by while we are en route!



The power of Dream Positioning never ceases to amaze me! More news will be forthcoming about this tour! If you live anywhere on the route, we would love to hear from you & would appreciate any ideas of places to have a book signing.