In the grand scheme of things, my grand schemes seem fairly insignificant.
In a global sense it's easy to feel as if my life counts for nothing, or at most, counts for little.
I've had several earnest people tell me in no uncertain terms that I was wasting my life as I sailed around the world on my yacht, and I can understand why they felt that way. Those people thought I was on a prolonged vacation, and they didn't understand that I was making a life and doing things that were important to me.
They couldn't see that I was giving my children a multicultural experience that made them into citizens of the world.
We didn't just sail around the world, we sailed around the world as a family. In the age of single parent families we were doing things the old fashioned way - we were a real deal family unit in which every person on board had responsibilities that contributed to a safe voyage.
My children survived without cell phones and a dreaded peer group to complicate their lives, and they grew up to be good citizens of the world who actually cared about other people - even people from the third world.
During that eleven year voyage, I maintained the yacht, wrote five books, started three web sites, and paid for my children's college education. There weren't enough hours in a day to do all the important things that demanded my attention.
Now that I have sailed around the world, I can finally take a real vacation from all of that work.
A long time ago I learned that what other people think of me is none of my business, and I focused on doing what was important to me.
Life is an inside job that works best when I start from the inside and work my way out.
When someone tells me that I shouldn't be doing things that are important to me, and that I'm wasting my life, they are really saying that my dreams don't count in their scheme of things. My dreams aren't important, and instead, I should live dreams that make sense to them.
These people are Outside-Inners because they are taking their outside dreams and trying to cram them down my throat, and that doesn't work. It's the recipe for anger and frustration, and is a terrible way to make a life.
In the grand scheme of things, my grand schemes are supremely important to me and to me alone.
I have a choice. I can either live my dreams, not worrying about what other people think, or I can forget my dreams, and let them wither.
If I do that, my spirit will wither as well. Joy will no longer spring up in my heart, and each step I take will echo the dull thud of dread I feel in my heart that results from not living my dreams.
The handwriting is on the wall, and the message is clear. There is simply nothing more important than living my dreams.
Even if I don't rock the world, I can still rock my world and that's what counts.
Someone much smarter than me said, "What you do isn't important, but it's important that you do it." Those words have the ring of truth, and you can build your life on them.
So fire up your dream machine and have a few grand schemes of your own, because that's why you're here on planet earth.
God gave you the capacity to dream, and He gave you a lifetime to make those dreams come true.
Please excuse me. I must go now because it's time to work on my grand schemes.
Many times I felt like I had taken things to the limit, but on further examination, it was clear I simply had enough. I was done and was unwilling to do whatever it takes to continue. Hitting the wall of absolute limits has never been a problem. The envelope of possibility is infintely large, and the likelihood of encountering absolute limits is infinitesimally small. There are no limits. There are only limiting beliefs.
The envelope of possibility is infintely large, and the likelihood of encountering absolute limits is infinitesimally small. Although the envelope of possibility is exceedingly large, it is equally true on a personal level the envelope of possibility is only as big as you believe it to be.
I am a daktari without borders. I am not sure when and where borders disappeared from my mind, but sometime in the last quarter century, I became a citizen of the world. Wherever I am on planet earth, I feel at home in my borderless world. Find out what it's like to live without borders.
When my life is over and on judgment day I stand in the final line up with all the rest, I hope millions of people can point their finger at me, pick me out of the line up, and say, "He's the one. That's definitely him. He's different from the rest. He didn't conform, and he is guilty of living his dreams.
Everything is a miracle, and every day you are totally immersed in the miraculous. From the top of your head to the tip of your toes, you are a miracle. From the day of your birth until the day of your death, your cup overflows with the miraculous. Don't trade the miraculous for the merely clever!
You are never safe from negation. Unchecked negativity can rapidly flush the achievements of a lifetime down the drain. If you ever reach your dreams, it will be because you stopped listening to the voice of fear and negation. You stopped looking at your limitations and stopped constructing barriers that exist only in your mind.
I could write an entire book called, "Things I Feared That Never Happened," and follow that up with a second book entitled, "I Feared The Wrong Things." Almost always, fear is a waste of time. Most of the things you fear will never happen, and you fear the wrong things. When the hobglobins of fear start dancing in your mind, it's time to refocus on other things. Learn how to squelch the voice of fear with a positive focus!
For me, the dream is all about adventure, freedom, and being really alive. Although I like seeing the sights wherever we go, I think it's the sense of adventure coupled with the freedom to do what I want to do with my life, seasoned with a pinch of adrenalin that makes it all worthwhile.
The first step in moving toward your dreams is to doubt your limits. Once you doubt your limits, it's almost as if you are born again. You get an entirely new life with radically different rules of engagement. You enter the Promised Land of Imagine, Believe, and Receive. I know this to be true because I have been there.
WHO IS DR. DAVE AND WHY IS HE BLOGGING?
More than two decades ago, Captain Dave (aka Dr. Dave) started writing and creating websites as he sailed around the world on his sailboat, SV Exit Only. Those early websites and books evolved into the Positive Thinking Network you see today.
Captain Dave lived overseas for twenty-eight years in his globe trotting lifestyle until he became a Flying Doctor with the Indian Health Service working for ten years in the American Southwest flying out to deliver health care to the Apache, Hopi, Hualapai, Havasupai, and Colorado River Tribes.
Dr. Dave completed his work with the Indian Health Service in Arizona, and now runs the Positive Thinking Network full time either from his catamaran or his Land Rover Defenders as he travels around the world
The Positive Thinking Network has a global outreach sending a positive message to 196 countries, and it is your definitive source of positive thinking on the World Wide Web.
With hundreds of positive websites, and more than a million pages and podcasts downloaded each month, it's where you come to learn everything you want to know about positive thinking. The Positive Thinking Network focuses on positive self-talk, positive spirituality, winning the battle against depression, PTSD, and positive adventure.
Hundreds of family safe websites stand ready to fill your mind with positive things.
Dr. Dave and the Positive Thinking Network work around the clock to change the world, one person at a time, one web page at a time, and one podcast at a time.
