Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow…
| on April 28, 2008 at 2:51 pm | filed under Empowered Awareness |
I just got back from a four day women’s retreat at a beach town in Washington State called Ocean Shores. The best thing about such networking events is that everyone has such funny and interesting stories to share, especially when it’s a group of midlife people. Lots of life to talk about: current dreams and goals, unconscious living in the young years, surprising roads taken, actual road trips and other fascinating life journeys.
One of my conversations this weekend led to Disneyland adventures. One woman talked about a road trip she took with her two children and how precious it was to hear the kids’ squeals of delight as they just “happened” upon Disneyland. Being someone who grew up not far from Disneyland I was relating how much I loved the Carousel of Progress. Of course, once I told them I still remembered all the words to the theme song they asked me to sing it.
So I started singing…”There’s a great big beautiful tomorrow shining at the end of everyday. Oh there’s a great big beautiful tomorrow and tomorrow is just a dream away. Man has a dream and that’s a start. He follows his dream with mind and heart and when it becomes a reality, it’s a dream come true for you and me”…and I got full-body, soul-deep goosebumps!! I’ve sung that song to my nephew as a child and periodically to other kids. Yet, this was the first time my physical reaction led to a HUGE “Aha!” that let me know “Yeah, you’re living it!” The song’s theme is very close to the message I teach today! The law of attraction, the power of visualizing the future with dream boards, and my “What You Notice Matters!” motto all support the belief that living aware and aligning emotions (heart) and thoughts (mind) helps you achieve your dreams and appreciate what you have now. So maybe that seed got planted way back when by good old Walt and I’ve been working toward living that truth boldly ever since. So…I’m wondering what messages other people got as children that have stayed with them and have had a positive attitude impact and a positive impact on their lives. Let me know if you have a fun story to share.
Hmmm, my only memory from Disneyland was that horrible repetitive song, “It’s a Small World” and all those horrible frightening dolls with The Exact Same Smile on their faces and how it gave me nightmares for years afterward…….
Anyway, your story sounds much nicer. Yeah, “good old Walt,” but think of all the tiny scarred psyches he’s responsible for!!
April 28th, 2008 at 5:34 pmOh, you’re so right Small World was just too long and that song just too repetitive. Some manifestations of our “dreams” just don’t quite match the vision we had in mind — often with laughable results (gotta laugh at ourselves). Yet, in the end, if we think we’re touching other lives positively, and we understand that we can’t make everyone “see what we see” and we can’t always get it perfect, it’s important to follow the vision that inspires us and drives us to create. And, hopefully we don’t scare the kiddies or the adults.
April 28th, 2008 at 6:26 pmHmmmm… You want us to talk about COOL childhood things, right??
I LOVED the Carousel Of Progress also but I think I liked watching the nice family and how the styles changed over the years. Funny that you remember the song!
I remember when I was in Hebrew High School (we met in the evenings, after a day of regular high school! Very hardcore!) we were talking about whether God has changed since Biblical times. I said that He had to have changed because how could we live with a God that was so random and vengeful (so HUMAN, in other words).
My classmates mocked me saying, “You want a God who’s all sweetness and light” (Ummm, YEAH!!! Who doesn’t???) “You can’t have that, that’s not realistic.” They actually said this; I remember it quite clearly.
I spent years looking for the sweetness and light and then when I was about 36 I heard people reading about “understanding, love and peace” referring to God. I thought: “YEAH BABY! I finally get the God I wanted when I was 16!!”
Let’s hear it for sweetness, light, understanding, love, and super-radiance!
April 30th, 2008 at 1:03 amLove the Hebrew school story. I’m so glad you’ve found the sweetness and light. I believe that sweetness and light is the stuff of soulful selves — so if we learn to see it and expand it in ourselves we “see” and experience god-ness.
April 30th, 2008 at 3:41 pmI was there when you broke into song, Melissa. It was truly amazing, and clearly a beginning point for your journey to now. I feel blessed (and I don’t say that lightly at all) to be getting to know you. I can’t wait for our play-day at the Market!
May 21st, 2008 at 10:57 pm