You have big dreams?
You have great thoughts?
Are your big dreams yours or somebody else's? Are your great thoughts yours or still somebody else's?
Mind you, dreaming someone's dream or having a thought meant for someone can be mind draining and at the worst, life consuming.
Firstly, "I do not claim authority over these thoughts" as Patrick Lumumba would say, "I merely share them with you with the hope and belief that there'll be cross fertilization and cross pollination".
Many times we are told to dream big or think big. Dream big dreams and think great thoughts.
Dr Myles Monrue said, "you don't have to be big to think great thoughts but you'll rather be big when you think great thoughts."
We're mostly concerned with the end product that we barely see the process and acknowledge it for what it is, we end up raising people living in a metal rut, always trying to live up to an already laid out expectations that are beyond who they are and who they can be, for they say to themselves "if I don't dream this dream or think this thought then I am yet to either dream or think."
I believe that the goal is not to dream big but to just DREAM, not to think great but to rather THINK.
There's is a place for BIG DREAMS and GREAT THOUGHTS but follow me up let's build together.
With a lot of definitions of the words "dream" and "think", I would subject them in context to the following definitions:
Dream in the noun form means;
1: a strongly desired goal or purpose
//a dream of becoming president, husband, musician, teacher or farmer.
And in the transitive verb, it means;
1: to consider as a possibility : IMAGINE
To dream would be simply put as a goal or purpose that you and I consider as a possibility, a possibility that we all look forward to and strive towards while we walk this earth.
Think in the transitive verb would either mean;
1: to form or have in the mind
2: to have as an intention
3: to have as an opinion
4: to subject to the processes of logical thought
In the noun form, it would mean;
1: an act of thinking
And thinking, simply put would mean;
1: the action of using one's mind to produce thoughts.
And a thought would mean;
1: a developed intention or plan.
To think would simply mean a developed intention, plan or opinion that you and I have subjected to a logical process in our minds.
Drawing the line and moving backwards, to dream and to think are the most basic things we could develop in our selves and in the people around us.
Here comes the bone of contention, at the end of this our journey, I would love you to be able to see clearly that asking someone to dream big or think great most time leaves people in the zone of the unknown, the zone of not knowing what to dream or think thereby they coexist in a phase of partial and sometimes complete mediocrity. Why? It result from the fact that there is an image already casted in their minds that they try to pursue their entire lives therefore, they end up no even living the lives meant for them.
Back to the act of dreaming or thinking big. What would you term as "BIG DREAMS" or "GREAT THOUGHTS"?
If I am an aspiring businessman, should I dream to be like Aliko Dangote for my dream to be termed as big or should I dream to be like Jeff Bezos? You tell me.
What if I am an aspiring leader, should I dream to be like Abraham Lincoln, Mahatma Gandhi or Benjamin Franklin for my dream to be classed as big? You tell me.
What if I dream of becoming a General Overseer of a Religious house, who should I dream to be like for my dream to be big? Kenneth E. Haggin, Joshua Selman, E.A Adeboye, Chris Oyakhilome or who? You tell me.
The pool of names never runs dry.
How far should I dream before I satisfy the status quo of big dreamers?
I am fed with the idea that I fail to dream whenever I dream to be business oriented like my mother, to lead like my father or even to be spiritual like my church pastor. You make me ignore them, you make us ignore them all just so we fill in the array of dreamers who are the big dreamers.
Who should I think like to be classed as a great thinker, Albert Einstein, Leonardo Da Vinci, Galileo Galilei or who? You tell me.
You make me feel so inferior in my thoughts that I fail to think at all, I get so lukewarm that life pass by right before my eyes without me actually living the life meant for me.
Set no limits to your dreams or thoughts, just do it, just dream and just think.
Am I telling you not to dream big, not in anyway. But I ask, what does dreaming big looks like to you? Not to me, not to your father nor even your spouse, to you who is reading this, what does dreaming big mean to you?
When I ask you to not just dream big but rather dream, do not neglect the place of putting your dream at a higher place but it should be according to your standard and not mine - your goals should determine how big your dreams are, not mine. Same thing applies to your thoughts, let it be subject to your approval and not mine nor anybody else's (as a Christian, subject your thoughts and dreams to God first).
It was William Clement Stone who said, “Aim for the moon. If you miss, you may hit a star”.
Whenever you dream, aim for the moon but bear in mind, there are a lot of moons out there, even Jupiter has two to itself and I'm not even going out of our galaxy. Don't allow me dictate which moon to aim at before you feel you are actually aiming at a moon, just aim, aim at a moon.
As you aim, don't forget to like this post and drop your comments as well. I'll love to hear your own thoughts and lastly, hit the share button, this post is one share away from someone else who need to know this.
Your Good Thought Advocate,
WritScriber.
Good exposition man.