A few posts ago I embarked on the 30 day before bed challenge to see how the five minutes before sleep can change waking reality.  In this challenge I have been flooding myself with what it will feel like when all of my dreams come true, assuming the feeling as if those dreams had truly come to pass already.

The inspiration for this challenge came from Dr. Wayne Dyer’s Wishes Fulfilled where he says, “In this brief portion of your day, you are going to tell your subconscious mind how you feel and what wishes God (the universal one subconscious mind) is to fulfill upon awakening from your deep slumber.  This five-minute segment of time in your bed, about to enter into your subconscious and marinate for the next eight hours or so, is the most crucial segment of your entire 24-hour day,” (Dyer 136).

Since I didn’t fall asleep the second my head hit the pillow last night, I decided to flood myself with the feeling of great love for the people in my life.  Although the miracle of this challenge isn’t what happens during sleep, but rather what begins to manifest in the waking hours of life, my dream last night was so fantastic that I have share its personal revelations.

In last night’s dream I was in a big lecture hall listening to none other than Oprah herself, and she was talking to various people in the audience.  I found myself standing up, staring right at her, when she pointed at me and asked, “What are you?”  Being unsure of my life’s purpose I uneasily responded, “I am a poet?”  She laughed and in her fabulous Oprah tenor replied, “Girl, you’re a talk show host!”

Needless to say, in the dream I was thrilled.  I finally knew my life’s purpose, it had been right in front of me all along!  Just then, in the midst of my jubilation, a man sprayed a hose full of water right in my face.  I then realized something I had been avoiding by not living out my purpose; when you start to live your dreams there will be more opposition from others.  

The higher you are lifted, the stronger the force will be in the opposite direction.  Yet, there is nothing wrong with that, quite the opposite is the case; that backlash is a helpful sign you are living on purpose.  That metaphorical hose down in my dream did not dampen my spirits, I was so overwhelming overjoyed to finally have my purpose revealed to me.

Purpose can come in the form of something you physically do, or it can come in the form of a way of being.  Purpose can be an intention you live by, such as being pure love, being the light of consciousness, or being joy made manifest.  Whether your purpose is a way of being in the world, or has gone on to be a physical task, the joy that comes from living on purpose is unique and endlessly fulfilling.

On this Valentine’s Day which is so often focused on other people’s purposes in our lives, it is my wish to focus on our unique purposes in our own lives.  May this message from Bishop T.D. Jakes on Oprah’s Lifeclass be a refreshing perspective on purpose and fulfillment: