The word wish is a powerful one, more so than I think any other word I know. It represents a want, a need, a desire, a dream. Something you hope for or something you don't. To me, the word itself can run the gamut from the mundane (I wish I had a cheese sandwich) to wishing for the extraordinary and the magical.
There are many resources out there that discuss the power of visualization and writing down goals in order to help aspire them. The same can be said for wishes. While I am sure people expect the literal definition of their wants come to fruition, that is not always the case. Not everything is cut an dry, literal and realistic in that fashion. Sometimes the results are more abstract. However, the results are not the true end goal. Allowing yourself to have thoughts and feelings of wanting more, to make extraordinary wishes and allowing yourself to dream.
Go out and pick yourself a blank journal, sketchbook, notebook, scrapbook etc. You can do this either alone, with kids or both! Fill the books with things that inspire you, things you love. It can be pictures, words, drawings whatever your heart desires. Keeping your inspirations close helps to keep you inspired. You can also use it to write down or even illustrate your wishes. It is always a good idea when you are feeling down or just want to look back to go back to the journal. It shows you where you've been, where you are going and helps you to refocus when you have gone through a rough time. It is a wonderful project to do with kids. Going through magazines finding pictures they like, or even going out and taking pictures of nature and things of wonder and beauty with them. They can also use this as a place to write down dreams and wishes or draw them out.
It is also vitally important to allow children to dream. Too often we put limitations on them; limits defined by society and values of our predecessors. Also in this day and age kids are overstimulated.. TV, Video Games, and an overabundance of toys really deter a childs imagination rather than stimulate it. This to me is sad, because some of our best ideas and inspiration come from an abundance of imagination. Do I think children should be cut off from TV and Video games? Absolutely not; but I do think that too often we don't nurture their creativity. You will be amazed when you look back on the book and see all of the wonders you have created!
See you all next time, and in the meantime, keep wishing and keep dreaming!
