Fantastical Fantasies vs ‘Idea seeds’ worth watering

Yesterday we drove down the road for an hour and half to pick up a bell tent. It will go up tomorrow. This has been a dream for about a year. And now it is real.

It makes me wonder, what is the difference between a dream that is just in the pipelines of being realised and a full blown, energy sucking, dissociative fantasy?

How can I tell when I am flexing my dream muscle on weightless fantasies and when it is in fact the seed of an idea that will can gain mass as I water it with intention, attention and purposeful action?

I have a couple of clues:

Fantasy

Fantasies serve to dis-locate. To dislocate me from myself, from others and from the now. They have a quality of numbing my ability to experience reality. A fantasy relieves me of my experience. Similar to “puffing on a pipe” then floating off into the clouds.

Image courtesy of Wolfgang Hasselman from Unsplash

Idea Seed

An idea seed has a very different quality. It requires me to be deeply rooted in the present and experiencing what is without judgment. From here I can gently lift my filters to ‘see’ completely different possibilities.

An idea seed will with standing the test of time, often return many times and will gain clarity and gravity with each return.

Another sign that I am dealing with a healthy idea seed and not a fantastical fantasy is that it requires me to become vulnerable. It requires me to ask questions and to discover what I do not yet know and show this to others. This builds connection with other people — which is key to bringing anything into the physical world. When other’s “see” or even just have a shared sense of the idea, then I create a distinct hearth to gather around. They may even feel pulled to bring it into actualisation also, and slowly I discover a team.

Another clue, is that this idea continuously pops up in other places. At first glance this may seem unconnected, or rise the hairs slightly on the back of my neck, however, scratch below the surface and I discover that this is indeed a very healthy idea seed, asking to be watered to life.

Finally, perhaps the most important of all, is that it pulls me to life. A true idea seed will pluck that cord within, directly connecting me to the music of life. At once the mystery of the present moment, all that I do not yet know is mixed into all that I yearn for. This wonderment brings me deep into my body calling on my resources and asking me to step forth into this great dance.

originally published here.