What is the truest, most beautiful life you can imagine?

(Originally posted on LinkedIn)

What is the truest, most beautiful life you can imagine?

When I read this question in Glennon Doyle's book, Untamed, it stopped me in my tracks.

How often do we dare to ask ourselves what we really want?

What kind of life we want to build?

What kind of world we want to create?

Not often enough, in my view.

Our societies condition us to keep ourselves in boxes, to see obstacles everywhere, and to make it through one day at a time.

Sometimes that conditioning can be useful - like when it helps us focus on small steps on overwhelming days.

And many times, it is extremely limiting, keeping us from dreaming of more beautiful lives and a more beautiful world.

"Do we really deserve more?" we ask ourselves.

"I don't think I know how to dream that big." we say to each other.

And yet, we used to know how.

As children, our imaginations were expansive and our dreams were larger than life.

We didn't know how we would get there, but that didn't stop us from believing that we could.

So what happened? When did we forget how to dream?

And perhaps the more important question is: How can we learn to dream again?

For me, it starts with permission. Permission to let myself imagine a more beautiful life, a more beautiful world.

And holding space for others to do the same.

It's one of the best parts of my job - to ask someone: "what do you really really want?" and listen to their responses.

A lot of times, the answers surprise us.

And even more often, these answers are simpler than we might imagine.

We can start taking steps today to create those blueprints for a more beautiful life.

But we have to start by allowing ourselves to dream.