Episode # 71 – When you wish upon a star

As I stumble forward through life, learning and growing from my many mistakes, I find inspiration and give meaning to my life through stories. Almost every day I find missing pieces of this mysterious puzzle called life, which I try to make sense of by piecing them together, and hopefully a new story emerges that unravels a little bit of the mystery.

Today I want to talk to you about realizing your dreams and the question, why should you wish upon a star? Why not pray to the man in the sky, stare at tea leaves, or rub a magic wonder lamp to have your wishes fulfilled and prayers answered?

I believe the meaning of wishing upon a star can be found in raising my eyes above the horizon and focusing on something that is transcendent, that’s beyond me, to focus on the light in the darkness. The darkness is my current position, and the star is a representative of everything I can be—my unfulfilled potential. Thinking about my unfulfilled potential brings interesting questions to the surface, like: who do I want to become, what is my grand wish, and what do I desire the most?

The answer to this question finds its origin in something that was taken away from me by some form of traumatic experience in the past, which created a burning desire later in life to get it back because without it, I feel I’m not complete. The thing we desire the most is presented in the absence of an emotion.

To wish upon a star also reveals my shortcomings because it opens a gap between who I am today and the person I wish I could be. My wish has made it clear that I’m not everything I can be; there is plenty of room for improvement in many areas of my life, and now it’s constantly hovering over me, pointing out my imperfections like a judge. Not only am I now being judged on everything that I’m not, but I also created it myself.

Wishing upon a star comes with great risk and responsibility, and as an alternative, you can decide to wander through life without really having a big dream, looking for the next thing to fill the emptiness that is created by the absence of the ingredient that gives your life meaning.

Dreams don’t come true by just thinking about them when you’re relaxing on the beach and contemplating if you should order another mojito. It’s one thing to wish upon a star; it’s another to actually start working on it and turning it into a reality. The universe has a reputation for working in mysterious ways, and the ingredients that are composed of your wish will be presented to you like mysterious pieces of a puzzle, but you’ve got to keep an eye out for them and sense the invisible so you can do the impossible.

When you raise your eyes above the horizon and wish upon a star, it doesn’t only reveal your shortcomings but also creates a pathway to your unfulfilled potential. Not all dreams come true, but they give you clarity on what you desire most and give your life meaning and direction. Would you rather go through life working on your dream and never realizing it, or not have a dream at all and ignore the whisper of the soul?

What is a more tragic story? To live under the illusion that you could have been great or actually have an opportunity to be great, and then blow it and realize you’re a failure?