DAY TWO: MORNING (I) – Susan

Susan: Magnes, would it be possible to talk through that process with Jim there, because I would love to understand this process better.

MAGNES JACK: Well, sure, but we had better check with Jim first.

Jim: [Nods]

MAGNES JACK: Ok Susan, Jim says that’s fine. So let’s cover the keys points in the process shall we.

First of all, Jim stated what? That he didn’t have a “specific dream” and that he had “struggled for years”.

What must be understood here is that a dream begins life as a feeling, which is then nurtured and strengthened.

And most people are not looking for a feeling; they are looking for an idea! Hence the struggle. They are looking hard, but in the wrong place.

So the first part of the process if not to get hooked onto looking for an idea, but to place the focus on the merest of feelings, perhaps even just a whisper of a feeling.

Next, Jim spoke about how he wanted a dream in which he could “…put his heart and soul into”. If you listen to people, they will tell you their dreams. So we have a good idea that part of Jim’s dream is involves putting his heart and soul into it. Notice too, that as he said that, he was already feeling it. He wasn’t saying it like it was a nice idea. He was speaking from the experience. Sure, it wasn’t fully-fledged, but the seed contains the means to bring forth the oak.

Jim, then wanted to get back to the “what” of the dream, but if you remember, I brought him back to the feeling of “heart and soul” and asked him whether he sensed he was doing this for himself, or others.

So, on the one hand, we are encouraging Jim to deepen and strengthen this feeling, and also to widen the perspective and to look at the broad purpose of it. To which Jim replied that it was primarily for others.

When it comes to dreams, a really good first port of call is to explore the benefits to others through pursuing your dream. Often, we get a little obsessed about dreams and what they mean for us, in terms of achievement and so on, and by looking at the beneficial effects on others, we shift the focus in a powerful way, which allows a slightly more detached and looser experience of the dream.

Then, as Jim got into this more, he became aware that he was doing this to make a difference in some way to a group of people. And what also came through was the teamwork involved.

So what Jim has pulled out there are the threads of the dream, the key elements.

In many ways, the content may or may not be that important. Whether Jim helps to raise the money to build a school in his home town, or flies to Africa to help rebuild a village, or something else, maybe less important to Jim, than the sheer act of playing that part in the development of something good!

In summary then, there is no particular ABC to this, but really a desire to find the starting point feeling and to explore that, without any pressure to come up with this or that idea. Just to let it organically grow of it’s own accord and find it’s own strength. Then, forms will emerge, in that Jim will become attracted to projects that resonate with his inner desire.

Does that help Susan?

Susan: Yes, thank you very much. Although I can still see, that exploring the feeling is very much a skill that needs practise and being open to what the person is saying without any pressure to solve it, as it were.

MAGNES JACK: That’s right. Because the dream is fragile to begin with, it does require a gentle and sensitive approach. It can be easily killed off by a heavy-handed approach, or early criticism, or demands for an answer.

Thanks Susan.