In this article I’m looking at another quote image, and this time I’m off into the realms of fantasy…
That photo is in Reykjavik, Iceland.
The statue is called Sun Voyager, by Jon Gunnar Arnason, and it’s a cracker, isn’t it!
Even better there’s a small plinth by the statue, with some words by Arnason –
“We all have our fantasy boats, vessels that we dream of sailing away in, into the dream. In my ships I unite my own fantasy, precision and the knowledge that boat builders have developed throughout the ages. The sun ship gives us a promise of a primeval land.”
Very nice, and the first line probably sums up what most people think when they see the statue. It fits in with a point I make many times, which brings us to this article!
We all have our fantasy boats.
True, isn’t it! The fantasy is down the individual – it could be fame and fortune, it could be a rose petal love affair, but whatever it is, and this applies to those 2 mentioned, it will fit into one of the categories of health, wealth, career, relationships or lifestyle.
Our fantasy boat is probably weighed right down with fantasies in truth, because if we’re going to have one fantasy, let’s chuck a whole load more in there for good measure! Then once it’s loaded up, as Arnason himself says, we dream of sailing away in it, into the dream.
Much like the statue though, our own fantasy boats never actually go anywhere. That’s because we file the whole thing away in our mind under ‘fantasy boat’, which is sensible, because let’s be honest, these things won’t happen in reality, right?
Hmm.
I say hang on, hang on a minute!
Firstly, if we never take any action, then of course the fantasies will just stay as fantasies, but secondly, it’s fascinating to look deeper to ask *why* we don’t take action…
This normally comes down to fear. Fear of failure, fear of challenge, fear of ridicule, fear of costs, fear of the unknown. These fears, in many cases, are not easy to dismiss with a wave of the hand. Some of them, though, can be surprisingly easy to deal with, and I go with 2 angles for all of them…
We can look to the further words of sculptor Arnason at his statue –
“In my ships I unite my own fantasy, precision and the knowledge that boat builders have developed throughout the ages.”
Uniting the fantasy with the actual knowledge that has been developed throughout the ages! This is all about taking action, (isn’t it always). You work out a plan, you take action, you see whether it works or not. Now, while that can be done on your own, in all likelihood there will be knowledge out there from others that have been before. A lot of knowledge, from a lot of others.
Of course in the days of the actual old boats like this, there wasn’t the internet! Today we *do* have the internet though, and the scale of the knowledge that this puts at our fingertips is just staggering.
So, that’s the first angle to deal with fears trapping our fantasies as just fantasies – study the knowledge of others that have gone before, and take action.
The other angle, is to deal with the mental side of those fears.
Fear of failure, ridicule, challenge, the unknown? Well, they might turn out to be real, but they might turn out NOT to be real! This is a mindset issue, that our fears are thoughts that we tell ourselves are facts. So, we can just as well tell ourselves that thoughts of success are the facts.
I do know that can sound extremely glib, and it can be a challenge in itself to develop this new mindset! It can be done though, and if that’s the first step of the journey, then so be it, get to work on the mindset.
The other thing about failure, ridicule, challenge, is that these things can just as easily come to us whatever path we tread in life. Not acting on our dreams will not shut out failure, ridicule and challenge from our life, it would be nonsense to suggest otherwise.
If that’s the case then, surely better to take on (possible) failure, ridicule and challenge on a path of our choosing, a path of our dreams and fantasies? Why not?
Let’s think of Arnason himself? I think his Sun Voyager piece is stunning – looking out to sea with the snow capped mountains in the distance. However, when he started out do you think he came up with such pieces at the start? No. Without knowing the first thing about him, it must be true that his first works were not as good, because his skills weren’t as good.
So he had to learn, to develop. He then had the challenges that must have come with getting this piece slap bang prime position in Reykjavik! Did this happen with him just fantasising about it? No, it happened by him acting, by him learning, by him engaging with the real world.
Look to your own fantasy boat. Is it weighed right down? Have you been filling it up year after year? Do you look at it with a longing, a yearning of possibilities that is expressed in Jon Gunnar Arnason’s lovely statue?
Could it be that it would be better, for you and those around you, to look to Arnason’s further words, and unite the fantasies with knowledge that has been developed throughout the ages? If you then add taking action into the mix, that fantasy vessel will start to creak with change, with movement, and your life starts to change, to move.
Try it. It can change your life. It can transform it.
Ok, do let me know what you think – as ever I love the feedback!
‘Til Next Time,
Health & happiness,
Gordon
P.S. If you want to do something about your own fantasies, do watch my free video series covering the 8 Step Goal Achievement Formula!
P.P.S. You can see also see some more photos from my Iceland trip!
