We Are Such Stuff As Dreams Are Made On

"Gordon Bryan", "Shakespeare",
Written by gordino

I’m looking at another quote image in this article, and the language might get a bit dreamy…

I took that photo down at Whitstable in Kent. It was a lovely sunset, and there’s a sandbank that appears down there as the tide goes out, which gives a lovely feeling as you have the sea on either side.

It can get amazing calm too, with the water just rippling up to the sandbank. Not even ‘lapping’, just ‘rippling!’

That’s when I took this photo, with a bird soaking up the last rays of the setting sun – that’s not the shore you can see, it’s the sandbank at a 90 degree angle to the shore, going out to sea.

Quite a dreamy scene, and I think the words go well over the top…

We are such stuff as dreams are made on.

Those aren’t my words, they’re from someone who’s been quoted once or twice by the odd person or two.

Shakespeare.

Ah, Shakespeare! Held up as the benchmark for literature, a symbol of British culture.
Also held, it has to be said, as a real yawn for schoolkids trudging through his plays in the classroom!

That particular line is from The Tempest, which I may have read when I was at school, but that was a long old time ago, I honestly can’t remember one way or the other! As such, I can’t say that I have any idea about the play, but the line continues ‘and our little life is rounded with a sleep’.

In fact it probably helps that I don’t know the play for the purpose of this article, because although I am using his words, I’m not writing about Shakespeare himself, nor his plays – I’m writing about YOU

It’s a nice thought isn’t it, we are such stuff as dreams are made on – the 20th century personal development equivalents could be ‘you are what you think’, or ‘we can achieve what we think’.

Those kinds of phrases are dismissed by many people as ‘law of attraction’ mumbo jumbo, dismissed because the whole idea that dreams can be manifested in the real world is just a nonsense.

Hmm.

I can understand why this idea is dismissed as not true, but that doesn’t make it the case!

I don’t think *anyone* could deny that our results in life are driven by our actions – the question then goes to what drives our actions, and the answer to this has to be our brain, and therefore our thoughts.

If that’s the case then, we have some choices.

We can choose to go with the flow, to not make any waves, and to just react to whatever life sends our way. The thing is, even if we do that, our reactions to those circumstance is *still* driven by our thoughts! It’s driven by our beliefs, and the internal models we have in our heads.

So we still wouldn’t get away from our actions being driven by thoughts! Much better then, I’d suggest, (and suggest strongly!) to use our thoughts to drive positive action on the front foot rather than just reactive action on the back foot.

This is where the point about dreams comes in.




If we are indeed what we think about, and our dreams are a huge part of what we think about, then could it be argued that we can *be* our dreams?

Again, I’d suggest that yes, this is the case, but there’s a key point…

Dreaming is not enough. Dreaming is fine, it’s lovely, it’s wonderful, but dreaming by itself will not magically bring results.

Our ‘thoughts’ can, and do, drive our actions on a daily basis, but our dreams will not – unless we decide that we will steer our actions towards those dreams.

That’s the key. It’s the difference between consigning our dreams as just for some sort of ‘dream box’ while we react to random life, or making the decision to do something about our dreams. This decision is something anyone has the power to take, because a decision is no more than another thought!

If we focus on our thoughts, analyse them and decide to set them to work moving us towards something, it can change everything. We can then set goals in line with our dreams, and this leads us to act with intention and specific direction.

The results? Oh, the results will reflect this, it’s unavoidable! As I covered earlier, results are driven by actions, which are driven by thoughts, so to use different thoughts to drive different actions *has* to bring different results!

We might not be able to predict all the results, we might find the results bring challenges and hard work, but we’ll take that on, because we know we’re moving towards our dreams, towards this new way of lining up our thoughts.

Can we guarantee the results? Am I saying that taking action towards your dreams will always mean they’ll come true?

No.

That’s another key point – achieving dreams is not guaranteed. It can’t be. Life isn’t a sealed off bubble, it’s an organic changing thing, with the actions of others having an impact we can’t control.

So, no guarantees. You might even fail. However, what I would suggest as guaranteed is that if you dismiss the idea of acting towards your dreams, you’re guaranteed to continue with the random circumstances that life throws at you.

More than that, you’ll still have the dreams nagging away at you, and over time this can build up and cause real stress for a lot of people.

Look to your dreams, your goals, your passions. Are you dismissing their potential as nonsense, and by doing so dismissing a huge part of *yourself*?

We are all unique, with unique stories, capabilities, desires and yes, dreams. Those dreams make up a huge part of all of us, and I love the idea I take from Shakespeare’s words, that if ‘we are what dreams are made on’, then we can become those dreams.

Try it, it can change your life, it can transform it.

"Gordon Bryan", "Shakespeare",

Ok, do let me know what you think as ever, I love the feedback!

‘Til Next Time,
Health & happiness,
Gordon
P.S. You can get email notifications of new posts, via the box on the right of any page of the blog

Do leave a comment!

Leave a Comment