No matter where I’m at, it feels at times as though I have spent my life waiting.

Waiting for the hands of time to turn. For the clock to strike midnight. For the dawn to come. For dusk to fall.

Waiting. For the rain to stop. The sun to come out.

Waiting for tomorrow. Next week. Holidays.

Waiting for it, whatever it is, to be over. For it, whatever it is, to begin.

Waiting for the right moment. The perfect time. The special instant when the stars align, the planets revolve, the earth moves.

Do you know what I mean? Are you waiting too?

For Prince Charming to ride in. Sweep you off your feet. Perhaps even, depending upon where your thoughts take you, dump you in the ditch.

Are you waiting for the right one to come and make your dreams come true? To give you Love. Happiness. Joy.

Are you waiting to feel better. Get over it. Through it. Out of it.

Waiting.

It’s not a game for cowards.

But then, neither is life.

The irrepressible Kerry Parsons and I spoke of waiting yesterday over a late lunch.

We’d not seen eachother for awhile. It was that waiting thing. We’d been waiting for the right time to get together and finally just had to make it happen.

Because that’s the thing about waiting.

All the waiting in the world won’t change what’s happening, or not happening, in your life.

Only you can do that.

President Barack Obama is credited with saying that, “Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.”

We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.

Think about what’s going on in your life today. Is it full. Do you feel complete. Centrered. Balanced.

What are you waiting for?

There is no magical time in the future when completeness, centeredness, balance will appear.

They are as present today as they will be tomorrow.

They’re just waiting for you to turn up.

Just like your dreams. Are waiting for you (me) to turn up.

What are your dreams?

Have you been holding back from putting them to paper, thinking about them, describing them, filling them in? Have you been holding out on yourself by not giving your dreams substance?

Think about it.

What’s holding you back? What are you waiting for?

Yesterday, I told Kerry one of my dreams.

“I realized I have always been holding back from breathing life into my dreams because I’ve always been waiting for someone else to do what they want to do in their life first.”

I’m tired of waiting I told her.

I’m tired of playing small in the field of limited possibility.

I want to play large in limitless possibilities. To create the life of my dreams without fearing I’ll bump up against someone else’s dreams coming true and be frightened by the brilliance of their light shining brightly.

It’s time for me to shine bright.

For you to shine bright.

For all of us to shine bright so that the world becomes a bright shiny place where everyone, no matter where they are, can live with their hearts full of all this big beautiful world has to offer, when we quit waiting for someone else to stop the war, end the fight, ask for forgiveness, give us the right to live fearlessly in the now.

What are you waiting for?

There are lots of books and videos on how to map out your dreams, create a vision board, plan your future.

The question isn’t, what are your dreams. The question is: What is holding your back from turning your dreams into reality?

Here’s 5 things you can do to create substance of your dreams.

1. Write it down. Take a blank sheet of paper and write down all the things you fear about dreams and dreaming. Now, take that piece of paper, crumple it up and throw it behind you. For the next 15 minutes your fears do not exist. There are no limitations to your thinking, no ‘I can’t’s, I don’t dare, I mustn’t’. There’s only possibility.
2. Now, on another blank sheet of paper, write the answer to this statement:  When I am living my ideal life, I am ___________________________.  Describe what you are doing in detail. This isn’t about ‘feeling’. It’s about what you’re doing – so keep to the ‘facts’. If you are living on a beach, writing the next bestselling thriller, or leading a team of scientists to discover a cure for some rare disease, write it down. Be specific.
3. On the same piece of paper, if there’s room (it all depends on how specific you got with describing your ideal life) write an agenda for your typical day.
   1. 7:00am I wake up and here the sounds of the ocean waves crashing against the rocks below my open window. I hear seagulls cawing and smell the aroma of coffee brewing. I roll over and kiss my beloved on the shoulder and slip out of bed. I stretch and let the last tendrils of sleep roll off my shoulders as I walk into the kitchen to pour myself a cup of coffee. Good morning world!
   2. 8:00am  I am in my home office overlooking the rocks and ocean. In the distance I see a fishing boat bobbing on the waves. I open my laptop and hear the familiar whir of it warming up. I put my fingers to the keyboard and begin…
   3. 11:00am  I’ve had a great writing session and stop for a coffee and a scramble down to the beach below.
   4. noon  I share a delicious lunch of quinoa salad and fresh tomatoes from the market with my beloved. He shares his plans for the afternoon and after an hour together, I go back to my office.
   5. 1:00pm  This is my ‘get the details done to keep my life organized’ time. I answer emails. Respond to queries. Call my agent. Set a meeting with the producer and team who is working on turning my last book into a movie.
   6. 2:30pm Writing time
   7. 5:30pm  Walk on the beach with my beloved to enjoy the sunset. We sit on the rocks and talk about our days. I share snippets of my new characters, the challenges I’m having. He shares parts of his day too.
   8. 6:30pm  I spend an hour reviewing the work I’ve completed today. I’m pleased with my progress.
   9. 7:30pm  My beloved and I prepare dinner and spend the evening together.
4. Stop. Breathe. Listen. Listen to the chatter in your brain. What is it saying to you? How are you feeling about writing out the agenda for your ideal life? Are your thoughts predominantly positive or negative? Do you feel foolish? Inspired? Hopeful? Write it down. All of it. Everything. Write it down.
5. Write down five things you can do today to  move you closer to your goal or write down the five things you’re not doing today that will move you closer to your goal. Whichever you choose, make sure you are being honest with yourself. No one else has to see this (but it is helpful to share it with another). What are you doing today to create the life you want to live? What aren’t you doing today that will make it happen.

See, there is no one going to ride in on a white charger to rescue you from your inertia.

You are the one you’ve been waiting for.

Then again, you could do none of the above and just see what happens.

But then, you’ve already been doing that. What are you waiting for?