About two and a half years ago, I was walking around with my eldest daughter, Shira, in the main street of the city where we live. She was five and a half at the time and it was early evening. The sun was setting and the sky was tinted the orangey red of the start of summer. We finished licking a huge three-flavored ice-cream cone, walked back home and talked about Anna, Elsa and Olaf.
Shira suddenly stopped walking and muttered something to herself as little children are wont to do from time to time.
“Is everything alright, Shira?” I asked.
“Yes, daddy,” she replied, “I just saw a star falling and I made a wish.”
“And what did you wish for?” I inquired.
“I can’t tell you!!!” she said firmly. “If I tell you it won’t come true.”
We continued our walk in silence with the darkened and star-studded sky suspended above us.
“You know, Shira, I think you are mistaken. I think that if you tell me then maybe, maybe, maybe I can help you. It’s like when I was your age and I went with grandpa and grandma to Jerusalem and left a note in the Western Wall (the place where Jews leave letters to God in the belief that He will read them) and I asked for a computer. And a week later I got a computer!!!”
“What, did God read the note?” She opened wide her big blue eyes, excitedly.
“Perhaps,” I leaned toward her and kissed her on the cheek, “But grandpa surely read the note!”
This was a life-changing event for me. It was a moment in which I came to realize that in fact, no one has ever taught us how to talk about our dreams.
Instead what we do now if we see a falling star is make a secret wish. If we lose an eyelash we make a secret wish. And even on our birthday, the happiest day of our life, we make a wish that we keep secret. Why? Who hears it? How can it come true?
Why not tell friends and family and even strangers our dreams? For example, if you want to attend a business conference but don’t have enough money, tell friends instead of buying me a shirt I don’t need for my birthday. How about a gift of ten dollars to help me finance my trip as a partner in helping me make my dreams come true? Or ask them if they know someone you can stay with in the city you’d like to travel to. When we talk about our dreams and share them, there will always be someone, who knows someone, who can help.
We must talk about our dreams. The time has come to break the old tradition. The time has come to shout out your personal and career dreams so that others might help you.
