Are you ready to #dreambig?

"A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself." - Joseph Campbell

A few weekends ago, I surprised my business partner Aileen de la Torre with a #dreambig experiential birthday party with her closest family and friends. When I asked Aileen what she wanted for her birthday, she stated with excitement that she wanted to co-create a 'shared' experience with her loved ones so that they too, would feel special on this day.

She also wanted 2015 to be a year of dreaming bigger for oneself -- bigger defined as expanding in new and existing areas of our lives...whatever that meant for each of us. It is our dream.

One of the exercises (a.k.a. SPARK-tivities) we created and shared during the 5 hour workshop was called Dream Clouds. This activity challenged our thinking to go deeper on the dreams that we create for ourselves.

Why is this important?

Many of us focus on dreaming for others especially our loved ones. As a result, we forget about our own dreams and often develop resentment because we put our dreams on hold.

The Dream Clouds creates a new perspective on dreaming.

We focused our thoughts and imagination in three dimensions - ME, YOU, WE:

• ME focuses on Self. Everything starts with me. This is where the driving force of all our desires and creations comes from. What dreams do I want to create for myself? How will it serve or fulfill me? How will I feel when I realize this dream? Which of my core values does this dream strengthen? How does this dream align with my life purpose? What new areas of my being will grow or expand?
• YOU focuses on Loved Ones. Once there is clarity and a strong foundation within myself, I can then expand my ME dreams to include my loved ones. What dreams do I want to co-create with my loved ones while still supporting my ME dreams? How will these YOU dreams serve me and my loved ones? What experiences do I want to create for us? How will I and my loved ones feel? Which of our core values will these dreams strengthen? How do these dreams support our respective life purposes? How will these dreams grow and expand the relationships I have with myself and my loved ones?
• WE focuses on Community. This dimension encourages me to think even bigger than just myself and my loved ones (my inner circle). While still supporting my ME and YOU dreams, what dreams do I want to create for my community? What kind of legacy or contribution can I make? Who do I want to support? What do I want to change or improve in the world or community? What kind of experiences do I want to co-create for others in a bigger way? Who can I collaborate with to co-create these dreams? Which of our core values will these dreams strengthen? How do these dreams support our respective life purposes? How will these dreams grow and expand new areas and connections with myself, my loved ones and the community as a whole?

Here's how we used the Dream Clouds:

STEP 1: On a blank sheet of paper, we drew one cloud in the middle of the page and named it ME. Around the outside of the first cloud (a bigger cloud surrounding the first), we drew a second cloud and named it YOU. Like a ripple effect from the first and second cloud, we drew the third larger cloud embracing the outside of second cloud and called it WE. Each cloud was bigger than the first with space to add our dreams.

STEP 2: We heart stormed (a.k.a. journaled) individually for 10 minutes using the questions listed above. The sense of urgency forced us to stop thinking (i.e. get out of our heads) and just dream.

STEP 3: Following the personal dream session, we created groups of three individuals and facilitated success circle discussions (masterminding) to share our ME dreams. For each ME dream, the circles popcorned ideas for 2 minutes to expand the individual's ME dream into bigger and brighter YOU and WE dreams. When we openly receive support, the possibilities are limitless!

STEP 4: The BIG DREAMER then chose a dream to focus on for 2015 and for the rest of the session. To learn what we did next, connect with us here.

What started off as a birthday gift, turned out to be a wonderful surprise for myself. In the process of creating this #dreambig party, I also dreamed bigger and expanded my own dreams. Thanks Aileen!

What dreams can you expand from ME to YOU to WE?

Try this simple Dream Cloud activity with your loved ones today!

Have fun dreaming!

For additional reading, here are some other posts from Lorie:

• Why Asking for Help Makes You a Stronger Leader
• Eliminate the Word "Weakness" to Build a Stronger Team
• Are You an "Earn My Trust" Leader?
• What Saying NO Really Means
• Stop Recruiting and Start Connecting
• Shed Your Armor and Reap the Rewards
• If You’re a Leader, You’re Under a Microscope!
• 5 Strategies to Integrate Your Values at Work
• Are you a WOW Leader?
• It's Time to Bring the "Human" Back Into "Human Resources"
• It’s Time to Mix Personal with Business
• Are you qualified to be in HR?
• The Most Important Skills Today’s Leaders Need to Know
• The Power of Leadership Presence in the Workplace
• 6 Elements of an Ideal Culture
• How to Trust Again After You’ve Lost It
• Can Frequent Conversations Really Replace Annual Reviews?
• The “Real” Job of HR
• Why GoPro is Living a BIG LIFE
• The Five Benefits of Being Imperfect
• I have an announcement. I’m engaged!
• The One Thing To Do Before the End of 2015
• I have a confession to make.
• Start the New Year with this!
• It’s Okay to Love in the Workplace
• Is mindfulness just nonsense?
• 3 Daily Practices for Mindful Teams
• The Disadvantage of Being Too Caring
• Why We Hate Love (in the workplace)
• The Real ROI of Informal and Social Learning
• Bringing Values-Based Learning to Life (at Work)
• The New Kind of CEO HR Leaders Want
• DIY Management: 5 ways to build an effective startup culture
• Digital Detoxing in a 24/7 World: Disconnect to Connect
• Stand Out and Be Bold
• The Culture Code: Six Keys (and Four Steps) to Hidden Treasure
• A Love Letter for our SPARK Community
• The Importance (and Profitability) of Staying Human
• The ROI of Leading by Example is Priceless
• Love may be a remedy for fear and stress in the workplace

About Lorie:

Lorie Corcuera is the Co-Founder and CEO at SPARK Creations, a heart based leadership and empowerment organization that provides highly interactive and fun experiential learning and development, strategic culture visioning, and people and culture programs for individuals, teams and organizations. Lorie is partnering with conscious business owners and leaders who are ready and driven to create and inspire loving human connections.