When I was in high school in the 70s, I met a woman in our church whom everyone called Ma Parker. She was the kind of person kids in a church would flock to - she provided a sympathetic ear, unconditional love, and lots of good food.

She also seemed to have a hot line to God and a piercing pair of eyes that caused you to tell the truth when she asked, "So tell me how are you doing, son?"

But it's just a dream

I remember sitting in her kitchen one day as a junior in high school, and talking about what I might like to do with my life.

When I was in high school, The Bob Newhart Show was popular. It's the show now in reruns on Nick at Nite in which Bob Newhart plays a therapist.

For some reason, I had always been the person my friends talked to about their problems. It had occurred to me one day, listening to a friend and having seen Bob Newhart the night before, that maybe I could actually make a living doing something I seemed to enjoy.

I was telling Ma Parker about this idea and then ended my excitement by saying, "But that's just a dream."

She turned to me with that piercing stare and said words that have greatly influenced my life:

"That's just where it starts, with a dream."

The power of dreams

So let's consider the power of dreams. I don't mean the movies you see in your head while sleeping, but the kind of dreams about what you want to do and be in your life.

As we grow up, all of us have dreams about what we would like to do. The happiest people seem to be the ones living out their dreams in some way as adults.

If you find yourself unable to live your dream, what happened?

Some people lose sight of their dreams; others may see their dreams die; still others have forgotten what their dreams once were.

Whatever the reasons for not living out your dreams, my work with people has taught me to be enough of an optimist to believe we can dream again.

While it's all well and good to dream, for dreams to become real we have to take action toward the dream. Richard Bach says "You are never given a wish without the power to make it come true. You may have to work for it, however."

The working-at-it involves setting goals for yourself. Setting goals to work toward your dreams is simply breaking your large dream down into manageable pieces.

A wise person once said, "A goal is-simply a dream with a deadline."

Here are some questions for you:

Are you living out any of your dreams? If yes, consider what it took and what you did to get there. If no, what got in the way?

Is it possible to resurrect any of the old dreams?

If you were to dream again, what would it be about?

Once you've begun dreaming again, here are some. things to consider:

What have you learned from dreams that did not work out that you can use now?

Break your dream down into manageable goals for the year, month, week and day.

What are you doing on a daily, weekly, monthly basis to work toward your goals?

Dreams and goals, when properly directed, can allow us to enjoy a very full life. Get started today on your own goals and dreams.

And by the way, thanks a bunch, Ma Parker!