how to bring your shooting star down to earth

 (♥)

"Who said every wish would be be heard and answered when wished on a star?
Somebody thought of it, and someone believed it, and look what it's done so far.
What's so amazing that keeps us stargazing? What do we think we might see?"

Unknown

While I was in Jamaica (which, by the way, was the best vacation ever!), I was lucky enough to see not one but three shooting stars zip across the sky. For some this might be no big deal, but I've always wanted to see one and had never had the chance to before. To say the least, it was an awesome night. The sky was filled with so many stars that it looked as if someone had thrown glitter across it. It was beautiful and it was incredibly exciting to see one of those glittering pinpricks dart across the black blanket of the sky. Clearly the night of the shooting stars made quite an impression on me.

When I returned from the island, I decided to look up the meaning of a shooting star. Of course, I'm well aware that the meanings I'm about to write about here are merely random opinions and not necessarily facts, but I find others' interpretations of shooting stars fascinating. According to one source, a shooting star in a dream (which is what the night felt like) is "symbolic of changes in your life." Another source said that seeing a shooting star can be "a symbol of reaching one's ultimate destiny," and that "according to common belief, when one makes a wish on a falling star, the wish will come true." This source also shared some interesting insight about why people wish on stars:

At the time when the Greek astronomer Ptolemy's view of the cosmos as a universe of interlocking spheres became the orthodoxy, there was a widely accepted and very poetic explanation for "falling stars" which was entirely consistent with other deeply held beliefs of the time. It was thought that the gods, overwhelmed with curiosity, would sometimes look at the earth from between the spheres, and that in that instant a star or two might slip through the gap and become visible as a falling or shooting star. Since the gods were clearly peering down at that very moment, it was considered an excellent opportunity to voice one's wishes with the guarantee that the gods would hear them.

Now, I'm not naive. I know that wishing on a shooting star isn't going to be the magic answer to any problem or desire I have. For me, wishing is a whole lot of fun, but there's more to it than just turning my face to the sky and imagining what could. No, wishing is much more than that. What I love most about wishing is that it shows me what I really want. If I have a penny and I'm about to throw it into a fountain (which I actually did in Jamaica), I'm forced to stand there and really think about what it is that I want. Now that I think about it, it's kind of crazy that I don't do that kind of what-do-I-want? soul searching more often. I sort of rush through life, doing things that make me happy, doing things that make other people happy, and I don't always think about what it is that I really, truly want. When face-to-face with a wishing situation, it seems that my truest desires come out.

There have been times when my wishes have come true. Whenever I felt a wish had been granted, I used to rejoice, thinking how lucky I was. Only now do I realize that the wishes came true because I worked towards them. Whatever wish I made, I realized in that moment that it was something I wanted and I began looking for it and working towards it without even knowing it. Such, I suppose, is the true power of wishes. Wishing makes you see things clearly, makes you see what it is that really matters to you. The act of wishing brings the shooting stars -- your goals, your dreams, your ideas -- down to earth and makes them something tangible, something you can act on.

The act of wishing is just the starting point, the small spark that sets the ideas in your mind on fire. Leonardo da Vinci once said, "He who is fixed to a star does not change his mind." It can be like that when it comes to wishes. If you make a wish and choose to focus on it, your mind will be connected with it and your actions will reflect your desire. It's for that reason that wishes can come true. Actions might speak louder than words, but it's the words in your wishes that you should pay attention to in order to uncover what it is that you hope to achieve in your life.

While I certainly don't plan to reveal the wishes I made on the night I was looking up at those shooting stars, I am going to share my ideas on how to take your wishes -- those shooting star dreams that appear as distant flashes of light -- and bring them down to earth.

How To Turn a Wish Into a Reality

• Validate your wishes.One of the key things holding people back from actually believing in and working towards what they want is that they don't think they should have what they want or they don't think it's a worthwhile wish. That's just not true! If you want something, you deserve to want it and you deserve to have that desire validated. That validation might not come from anywhere but you so make you give your wishes a fighting chance by accepting them as valuable parts of who you are.
  
  

• Put it into words. Sending out a wish into the universe is great, but it's also easily forgotten. I cannot even tell you how many wishes I've made in my life and how few of them I actually remember. For this reason, when you make a wish and it really means something to you, find a way to keep that wish at the forefront of your mind. For me, writing something down really helps but I know that's probably not everyone's cup of tea. Another great way to make your wish take an tangible form is to tell someone about it.
  
  

• Create a plan of attack. Once you've validated your wish and made it tangible in the form of words, you can now create a plan. It's hard to say exactly what the best way to do this would be since the concept of a wish is so, so general, but I'd advise starting small. Choose little goals that you can tackle and before you know it you'll be making strong progress towards making your wish come true. Personally I always think it's best to actually write down your plan and revise it as you go along, but I know that might not work for everyone.
  
  

• Look for opportunities. After you've created a plan, you can work on it, but don't let yourself be limited by it. There are all sorts of opportunities and ideas that you may not yet have thought of and if you close yourself off to them, you may miss out on a great way to make your wish come true. Be open-minded and take notice of what's happening all around you. It may not be obvious, but if you look hard enough, opportunities for making wishes come true are everywhere!
  
  

• Believe in yourself. Believing in yourself ties in strongly with the first point I made. You have to believe that you deserve to have a wish and you have to believe that you can make that wish come true. If you don't believe in that, your lack of confidence is going to bring you down and it'll make it a lot harder for you to follow through with your plan. If you want something, go after it. Believe you can have it. I can't promise it will always work out, but it's a lot less likely to even stand a chance if you don't believe.

If you're not a big fan of wishing (not everyone has that wish-upon-a-star mindset!), give it a try and see what comes to mind. You might surprise yourself with what you actually want if given the option of infinite possibilities. Whatever your wish might be, pay attention to it and give it the credit it deserves. When you're faced with the opportunity to ask for anything you want, you'll find that your inner voice will quickly speak up. If you listen to that voice inside of you -- the one that really knows what you want and isn't distracted by the doubts and fears created by world outside your mind -- you'll find out what you really need. Once you figure out what your wish-laden shooting star is, capture it, hold it in the palm of your hand, and bring it back down to earth.

Do you spend any time wishing for what you want?
How do you harness those wishes and turn them into realities?

Comments

[J.D. Meier]

Believing in yourself is the key. It's always confidence before competence.

I'm a fan of wishing upon a star ... Jiminy Cricket taught me early on and it stuck with me.

[Zengirl]

Dani,

Making wish with realistic plan :-) Cool, I like it a lot. Share pics of Jamaica, I have been to Bahamas and Hawaii islands, I love the culture, people and laid back attitude of locals there, don't you?

[Lance]

Dani,
I'm all for wishing upon a star! And it's exactly because it does touch upon those deeper things for me. It doesn't mean they all happen, it gives those dreams wings though - and a view out into the world. and maybe that's part of it - a chance to let these wishes surface - and then I can decide if that dream really does speak to me...

[Positively Present]

J.D. - I love that -- confidence before competence! That's so true! And Jiminy Cricket was definitely on to something with that wishing thing. :)

Zengirl - Thanks! I'm glad you liked this one. I definitely enjoyed Jamaica, though I can't say I was really able to fully experience the culture since I was on a resort the whole time.

Lance - You've summed it up nicely -- wishing on a star allows our wishes to surface, giving us an opportunity to see if they are really something we want to persue.

[Gayze (Gazehound's Animal Communication)]

Your quote is a variation of the lyrics of one of my all time favorite songs (which will now be stuck in my head for the rest of the day). The Rainbow Connection, written by Kenny Asher and Paul Williams, and sung by none other than the marvelous Kermit the Frog.

Marvelous post! I'm a firm believer that we can change the fabric of our own reality with our thoughts and dreams. Thanks so much for posting this!

Hugs!
The lovers, the dreamers,
and Me

[A. Simplicity]

beautiful and touching post... thank you!! i love the little hidden power of secret wishes and dreams :)

[Sami - Life, Laughs & Lemmings]

Wishing on a star for me is basically my Daisy List. Some wishes are small and easy to accomplish, some are large and require hefty doses of luck, resources and planning. All help me live like a I mean it!

[Rocky]

Another great article to make me smile ! Thanks Dani !

[Positively Present]

Gayze - Awesome! I knew the words sounded familiar, but I didn't know where they were from. Thanks for reminding me. Like you, I believe we can change our realities with our thoughts.

A.Simplicity - Thank you! I love the way you referred to it as a "hidden power." That's such a great way of putting it.

Sami - I never thought about it like that, but wishes really are like your Daisy List -- some big ones, some little ones. We should all keep a list of them the way you do!

Rocky - You're welcome! Thank you for leaving a comment. :)

[Srinivas Rao]

Wow Dani,

That's a really cool very inspiring post. I think this is my favorite post that you have written in the entire time I've been reading your blog. It teaches to dream without limits and really go for things that we want.

[Positively Present]

Srinivas - Thank you for your comment! It totally made my day! This post meant a lot to me because I was so excited by the shooting stars so I'm glad you really enjoyed it as well. Thanks for putting a big smile on my face!

[Megan "JoyGirl!" Bord]

Hi, Dani! So glad your vacation was a great one; well deserved, it sounds like.

I love how holding a penny before tossing it into a fountain made you stop and think about what you really want. It forced you, in a way, to get clear very quickly about what matters to you. Like you, I sometimes rush about in life, ignoring the passion I have for wish-setting (different than goal setting, and more fun!).

You've encouraged me to sit today and maybe even write out some of my wishes (which would be good reflective writing therapy, per Chaundra McGill!).
Have a great weekend!

[Positively Present]

Megan - Thank you! I'm glad it was a great vacation too. It really brought me to a place where I could spend a lot of time thinking and writing and figuring out what was really important to me, which was awesome. I'm glad you've been inspired to write out some of your wishes. I need to work on this too!

[BeTrulyHappy]

Believing in yourself is very important to making your wishes come true. When I don't have faith, the task at hand seems impossible.

[Positively Present]

BeTrulyHappy - So true! If we don't believe in ourselves and validate our wishes, it's going to be pretty hard to make them come true.

[lisa]

welcome home and YAY for your R&R time!

thanks for this great post - especially love the writing down your wishes part. wishes = desires. and naming our desires is eSsEnTiAl.

am off to write mine.

i wish for you ALL that is good.

[Sharmila]

I loved this Dani! I also adored your post and the pic/quote to go with Vacation or Staycation!! How lovely! I am lounging over here lots tonight! Your site is quite a lot to take in! delightful! Take care and thanks for sharing! hugs, Sharmila

[Positively Present]

Lisa - Thank you! It was definitely nice to have some R&R time -- and especially great to see all of those shooting stars! I really believe it's important that we think about our wishes as serious, tangible things because they have just as much possibility as our non-wish thoughts!

Sharmila - Thank you so much for your enthusiasm! I'm loving all of your comments on the blog and I thank you so much for reading it. :)

[Oscar - freestyle mind]

At least a shooting star can make your day, so it's not a matter of being naive :) I really enjoyed this article.

[Positively Present]

Oscar - Very good point! Seeing a shooting star (three, in fact!) definitely made my day. I'm glad you liked the article. :)

[Syd]

I make wishes when I see a falling star. I have no idea whether they have come true but it's the wishing that has good memories. I do believe in wishes and hope.

[Positively Present]

Syd - I totally get what you're saying in this comment. Often I wish for things and then I don't even think about whether or not they came true. It's the act of wishing that makes me happy, that, as you said, gives me a great feeling of hope.