We all do it, staring out of the window, thinking about the places we want to go, the things we want to do, and who we want to be. We’ve done this our whole life, right? But honestly, I think we’ve forgotten how to believe in our dreams, and that’s why so many of us are not living our best lives. Without dreaming the dream, how can we ever become the person we are supposed to be? To be the change we want to see we need to start dreaming the impossible dream.
Dreams are integral to life. The not so humble dream that mulls away inside our mind can play a significant role in shaping who we are and where we head in life. They define who we are meant to become and are the essence of our life purpose. So, what’s the secret? The secret is accepting the fact that it takes a dream to reveal our story and ultimately understand our purpose.
William Wilberforce had a dream, like so many great dreamers, of freedom. It seems that oppression, prejudice and captivity are the breeding ground of hope and dreams; what makes Wilberforce special was that he himself did not experience those things, his dreams were driven by compassion for the captivity of others.
BEING A BUTTERFLY
Being a butterfly is about supporting people to be their best self. It requires a deep commitment and understanding of the nature of humanity and the influencing nature of living life, the good, the bad and the ugly! It’s only when we embrace this that we can start to dream of impossible dreams that make a difference in care cultures for the better. It’s going to take determination, resilience and courage, a strong sense of purpose and unrelenting pursuit of the truth. Then and only then we will have a sense of what person centred care should look, sound and feel like.
The process of turning dreams into reality is achievable. Many dreams don’t progress any further than an ideological phenomenon. The greatest barrier to dreams becoming real is doubting our ability to make it real. The connection between dreaming, reality and living life in the way we want to live it is the heart and soul of what being person centred is about. This means that in order to become truly person centred, we need to be dreamers.
KNOWING THE OBSTACLES
We also need to understand what will rob us of our dream. These are:
I give up. Feeling comfortable in our world is a reassuring feeling. Feeling safe assures us that everything is okay. Often, however, a good dream pushes us out of our comfort zone and into one that doesn’t feel so great.
I quit. The problem with this can be the regret that inevitably follows. Dreaming requires positive risk taking and a lot of resilience and effort to maintain the momentum.
Work, work, work! Find one person who has achieved something significant and ask them if it was an easy feat. I’m willing to bet on the response to this being a resounding NO! Anything worth achieving requires a lot of effort, sweat and tears.
What if? The fear of trying and failing can hold us back from starting in the first place. Set backs happen. Flexibility is essential. Changing the end goal along the way does not equate to failure. It’s defining your path..
OUR DREAM OF A HOPE AND A FUTURE
We believe that:
- Person centredness is about our individuality and what matters to us. It is who we are, what we feel, the emotions we experience, our human behaviours. The core principles of being person centred are
- Creating personalised experiences;
- Embracing individuality;
- Enabling ourself and others, and
- Putting respect, dignity and compassion in action.
- It’s hard. It has risks, it is always evolving and it can’t be done, it has to be lived. It starts with self. It’s persevering.
- Feelings matter most. Life is about how we feel. Our thoughts, feelings and emotions shape who we are and what we do. This creates our sense of control – physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually. It’s real.
- Identity through Individuality. We each have a story. Sadly, circumstances in life have impact our reality.. We are shaped by our individual circumstances and values Our individual identity is released through nurturing our core spirit.
- Personalised in every way. This principle calls for understanding, what works for one person may not work for another. Personalising our interactions, relationships and communication supports freedom and fulfilment. Nothing about me without me
CREATING YOUR OWN DREAM
it’s time to create your own dream of being a butterfly… you may wish to consider the following:
Feel free to achieve your own dreams
Now is an excellent time to kickstart that dream you’ve been holding onto. Spend time with yourself and let your thoughts flow. An excellent place to start is with a thorough plan of action. One that is clear and concise in covering what you want to do, sets out why your dream is important and lists the steps you will take to reach your goal.
Know yourself to know your dreams
Know thyself. It’s hard to follow your dreams if you don’t know what they are. What do they look, sound or feel like. Think about the qualities to make them real. Seek to make changes starting with self.
The time is now!
If you dream of being a Butterfly, but aren’t living life in an authentic way, you can see the incongruence between your actions and your dreams. Start today.
Nurture your dreams
Look for ways to create action daily, learn new skills, practice what you preach and be kind to yourself and others. Dreams don’t just happen they are the result of clarity, many small steps, and commitment.
RN (Australia)
Managing Director MCM
REFERENCES
Roberts, G., Morley, C., Walters, W., Malta, S. and Doyle, C. (2015). Caring for people with dementia in residential aged care: Successes with a composite person-centered care model featuring Montessori-based activities, Geriatric Nursing, 36(2), pp106 – 110.
Jennings, J. L. (2022). Dreams Without Disguise: Using Freud’s Case of Dora to Demonstrate a Radically Client-Centered Approach to Dreams. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 00221678221137032.
Michaels, C. A. (2007). Sustaining the dream: a response to excessive positivism in person-centered planning. Research and Practice for Persons with Severe Disabilities, 32(3), 177-180.
Kunz, L. K., Scheibe, S., Wisse, B., Boerner, K., & Zemlin, C. (2022). From dementia mindsets to emotions and behaviors: Predicting person-centered care in care professionals. Dementia, 21(5), 1618-1635.
Francis, P., & Ivereigh, A. (2022). Let us dream: The path to a better future. Simon and Schuster.
Byrne, A. L., Baldwin, A., & Harvey, C. (2020). Whose centre is it anyway? Defining person-centred care in nursing: An integrative review. PLoS One, 15(3), e0229923.
Lynch, B., Barron, D., & McKinlay, L. (2020). Connecting with others. Fundamentals of Person-Centred Healthcare Practice.