You plant a seed. You water it. You tend to it. Or maybe you forget all about it. But the one thing I’m pretty sure you don’t do, is rush out the next morning and dig it up to see if it’s growing.

Is it growing? Is it growing now? (To be said with the pleading tone of a small child in the backseat of a car after the first 15 minutes of an 8 hour road trip! “Are we there yet?”)

That’d be ridiculous, right? And yet, that’s sort of exactly what we do in certain pockets of our lives—those corners that mean the most to us. When there’s something you really want—whether it’s an awesome relationship or a new creative impulse or the lyrics for a new song or a new job or a ton of money—we watch like hawks.

It’s hard to fully step into a dream and own it and allow it to come to us on its own terms without “proof”. But here’s the thing…

Anything that’s calling you forward carries with it some kind of personal growth spurt. The biggies—the things your heart are calling for—require some personal upleveling.

It’s hard to commit without proof and yet….

It’s in the commitment that our dreams grow. It’s in the trust that we allow the very things that we truly want to come to us.

We’re taught pretty early on in life to look to the outside. That’s where everything lives. You should believe what you can see, measure, count, weigh. You and I want proof.

And not only do we want proof but we’re hardwired for self preservation and safety. Sticking your neck way out—and yes, speaking a dream out loud or even to yourself is a form of sticking your neck way out—feels undeniably scary. Sometimes that fear is so unconscious that we don’t even have a chance to combat it directly. It’s one of those underground stealth operations fear can take that leaves us frozen, unable to move toward the very things are souls are calling us to.

Our dreams require work but not the kind we’ve been trained to do. Dreams don’t grow by being pushed from the outside anymore than seeds grow because we dig them up every few hours to see if they’re growing.

Your dreams grow because you nurture yourself. Because you trust yourself and you support yourself. Your dreams grow and take root because you take action—inspired action. You listen to your inner guidance and you act on those things you feel called to act on. And side note here, the road to most everything we want is an amazingly crooked one.

The road to your most cherished dreams is a crooked one.

The Universe is guiding you through all kinds of hairpin turns because it’s helping you become the very person who would have such a thing as you dare to dream.

You are becoming. And one of the ultimate cosmic jokes is that it’s actually in the becoming—on the way to your dream—that you’ll find the deepest well spring of joy and fulfillment.

Becoming is the domain of depth and pure joy. Oh sure, the dream is cool and great—I can’t deny that—but the becoming is the pure nectar of life. It’s your soul’s calling.

Becoming is the pure nectar of life. It’s your soul calling you forward.

Becoming is your soul’s calling.

Much as our little seed becomes a plant and thrives when it’s given the right conditions, your dreams thrive when you create the right internal conditions.

For our seed, Mother Nature takes care of the conditions. For our dreams, you and I are charged with creating the ideal incubator.

Every dream you have needs to be nurtured with:

• commitment
• trust
• allowing
• stillness
• inspired action
• space
• time
• awe

Your dream will grow and come to you at the perfect time, in the perfect way. That piece isn’t for you to control as much as you and I would love to be in charge of that. Because, seriously, who doesn’t want whatever it is that they want now?

Manifesting a dream is a collaborative process between you and the Universe.

The Universe guides. You listen. You trust. You take inspired action.

One of the biggest mistakes that I see people make (and yes, I have a long list of times when I’ve done this very thing) is believing that they’re in charge of making their dreams happen. From that place they push; they take uninspired action; they do what others tell them to do; they become very revved up in pushy, frenetic energy and move away from the kind of allowing that lets their dreams grow.

Plant your dreams as you would a seed. Carefully. Gently. Nurture them.

Ask inside when you’re not sure if there’s a specific action you should take moving forward. Trust. Act on what you get from inside. Nurture that internal space where you connect with Universe through mediation, walks in the woods, periods of uninterrupted cloud starring.

Don’t allow yourself to pull up the proverbial soil to see if anything’s growing. Guide yourself back to a place of open-hearted curiosity and wonder.

And the best super charged Dream Fertilizer of them all is “living it”.

Here’s the recipe for “living it”:

1. Relax.
2. Get yourself centered.
3. Meditate.
4. From that expanded place, allow yourself to play.
5. Be in the dream you dream. Let yourself live it, as if it were already manifest. How does it feel? Taste? Smell? Really get into it.

Even a few moments of this is potent stuff.

So… What kind of dreams are you planting these days? I’d love to hear so let me know in the comments.