Future horizons

“The more you imagine the future the more your headlights will illuminate your route.”

John Peter Wilson

“All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dreams with open eyes, to make it possible.”

T.E. Lawrence (1888-1935) Lawrence of Arabia, author.

Dreams are free yet our ability to achieve them depends on how realistic they are, our energy and our motivation. Yet there are some people whose dreams seem to inspire not just themselves but the people around them, for example, Martin Luther King Jr. dreamed of a world where people would have the same opportunities whichever background they came fromT

Yet, the future is very unclear and even the fortune teller’s crystal ball provides little guidance for us. This lack of clarity is largely due to the fact that even small changes can cause a big impact; just a slight deviation along a pathway can lead to unanticipated encounters with new opportunities and challenges. And this is one of the reasons why it is so hard to provide an accurate weather forecast or even predict which way the stock market will go.

Whether we recognise it or not our lives are always at a cross-roads. Think about how politicians, our bosses, family and friends can swiftly alter the direction of our lives. All it needs is one event to turn our life upside-down in a positive or negative way. If just one of these many factors happens it can change our lives, for instance, meeting someone, seeing a job advert that is perfectly matched for us, spotting that dream home etc. But dreaming and thinking about the future can help us increase our luck and open up new opportunities which we would never have noticed if we had not dreamed in the first place.

As Winston Churchill said:

“The empires of the future are the empires of the mind.”