Building castles and planning foundations

We spent an afternoon at the local bird sanctuary one day (when the sun was actually shining!) and I was so happy to see so many beautiful blooms...

I came across a great quote today that I wanted to write down somewhere where I would be able to find it again...I thought this would be a good place:

"I urge you to examine your life. Determine where you are and what you need to do to be the kind of person you want to be. Create inspiring, noble, and righteous goals that fire your imagination and create excitement in your heart and then keep your eye on them. Work consistently towards achieving them."
 ~Joseph B. Wirthlin

I really love that. My mind has been in this place for awhile (well, in the moments I am not thinking about homework).

My daughter had her first sleepover this past week-end and when I mentioned to her and her friend that I had to go and do some homework the friend looked at me like I was crazy and said "aren't you a little old for homework?" Well...yes, I guess you could say that I am, especially to a couple of ten year olds. But, I am learning so much and I have always wanted a degree. I think that it is so important to constantly be moving forwards towards your goals even if you risk looking ridiculous to others.

I recently read the book Walden by Henry David Thoreau, which I really enjoyed. So often I have heard the quote "go confidently in the direction of your dreams, live the life you have imagined". But, that is only a part of it; the full quote was so much better!

"I learned this, at least, by my experiment: that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavours to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours. He will put some things behind, will pass an invisible boundary; new, universal, and more liberal laws will begin to establish themselves around and within him; or the old laws be expanded, and interpreted in his favour in a more liberal sense and he will live with the license of a higher order of beings. In proportion as he simplifies his life, the laws of the universe will appear less complex, and solitude will not be solitude, nor poverty poverty, nor weakness weakness. If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundation under them." ~ Henry David Thoreau 1854

I think that is my all time favourite quote. I wish I had heard the full quote a long time ago; I think it is so much more powerful. Dream big and then get to work to build those foundations. That is what I am doing right now, dreaming big and planning out those foundations....