Allison Rapp

Live Your Dreams

Moshe Feldenkrais always encouraged us to follow our dreams. Are you following yours? What happens when you "let" your kids follow theirs? How has your life changed because of it?
Samantha is one-half of that heart of mine that beats outside of my body.
Samantha is one-half of that heart of mine that beats outside of my body.

I’m really excited, because my daughter Sam is coming home for a visit before her last year at the University of British Columbia starts. We’ll laugh and hug and hang out — and hopefully I’ve evolved sufficiently to avoid doing all the things Moshe says all mothers do in the first 5 minutes their kids are home that drive them away in the first place!

I’ve been thinking a lot about how things have changed since I went to college. At the time, I lived in Connecticut, and I applied to several schools, just to make my mother happy. What I really, really wanted to do was go to the University of Hawaii. In 1967, it had nothing to do with having the kind of savvy that kids have now about which school best suits them. What suited me about it was that it was in HAWAII!!

My mother, who was adamant that my sister and I would go to college, put her foot down more than firmly. She didn’t even let me apply. Her reasons had nothing to do with the kind of savvy that parents have now about which school will offer the best opportunities to their kids. Her reason was simply that it was in HAWAII!! She was sure she’d never see me again and there was no way I was going that far away at that time in her life.

Fast forward about 45 years, past my training with Moshe Feldenkrais, where I really got the importance of going after your dreams, and stop today — I’ve “let” my kids follow their dreams… one in Turkey and one in Canada. And I can say from the bottom of my heart, “I get it, Mom.”

But the tag line on my card is “Live as if your life depended on fulfilling your dreams — it does!”

So how can I complain when my kids are doing just that?
Are you fulfilling your dreams?
Are the people around you fulfilling theirs?
How has your life changed because of it?

I’d love to hear from you!