MARGARET BUFFIE'S WEBSITE/BLOG: 2015-02-08

May you always be a dreamer,
May your wildest dreams come true....

Art by Thomas Dodd; photographer and digital artist

What exactly is a dreamer?

Trying to describe a dreamer is like trying to catch a hummingbird with your bare hand as it zooms by. It's like trying to make a bracelet of snowflakes that lasts forever. Can't be done. But one can make a feeble attempt at it.

The most common description of a dreamer is - one who doesn't think by physical boundaries. One who has 'his or her head in the clouds'.

There are many "dreamers" who have accomplished great things in their lives. Leonardo da Vinci, Beethoven, Einstein, Van Gogh and thousands more over the centuries. Some, like Edison, claimed they actually dreamed their greatest ideas while sleeping. But I don't think he could have dreamed that without already knowing it was there - because he was already a wide awake dreamer.

I won't get into the differences between a visionary and a dreamer. Not all dreamers are visionaries, but I think all visionaries are dreamers.

So, are there signs - small red flags - that can allow us to determine if someone is a dreamer?

-I suspect a lot of dreamers are introverts who spend a lot of time inside their heads.

-I think they are probably daydreamers first and foremost.

-I think they are probably great readers, too.

-I think they see with great intensity the world around them, and they use this ability to see what others miss, to develop their dreams.

-I think most creative "working" dreamers have one foot on the ground and the other one ready to push them off to fly into the unknown.

-I think dreamers are risk takers.

-I think some dreamers are visionaries who want to change the world in practical terms. Politically. At the grass roots levels.World wide. There are many dreamers whose dreams lie in their great curiosity about the sciences and technology. Some take that curiosity, that passion for dreaming, and succeed beyond our wildest dreams.

-There are other dreamers who want to achieve artistic goals in the fine arts: writing, art, music, dance, theatre - just for the sake of the art. Inadvertently, they can also change the world, but in a different way. These are the dreamers that I belong to.

-I believe that dreamers who practice their passions, their loves, their crafts, know that the pursuing of their dreams is just as satisfying as reaching their goals. As a writer, if I didn't love the process of dreaming the story and writing it, dreaming some more, writing more, and on and on, I would never have finished one, never mind ten published novels.

-I also believe that there are people who are not actually dreamers, but are driven by competitiveness, a need to succeed in science and the arts above all else, because their focus is on financial and personal success. I will not be talking about them in this blog. No, I am talking to the ones who are the "real" dreamers. Like me. Like you.

If you are a dreamer a wisher a liar

A hoper a pray-er a magic-bean-buyer

If you’re a pretender come sit by my fire

For we have some flax golden tales to spin

Come in!

- Shel Silverstein

Drawing by Shel Silverstein

You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one.

- John Lennon

John Lennon, Oleg Shuplyak, Illusion Painting

Don Quixote, Painter, Honore Daumier

A dreamer, I walked enchanted, and nothing held me back.

- Daphne du Maurier, Rebecca

Dahpne Du Maurier

Walk on the Beach by Joaquin Sorolla

Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.

- Harriet Tubman