Today’s post is a guest post written by Ashley J. Long. You can learn more about her, and get her free gift at the bottom of the post.

It’s spring time, which always makes me think about new beginnings and things being born.

That includes new dreams being born.

New dreams that go from being a vague thought or wish to actually happening!

That is what the art of manifesting is all about.

I want to share with you 3 ways to catch your dreams and take them from wishes to reality.

1. Time

Time can be the #1 killer of a dream. We think we’ll work on making it happen once we have time. Guess what? Seldom does the time ever appear. We end up living with Time Scarcity, struggling just to get the stuff of our daily lives done before we fall into bed at night. Suddenly, years have gone by. Where did that time go?

How to use Time to make your dream a reality?

Time is a man-made thing we use to navigate our physical world. But, time is an illusion.

The “time” we have each day can change our perception of the time we have each day.

Time changes with our priorities.

Time changes with our focus.

 What are you giving all of your time focus to that isn’t allowing you to catch your dream and make it a reality?

Even if you have a very long to-do list each day due to your job, kids or other obligations, when you ONLY focus on that, THAT is all that is in your time focus.

When you start a new focus, your time will shift into allowing in that new focus.

Try it:  Start focusing on some element of your dream… starting a novel, taking painting classes, finding a writing mentor, etc.

As you’re falling asleep at night, see yourself doing it. Don’t get caught up in the fact that you don’t have it – just feel the fun, excitement, and joy of seeing yourself doing it.

Take note of what happens next in your life, because I guarantee that something will change and show up.

2. Ask and Receive

Have you ever asked the Universe (or whatever label you use to represent the Highest Power you believe in) for something you want, but then when something came along that was part of giving it to you, you blocked it?

It amazes me at how often we all do this.

We politely say NO if someone offers us something because we don’t want to seem needy, or incapable or it was what our Moms taught us to do.

The thing is, the Universe uses others to deliver what we’ve asked for!

When we have a dream…that desire acts like a magnet and it sends stuff our way. The stuff is part of the path we need to get there.

So, we must not block that stuff if we want that dream!

Try it:  Practice receiving

What do you do when someone compliments you?

What do you do when someone offers to do something for you?

Buy you something?

Give you something?

Practice receiving and you’ll start to see MORE showing up!

Think about how you can INCREASE your experiences of receiving your dreams.

3. Embracing Our Mistakes

Why do mistakes and failures get such a bad rap?

The truth is, they are our best allies. They give us such rich material to work from and they help us to always be upping our game.

A failure can lead us in a new direction.

In the act of creativity, mistakes lead to new ideas and can even launch a new work of art for us.

But, too often, folks allow mistakes to STOP their dreams.

They think of that one big mistake as something that defines them as “not good enough.”

It hangs over their head, growing each time they think back on it.

“Not going to make that mistake again!” is a phrase that inhibits creativity!

Try this: Write down the dream you’ve been wanting and then write a whole list of the mistakes you could look forward to making in it!

That will shift your perspective to one that is empowering and allow your dream to START, not stop!