When I was 19 I had a near death experience.

It’s a long story which is written in more depth at http://www.rachelandgracie.wordpress.com.

But there’s something important that I learned from that experience.

It taught me to detach from the things of this world which are of very little value.

And it taught me to cling to important things like Courage, Enthusiasm & Determination.

One thing I started doing then, which I still do to this day, is that when I come up against a challenging situation where there is not a lot of room for me to speak or express myself, I imagine I am in a dream.

I say to myself, “if this were a dream, what would I do differently?”

Usually it’s clear right away what it is I want to say or do and what is standing in my way (usually related to my feeling as though people around me won’t value my opinion because I’m a woman or suffering negative consequences like Martin Luther King did, if I do speak up.)

So I say to myself, “Well, if this was my dream and I could do what I wanted, then I would imagine it to be a dream where there were no negative consequences for speaking up. In my mind, in my dream, opinions matter. Every voice matters.”

And that would give me the courage to stand up and speak.

I imagine I’m living in a dream & then I do what would be the best case scenario in a perfectly positive environment.

Give it a try sometime. It’s really freeing!