Dreaming Big

A few weeks ago, a mysterious package arrived in the mail for me. It contained a tiara... and a gift certificate of sorts. The enclosed letter introduced me to a new site called DreamBank, and invited me to visit, choose a dream to support, and donate a free $20 at my discretion. I got to be a “fairy godmother.”

What is Dreambank? You could call it a form of crowd-sourced lending... or rather, crowdsourced giving. Anyone can sign up and post a dream, and then anyone can read that dream, and decide to contribute to it. A sweet idea, really. Kind of like Kiva. Only without any expectation that you’ll repay what you’re given. And you don’t have to be a third world entrepreneur to post your dream.

So... I went to the site, and I chose to give my $20 to a woman who is trying to pay back her student loans.

A stranger’s student loan might not seem like sexiest cause to contribute to... but it seemed like the right one for me. Because as it turns out (can you feel the segue coming?) I’m about to begin graduate school myself.

Yes, it’s true. In less than a month, I will be crossing the border to begin a Masters in Counseling Psychology at JFK University in California. As I stare down the barrel of a 3-year program, and the prospect of living for three years in the Bay Area, paying US tuition and California living expenses, I have a lot of sympathy for this woman who accomplished her dream of getting a PhD, but now has a great deal of debt to deal with. I may find myself in the same boat in a few years time (minus the PhD). So I pre-emptively created my own dream on Dreambank.

I’m excited about the program I’ll be taking – I’ll be doing a specialization in Somatic Psychology. Since 90% of folks I speak to don’t know what that is, allow me to point you to the Wikipedia definition, as well as the school program outline.

My hope is that it will bring together my desire to help people with my fascination for the human body and how it is connected to our emotional experience. I see so many people every day who seem so out of touch with their bodies, and many who know that they aren’t comfortable in their bodies, but don’t know how to begin to shift that experience.

If you’re feeling particularly financially abundant, I’d be grateful for any and all contributions to my dream, through Dreambank. Non-financial support is welcome too, in the form of encouraging or abundant thoughts and wishes! I am confident that if this degree is the right path for me, I will find a way to do it without struggle, financial or otherwise.

Here’s to the future, and to change...