Everyone has a dream. It may whisper to us in a still, small voice or it may have the volume and intensity of Martin Luthur King’s “I Have a Dream” speech. The problem is that not many of us are actually living our dream.

One of the reasons is our comfortable familiarity with the “same-old, same-old” of our daily lives. We unwittingly set an inner limit on what we believe is available for us and the amount of joy we can handle. We actually keep our resistance to our dream in place (lest it bring us too much joy) and nurture our misperceptions about ourselves and our disbelief.

The real trick is to blast out of the “same-old, same-old,” expand our “Sphere of Availability” and allow the joy that goes with it!

Take A Moment to Test Your Joy Quotient

With This Self-Quiz.

(True/False)

1. Creativity doesn’t just belong to artistic types. It belongs to me and to every human. I AM creative!
2. I think of myself as someone who doesn’t just want what I want, but as someone who is going to get it.
3. I know that false desires are accompanied by feelings that are anxious, grasping and withholding, whereas true heart’s desires are accompanied by feelings that are joyful, releasing and generous.
4. My family, my community, my world all benefit from my pursuit of my dream.
5. Feeling vulnerable and insecure is part of the process of creating any dream. To see me through those times, I call on those who I know support my project, not those who might discourage my efforts.
6. I look around my world—city streets or nature’s paths—for creative inspiration and sources of joy. I consistently jot down my ideas and inspirations
7. I quiet my mind regularly, and when I do, unexpected twists of fate, positive chance encounters and unorthodox solutions often show up unannounced.
8. I make a regular habit of connecting with my wishes, and I’m not afraid to wish for too much. But rather than wish for personal success alone, I link my wishes to how they serve people.
9. It isn’t up to me what the world thinks of me. My job is to work on my dream and send it out there.
10. I use affirmations—positive statements phrased in the present tense and repeated often—to calm any fears I identify as holding me back.
11. I make it a habit to do one scary thing and to do one thing differently every day.

If you answered “false” more often than “true,” you may be plugging up your joy channel.

Here’s to Your Greatest Joy!