Be thankful for problems you have now and for those bad days when they come. They are there for a reason - to help you learn to pull through and to help you realize what you do want in life.

A lot of us don't know what we really want until we find out what we don't want. Or we find ourselves in a situation that we truly don't like.

By learning from these situations, finding out what we really want and focusing on what we really want, that's how we get to where we want to be.

You have a job that you despise. You hate going to work everyday, you're boss is non-supportive, etc, etc. But you need money to pay your bills. You're in a catch-22. Do you quit your job and be happy or do you keep your job and be miserable?

Well, I quit my job last month and I haven't been happier since. Yes it's a little harder now but my husband is supportive and understanding. It's better to have a little less cash flow than to have a stressed out wife. Our home is more harmonious now and I have time to do things that I was too stressed out to do before. New opportunities have opened up for me that wouldn't have if I was still caught up in corporate world dealing with my day to day stress.

Raising kids and taking care of a household is a full-time job in itself but adding a stressful job that doesn't pay what you're worth makes you reconsider your priorities.

If dreams are so important to soul, to happiness, then why do so many people try to discourage us from following our dreams? Maybe it's because they're afraid of seeing us blossom into our full selves, because that's a place they've never dared to go themselves. Maybe it's because their own dreams have withered away. Or maybe it's because they're just scared, scared of happiness and energy that comes from a person following a dream--and scared of vulnerability that someone can open themselves up to when they truly follow their heart.

It shouldn't matter what other people say about your dreams. If you have a dream that makes you feel good, follow it. Don't let sour criticism spoil your dream. Hold onto it, and do best you can to make it come true. Hold onto your dream in long nights it takes to get where you want to go--and notice each small step of success as you get there. Nurture your dream. Nurture yourself.

But other people aren't only ones who put down our dreams, or try to suppress us. Sometimes we can be most critical of our own dreams, by dismissing them or telling ourselves that they can't happen. When we let go of our dreams, we let go of a part of ourselves. We suppress a part of ourselves. And that can deaden us inside, to emotions, to hope. It can bring a lot of pain--because we're not letting ourselves reach for something that fulfills us. We're not letting ourselves try.

Not allowing ourselves to follow our dreams, or even to just dream, can eat away at us, and cause us to become bitter, angry, and self-loathing. But following our dreams--ah, that's what releases us. Even when it's hard--even when it's scary adn we feel liek giving up and we can't think how we're going to get there--even then, there's something that feels right to us, deep in our souls, something that speaks to our hearts and makes us feel alive.

Dreams are vital to our well being, and we should all have them. What can you do to bring yourself closer to your dreams?