Don't Quote Me: No matter your age, be young at heart

"Life is the soil, our choices and actions the sun and rain, but our dreams are the seed." -Richard Paul Evans, from his novel "A Winter Dream"

As nature begins to awaken from its winter sleep, this quote seems a related reminder for life. Too often we want to blame "life" for what happens to us. Sometimes we even want to give up on our dreams, complacent to assume that we cannot change what life throws at us.

Mr. Evans inspires us to take a more encouraging approach. I was sparked to consider his suggested perspective.

Start with our dreams. When was the last time you actually gave them some serious consideration? It seems that as we get older our imaginings seem to fade away. I don't think we should allow them to do so. With age comes experience and wisdom; use them to refine and hone your dreams. Then nurture the seed.

What do seeds need to germinate and grow? The obvious answers are soil, sun and rain. In this world, Mr. Evans states that the equivalents are life, choices and actions.

We have life and that is where we are to begin. About that we have no option; we were born. After a relatively short time we begin to make choices. They may seem simple at first; probably naively they begin to shape our dreams. Our choices result in and are a large element in our actions. Perhaps they are, even unconsciously, influenced by our dreams.

What did you dream about in your earlier years? What choices in your life led you in that direction (or away from it)? What actions were influenced by your dreams - or did you allow yourself to become sidetracked?

Not all childhood dreams are practical. As a child I had an Annie Oakley board game. I thought that I wanted to grow up to be like her and have a palomino horse. For lots of reasons that dream was unrealistic for me and I never pursued it. I've only been on a couple of horses in my lifetime ? mostly the "pony ride" type ? and I've never shot a gun (nor do I feel the need to do so). My supportive husband has offered to buy me an "Annie Oakley gun," should the urge ever reoccur to me . . .

I have also long held the desire to live in a log cabin, in the woods by a lake (think: "On Golden Pond"). I've made choices and taken actions, particularly in recent years, to make that dream more of a reality (think: moving to Hayward). I also love to travel, and therefore have made choices about how I spend my time and money based on that dream.

I am reminded of the song Frank Sinatra crooned: "Young at Heart." It began: "Fairy tales can come true, it can happen to you, if you're young at heart." Maybe the song's advice is good for all of us: be young at heart, no matter what our age. It's never too late to let our choices and actions nourish the dreams we have for a more fulfilling life. As the earth reawakens with new growth and promise, let's join with it in reawakening hope in our lives ? and then acting upon what we really want out of life. It can happen to you!