Are you disillusioned by dreams that haven’t become realities? Have you settled for life as it is instead of life as you hoped it would be?  It’s never too late to act on your dreams.  In 2011, discover and live the dream God has for you.  Here are 10 Life Coaching Tips for living large, passionate dreams.

1.      Face Your Fears

Fears can immobilize us and cause us great angst.  It can even make us feel as if we’re caught in a spin-cycle of life—and desperately trying to get free.  Do your fears include fear of failure, success, rejection, abandonment, being alone, or public humiliation?  Whatever your worries might be, take one step today toward God and away from one of your fears.  He wants to help you.  He longs for you to live an abundant life, fulfilling the passionate purpose for which He created you.

2.     Learn To Exhale

Shallow breathing makes for shallow living.  It shortcuts all of the goodness in God’s plan, which is extravagant, abundant, broad-reaching, and life-giving.  It robs us of our chance to “soar on wings like eagles” (Isaiah 40:31). A slow, deep inhale-exhale makes all the difference to us physically and emotionally.  Try it right now, several times.  Feeling better already?

3.     Honor Your Deepest Longings

Some people think they don’t have time to dream.  We don’t have time not to dream!  Dreaming leads us to say no to other people’s agenda for us.  It cuts down on the waste and nonsense in our lives because it allows us to stay focused on what’s really important to us.  It teaches us to stop filling our time with activities that numb us into a false sense of happiness or with things that cause us to stuff down our feelings of hopelessness.  God created you to live out His dream for your life, not spend all of your time in the doldrums that weigh you down.

4.     Don’t Ever Give Up

 Persevering always comes at a price.  Sometimes the cost is time and resources, but other times the currency is loss of comfort, control, or perhaps even a friendship.  In which areas of your life is God asking you to persevere?  In your marriage, family, career, ministry, finances, education, exercise plan, sobriety?  How about the resilience needed in discovering and fulfilling God’s matchless call on your life?  Whatever it is, take action steps that will help you go the distance.

5.     Use Your Past For Good

It can make you feel uncomfortable and embarrassed if you think people only associate you with your past and don’t see you for who you have grown up to be.  But let’s face it, sometimes you are the only person dredging up your past!  You may have had relatively little grief in your life, or you may have endured terrible sorrow, but God has chosen to use every aspect of your story in His plan.  He wants to use your past, whatever it is, for His good.

6.     Expect Miracles

 God desires to enlarge your life with miracles to strengthen your faith and help you fulfill His dynamic purposes for your life.  If you will identify the miracles you want, you can expect that God will provide all you need to do His will.   It’s possible for miracles to happen every day.  Expect them.  Look for them.  Thank God for them in advance.

7.     Forgive Someone

 Forgiveness is an act of surrendered obedience to God, as commanded in the Bible, “Forgive as the Lord forgave you” (Colossians 3:13).  It is a willful, cognitive choice that often precedes the emotional response of feeling like forgiving someone.   Forgiveness is a process of “fake it till you make it.”  In other words, we make the decision to forgive; then we act our way into the feeling of forgiveness.  Thank God for His forgiveness.

8.     Eat Dessert First

 Is it hard for you to take time to play?  Is your spirit heavy with to-do lists?  Is joy only an occasional experience for you?  Don’t delay another minute!  Give all your cares to Jesus, and get a fresh start today.  Stop to treasure the little blessings He sends and to celebrate the gifts He has placed within your reach.  Reignite your smile.  You may laugh as you stop to realize that your dreams are unfolding before your eyes.

9.     Ask Jesus For Vision

 As you pray, ask Jesus to send the Holy Spirit to give you insight into particular areas of your life.  Ask Him to heal your blindness and open your eyes, granting you vision, clarity, wisdom, discernment, truth, knowledge, and focus.  Ask Him to prepare your heart as you move away from deliberate blindness toward the path to which He is calling you, both daily and long term.  And pray for the ability to handle the truth that He reveals to you, because it’s not always easy to deal with the truth or to obey what we’re told to do.

10. Capture Your LIVE BIG Dream

 What’s a gal to do now?  Simply this:  Remember that God Almighty created you with everyday, ordinary purposes—and also with a unique more far-reaching purpose.  He cares deeply about your next steps toward His glorious plan.  Ask Him to prompt you to follow the coaching tips and take action steps toward living the large, passionate life He has always had in mind for you.  If you take one solid step toward Living Big for God, you will find that the rest of the commitments will follow naturally, a lot like dominos falling.

Now it’s your turn.  Decide to Live Big in 2011, and surround yourself with a power team of people who will support you on your journey!  For more information on hiring a Life Purpose Coach and Discovering Your Brilliance, visit www.PurposeReleased.com.

(Excerpts from LIVE BIG! 10 Life Coaching tips for Living Large, Passionate Dreams, by Katie Brazelton)