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Truly Useful Real-Life Skills

As the parents of a teenager, we often find ourselves in a series of conversations called, “When am I Going to Use This in Real Life?” Popular episodes include, “When… Read More

Level Up with the Dreambook

You are amazing. Let’s take it to the next level. I am always delighted to get unsolicited positive feedback about our books and courses. I save it all in an… Read More

Turn Your Dreams into Choices

Several years ago, Briana asked me, “What are your dreams?” and I discovered there was a hitch in my thinking about dreams. Somehow “dreams” had come to represent crazy or… Read More

What I Don’t Want You to Know About Me

I once participated in a weekend training that included a process called “What I Don’t Want You To Know About Me.” We took turns standing up and telling the rest… Read More

Best Dreambook Ever

I’m not really an excitable type of person. I can’t remember the last time I jumped up and down while clapping my hands and making whooping noises (generally I perform… Read More

Make Good Habits Stick

A few years ago, we added a simple habit-tracking system in our ever popular Dreambook. Users can track up to four habits at a time, marking their progress on each… Read More

Sustaining Your Resolutions: Inertia, Integrity, and the Power of the Earth Element

Are you someone who sets ambitious goals at the beginning of the year but then struggles to follow through on them? We’ve been there. It’s one of the reasons we… Read More

Living Your Purpose

The new 2021 Rituals for Living Dreambook+Planner will be released in a couple weeks, and there’s been a huge surge of interest in it this year, so I decided to… Read More

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Sadly, these subjects won’t be covered (directly) in our kid’s high school and they probably weren’t at yours either. As a result, many of us just stumble upon methods that work reasonably well, and we may start to relate to life as something to be maintained rather than our ongoing creation with infinite opportunities for improvement. The second perspective is not only more gratifying, it’s also a lot more fun. We want to help you get the training you never received. If your goals always get pushed to the bottom of your to-do list… If you doubt your ability to follow through… If you feel more daunted than excited by your big dreams… If you procrastinate the changes that will make your life better… If you know you have more potential than this, but don’t know how to start actualizing it… Don't give up! You just need to be shown HOW. That’s what we’ll do for you in our 9 week course, Dreaming and Planning. We’ll guide you through all the steps for making goals, breaking them down into manageable pieces, and achieving them, step-by-step. In this course you will actually set and attain a goal that you choose, so you’ll have the experiential instruction of moving through this process to completion (with plenty of hand-holding). Your confidence will grow. You’ll build personal integrity. You’ll start to trust yourself. Your nervous system will calm down. You’ll feel less overwhelmed. The potential everyone always saw in you will finally have a powerful outlet. It’s life changing! We can do this together. Check it out below. Be well, Peter and Briana [post_title] => Truly Useful Real-Life Skills [post_excerpt] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => open [post_password] => [post_name] => when-am-i-going-to-use-this-in-real-life [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2023-01-06 21:39:44 [post_modified_gmt] => 2023-01-06 21:39:44 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => https://thedragontree.com/?p=8912 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw [webinar_id] => 0 ) [1] => WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 8683 [post_author] => 3 [post_date] => 2022-06-17 20:46:01 [post_date_gmt] => 2022-06-17 20:46:01 [post_content] => I feel the more we celebrate, the better our quality of life. And there are two holidays worth taking time out for this week. Today, June 19th is Juneteenth, and Tuesday, June 21st is the summer solstice, the longest day of the year. I think it’s appropriate that Juneteenth falls so close to the summer solstice, because both symbolize a certain abundance of light. Juneteenth is a celebration of the emancipation of African American slaves. Throughout the Civil War, many slaveholders moved to remote areas to escape the fighting and hold onto their slaves. When Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation went into effect on January 1, 1863, nothing changed where it wasn’t enforced. This was especially the case in Texas, where there were still a quarter million slaves in 1865, even after General Lee surrendered the Confederacy. On June 19th, 1865, Union General Gordon Granger presented Texas with a proclamation that read, “The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labor.” Although the enforcement of the law took years, and there’s still plenty of work ahead of us, June 19th became a day of celebration. Known as Juneteenth, it’s the longest standing African American holiday. The abolition of slavery was like clearing a dark cloud that had long hung over the country. It was the beginning of allowing African Americans to be their own people and freely shine their light. There’s no way to undo the suffering caused by slavery and its aftermath of discrimination and systemic oppression, but one step in the right direction – especially for White people – is to recognize how much this country has benefited from the presence of African Americans. Just when the light of the sun is at its peak, we have the opportunity on Juneteenth (and always) to celebrate the light that’s symbolic of the African American soul, which has persevered through unimaginable violence and injustice, and evolved into an incredible cultural identity. Despite comprising just 13% of our population, African Americans have had a disproportionately significant influence on the United States. From music to art to cuisine to literature to science to leadership to religion and more, it’s all around us. So, let’s celebrate the light this week. ☀️ Bask in the sun. Try this simple “solar energy” meditation: Inhale for a count of 4 while imagining you’re absorbing the sun through your pores, deep into your body. Hold your breath for a count of 4 while imagining the solar energy working its way into all your cells and charging all your atoms. Exhale for a count of 4 while imagining you’re beaming the sunlight out of every pore. Hold (with empty lungs) for a count of 4 while basking in your own glow around you. Then repeat. ☀️ Open your heart and shine your light into every environment you find yourself in. ☀️ Make a conscious choice to see the light in everyone you encounter. ☀️ Enjoy the contributions of African American writers, musicians, chefs, comedians, and influencers. ☀️ Whatever your race, consider how you've benefited from the influence of courageous and visionary African Americans, then take some action to honor this light and support our work toward true equity. Be well, Peter [post_title] => A Double Serving of Light [post_excerpt] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => open [post_password] => [post_name] => a-double-serving-of-light [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2022-06-17 20:46:01 [post_modified_gmt] => 2022-06-17 20:46:01 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => https://thedragontree.com/?p=8683 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 1 [filter] => raw [webinar_id] => 0 ) [2] => WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 8838 [post_author] => 3 [post_date] => 2022-10-13 19:37:46 [post_date_gmt] => 2022-10-13 19:37:46 [post_content] => Although we weren’t thinking about it while writing it, our life planner, The Dreambook, is very much aligned with ideas of the Human Potential Movement (HPM). The movement focuses on helping people attain their full potential through numerous avenues, including self-awareness, honesty, openness, optimism, self-acceptance, mindfulness, and a willingness to be outside of one’s comfort zone. Wikipedia says a central premise of the HPM is that “people can experience a life of happiness, creativity, and fulfillment,” and that this naturally moves us to uplift our community and assist others to actualize their own potential. Although it’s often seen as having developed from the 1960s counterculture, the seeds of the HPM were planted much earlier. Close influences were psychologists such as William James, Carl Rogers, and Abraham Maslow. In particular, Maslow’s famous Hierarchy of Needs elucidated how humans are motivated. He claimed that we have tiers of needs, and that foundational tiers – e.g., food, shelter, safety – have to be managed before we can dedicate ourselves to higher tiers such as relationships and achievement. Maslow called the top tier self-actualization, the full realization of our potential. Well before these modern thinkers, Greek philosophers such as Socrates and Epictetus were teaching about human potential through the cultivation of virtue. Confucius, too, (500-ish years BCE) was a great champion of personal development and spoke of the relationship between one’s individual growth and the benefit to society, similarly to what is echoed above by the HPM. In The Great Learning he wrote: In ancient times, those who wished to make bright virtue brilliant in the world first ordered their states; those who wished to order their states first aligned their households; those who wished to align their households first refined their persons; those who wished to refine their persons first balanced their minds and hearts; those who wished to balance their minds and hearts first perfected the sincerity of their intentions; those who wished to perfect the sincerity of their intentions first extended their understanding; extending one’s understanding lies in the investigation of things. And “the investigation of things,” according to twelfth century philosopher Zhu Xi, means, “to exhaustively arrive at the principles of matters, missing no point as one reaches the ultimate.” Some would say it means to perceive the true nature of reality. I find this view beautifully holistic: that even for worldly aims (“to make bright virtue brilliant in the world”), we start with our basic orientation to reality, then bring this forward to the “sincerity of our intentions,” the balance of our hearts and minds, then to personal refinement, the alignment of our household, and then outward to our community. Depending on your disposition, these statements can feel inspiring or unreachably lofty. If making bright virtue brilliant in the world feels daunting, let’s look at the ideas of living to one’s potential in simpler terms. Confucius speaks first about the investigation of things – understanding the world. Doesn’t it make sense that in order to really grasp our potential we must understand the context in which it is expressed? This isn’t work anyone can do for us, and it requires humility, innocence, and openness. It means, in my opinion, approaching the world as a student would approach a master teacher – willing to be wrong and open to having our mind blown. If we look to cultures who live in close connection with nature (including Confucius’s culture), they’ll almost universally assert that it’s the sacred in us, interacting with the sacred of the world, that is the essence of life – not the masks and stories we’ve superimposed upon it. What is the sacred? That which can’t be depleted, exhausted, or diminished. What about the sincerity of intention Confucius mentions? We hope to nudge our readers toward sincere intention through the exploratory questions in the Connect section of the Dreambook. Figure out what brings you joy and gratification, regardless of what others might think. What raises your vibration? What makes you feel alive? What opens your heart? What makes you feel you’re aligned with the purpose your Highest Self wants for you? From here, establish structures to support the actualization of these intentions. Integrate them into your everyday life. Set goals, break them down into tasks, and put the tasks in your calendar. Practice integrity by honoring your agreements with yourself. Be reverent of the powerful words they are constructed from. Make sure your agreements are clear – always know what you’ve agreed to and where you stand on them. Notice what you accomplish and celebrate these achievements. Don’t complain. Be flexible. Maintain a clear inner vision of what you intend to bring into being. And routinely express gratitude. If this sounds like a lot to remember, that’s what a planner like the Dreambook is for – to keep you on track with the actualization of that incredible potential within you. We’re honored to witness you. Be well, Peter [post_title] => Are You Actually Actualizing? [post_excerpt] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => open [post_password] => [post_name] => are-you-actually-actualizing [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2022-10-13 20:00:33 [post_modified_gmt] => 2022-10-13 20:00:33 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => https://thedragontree.com/?p=8838 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw [webinar_id] => 0 ) ) [post_count] => 3 [current_post] => -1 [before_loop] => 1 [in_the_loop] => [post] => WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 8912 [post_author] => 3 [post_date] => 2023-01-05 21:26:23 [post_date_gmt] => 2023-01-05 21:26:23 [post_content] => As the parents of a teenager, we often find ourselves in a series of conversations called, “When am I Going to Use This in Real Life?” Popular episodes include, “When Am I Going to Use Calculus in Real Life?” and “When am I Going to Use Shakespeare in Real Life?” Between trying to find ways to motivate our kid to stick with the subjects they don’t care about, we’ve given a lot of thought to what really IS important to learn for “real life,” and we believe that near the top of the list are the skills of goal-setting, planning, and follow-through. Sadly, these subjects won’t be covered (directly) in our kid’s high school and they probably weren’t at yours either. As a result, many of us just stumble upon methods that work reasonably well, and we may start to relate to life as something to be maintained rather than our ongoing creation with infinite opportunities for improvement. The second perspective is not only more gratifying, it’s also a lot more fun. We want to help you get the training you never received. If your goals always get pushed to the bottom of your to-do list… If you doubt your ability to follow through… If you feel more daunted than excited by your big dreams… If you procrastinate the changes that will make your life better… If you know you have more potential than this, but don’t know how to start actualizing it… Don't give up! You just need to be shown HOW. That’s what we’ll do for you in our 9 week course, Dreaming and Planning. We’ll guide you through all the steps for making goals, breaking them down into manageable pieces, and achieving them, step-by-step. In this course you will actually set and attain a goal that you choose, so you’ll have the experiential instruction of moving through this process to completion (with plenty of hand-holding). Your confidence will grow. You’ll build personal integrity. You’ll start to trust yourself. Your nervous system will calm down. You’ll feel less overwhelmed. The potential everyone always saw in you will finally have a powerful outlet. It’s life changing! We can do this together. Check it out below. 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Truly Useful Real-Life Skills

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Are You Actually Actualizing?

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