About dreams and plans

11am in Shanghai, I am attending a yoga class held in Chinese. The teacher speaks enough English to allow me to follow. The class is full of well trained Chinese girls. As they warm up I see that there's no chance for me. I will look ugly and clumsy. But I don't care and enjoy the class very much. At the end of the class, the yoga teacher comes to understand who is this "lao wai" (foreigner) joining a yoga class in a Chinese gym among local people. For some reason I cannot recall how, but we start discussing the difference between a dream and a plan. He's Indian. I am European. He's a yoga teacher. I am a westernized business driven entrepreneur. Interestingly enough, my standpoint is that plans are less effective than dreams. He states the opposite and tries to convince me about the importance a good plan. Too many unplanned circumstances disturbed my life plan so far. Thus I lost interest in having a plan, no matter how good it is. A dream is good enough. A dream helps you to stick to the global direction, leaving room for the unexpected. When you have a dream, you have values. Values ease the decision making process and help you stay true to yourself. A plan is just a bundle of tasks. It makes you want to hurry, get them done. Plans make you dependable, because as soon as you complete one, here comes the next one. A dream, instead, can be for a lifetime. It gives you confidence and freedom to act. You can still plan your day, week, month. Having a dream will not frustrate you when faced with a change of plan.

#China #Shanghai #Yoga #Dreams #Plans