When dreams come true

I finally got a chance to take a look at the clip on YouTube where Susan Boyle wows the crowd (and judges) on the show Britain's got talent
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-KiGva9dV4

I could not help but smile and cheer her on as she sang and won people over with her beautiful voice. It was fascinating to watch the transformation: Susan Boyle's transformation from an unassuming plain middle aged woman into a star performer and the crowd's transformation from a cynical audience to entranced fans.

Who is this woman? What is her story? Boyle is the youngest of 9 children. She suffered oxygen deprivation during birth, thereby resulting in learning disabilities. Her classmates teased her because of this and also because of her appearance. She is single, never been married and presently unemployed. Singing has always been part of her life.

How did someone like Susan who suffered so many hardships find a way to nurture a grand dream like becoming a singing sensation? How did she find the optimism and the resolve to keep believing in her dream? Some of us who come from much more privileged backgrounds do not dare to imagine a rainbow-like future. Somewhere along the line we decided that dreaming big dreams would only lead to disappointments. So we stopped dreaming... We just go through life on auto-pilot grateful for what happens but not striving for that bright star that used to light up the skies of our childhood wishes.

I saw Hillary Swank (star of films such as Million Dollar Baby and Freedom Writers) speak at a conference last year. As a child, she lived in a trailer park with her mom. In high school she got involved in the drama club and acted in school plays. Acting made her heart pound and her soul soar. She decided to dedicate herself to acting even though she had a promising future in sports. She faced many adversities to realize her dream. She said something that struck me: "There is no such thing as luck. Luck is when preparation meets with opportunity."

In the case of Susan Boyle, preparation did meet opportunity. Susan was prepared. She had been singing since she was a child. But the opportunity only came because she believed in her dream and pursued it confidently. The fact that she chose to sing the song "I dreamed a dream" from Les Misérables is such a striking synchronicity...

When I was an awkward teenager suffering from a lack of friendships and loneliness, my mother gave me a poster for my room that hung there for many many years. On the poster there was a drawing of a turtle and the caption read "A turtle only moves ahead by sticking out its head." I took this to mean that if you don't dare to come out of your shell and become vulnerable to what is out there you will never tap into the magic of the universe and move forward in the direction of your dream.