A while back I decided to launch Project Stretch and Grow, where I decided I would release my fears and begin pursuing the various dreams and creative passions in my heart. From taking theater and ballet classes, taking part in a music training program and working on learning more about photography, stay tuned for more updates on how I’ve been learning to stretch myself and grow in ways I never thought possible. I hope you’ll join me this year in taking a step toward those dreams in your heart and pursuing them boldly!

Some time ago a friend introduced me to the song “One Step At A Time” by Jordin Sparks from her previous self-titled album. The song and video remind you that reaching your goal might take some time but not to be discouraged by disappointments. Other doors will open and you’ll reach where you’re meant to go in time if you get up and keep going.

“One step at a time, There’s no need to rush, It’s like learning to fly…”

Hurry up and wait
So close, but so far away
Everything that you’ve always dreamed of
Close enough for you to taste
But you just can’t touch

You wanna show the world, but no one knows your name yet
Wonder when and where and how you’re gonna make it
You know you can if you get the chance
In your face as the door keeps slamming
Now you’re feeling more and more frustrated
And you’re getting all kind of impatient waiting

[Chorus:]
We live and we learn to take
One step at a time
There’s no need to rush
It’s like learning to fly
Or falling in love
It’s gonna happen when it’s
Supposed to happen and we
Find the reasons why
One step at a time

You believe and you doubt
You’re confused, you got it all figured out
Everything that you always wished for
Could be yours, should be yours, would be yours
If they only knew

You wanna show the world, but no one knows your name yet
Wonder when and where and how you’re gonna make it
You know you can if you get the chance
In your face as the door keeps slamming
Now you’re feeling more and more frustrated
And you’re getting all kind of impatient waiting

[Chorus]

When you can’t wait any longer
But there’s no end in sight
when you need to find the strength
It’s your faith that makes you stronger
The only way you get there
Is one step at a time

One of the points he made was instead of planting and watering many dreams at once, you should focus on watering one dream first in order to see results, and when that dream succeeds it’ll open the door for your other dreams. That advice is a little hard for me, who has so many interests and sometimes has trouble picking just one, but this year I’ve made a commitment to focus on a few related areas to help them grow.

(If you need some encouragement on reaching your dreams, check out some of the new posts here on www.Dreamfleur.com and a special post “Dreams in Due Season” here that resonates with some of the themes Perry spoke on.)

12-year-old Hayleigh Scott shows that even when rain falls in your life, you can make the decision to shine…

You’re never too young to start your own business, but when 12-year-old Hayleigh Scott was 5-years-old she had to wait until she was a little older just to describe to her family the invention she wanted to create. She turned a circumstance in her life – having hearing impairment, into a way to spread awareness, support a greater cause, and lend a little color, sparkle and style to ears around the globe. Read all about Hayleigh’s story and shining ingenuity below:

DreamerENT: What inspired you to start your business Hayleigh’s Cherished Charms and how did it go from an idea to a business?

Hayleigh: My business started as an idea when I was 5 years old. I am severe to profoundly hearing impaired and wear hearing aids to help me hear. When I was 4 years old, I went to a school for the deaf. Like me, some of the kids were hiding their hearing aids. When I saw that, I decided that I didn’t want to hide my hearing aids anymore. We were visiting my grandparents in Texas when I first shared my idea with my parents. I was drawing at the kitchen table with my twin sister, Vienna when my mom walked in and asked us what we were drawing. I told her I was drawing charms and tube twists for hearing aids. My pictures were a little hard to understand so it took me a few years and a lot of tries to get my mom to understand what I had drawn.

She told me that she thought my ideas might be patentable. So, my mom and dad helped me prepare to make my first presentation to a patent attorney. I was only 8 and went into a board room and had to share my ideas with adults in the attorney’s office. I applied for a provisional patent and later a full patent for my products. Then, I went on to open my on-line business www.HayleighsCherishedCharms.com. I also have email (cherishedcharms@gmail.com), a facebook page, twitter account, and an ETSY shop as well. I have been very blessed to have distributers of my charms in both nationally and internationally. I am currently working on partnering with a major hearing aid mold company to produce part of my product line. It is very exciting.

DreamerENT: How did you learn about where to get your materials, and how to set up the business? Did you have any challenges along the way?

I hope this Dr. Martin Luther King Day you are able to reflect and dream higher and deeper, in a way that can impact lives, just as Dr. King did. I wanted to share a story and video of a creative way one person is reliving Dr. King’s legacy today…

For the past 10 years, Steven Loewenstein has been re-enacting many of Dr. King’s public speeches to educate, inspire and motivate others. Memphis to Montgomery is Steven’s 30 minute tribute to the greatest dreamer of our time—Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

I first saw Loewenstein present at my church where he is also a member and am inspired by how he passionately portrays the messages that inspired a nation into change. His delivery is so moving and spot on that if I heard the message from afar I would have believed I was listening to an actual recording of Dr. King.

Below watch the “I Have a Dream” speech reenacted by Steven Loewenstein at an MLK Essay Competition in Frisco, Texas.

You can watch more videos from Steven Loewenstein at his website www.montgomerytomemphis.com.

More From Loewenstein’s site:

“Close your eyes and open your heart and you too will relive THE DREAM.”
-Dr. Wm. Gregory Sawyer -Vice President for Student Affairs, California State University-Channel Islands

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once wrote, “everybody can be great because everybody can serve.” In the spirit of the servant, Dr. King, Steven Dean Loewenstein serves the community through his powerful oratorical tribute to one of America’s greatest leaders.

Steven presents a one-man performance, embracing Dr. King’s most beloved and heart rendering speeches. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “March on Washington” will come alive through Mr. Loewenstein’s interpretation of “I Have a Dream.” The dramatic experience of the “Letter from Birmingham City Jail” and the poignancy of the “Drum Major Instinct” will unfold before your very eyes and ears as Steven touches hearts with rhetorical eloquence only befitting a “King”!

Steven Loewenstein’s Performance of the “Drum Major Instinct”

The New Year is a fresh canvas, and we can either hesitantly hover our brushes over the blank surface in indecision, or boldly move to create the life we’ve always envisioned. I dare you this year to arise and shine, let your deepest dreams vibrantly come alive again and nurture them back to health.

You have so much beauty within you waiting to be released, but the world won’t be able to see or be enriched by it until you make a move.

It may take time, a lot of perseverance and patience but when your aspirations begin to take flight off of the sketchpad of your mind you’ll be in awe of the wonder of the experience… so get to painting those dreams into reality!

What are some of the dreams you are longing to bring to life this year?

- Julene

Above: Arise & Shine T-Shirt from my Envibrance Dream Apparel line. For this design I picked up my paintbrush after abandoning it for so long for the ease of the computer, and almost forgot how liberating it is to create so freely. I kept procrastinating getting my paintset out in fear that it would be difficult since I haden’t done it in so long, but I am glad I did!

It’s so nice though to see singers take a song, change it up and make it their own, as Drew Ryniewicz did as she sang Justin Bieber’s song “Baby” on The X Factor USA, the song seems to take on a new meaning and evoke a new feeling the way she sings it:

The story of Christmas reminds me that anything is possible…and where there is great love there are miracles…

Wishing you a wonderful Christmas and may your dreams be merry and bright in the New Year!

In true Renaissance Dreamer style (of trying out passions that I may need improvement in; this was recorded a while back and I’m taking vocal lessons;) here’s my cover of one of my favorite Christmas songs, originally sung by Chris Tomlin: