The writings I share with you are born out of my personal journey and experiences. My hope is that you will somehow find encouragement in what I share, that it will inspire you to… Pursue Your Dream! ~ Niko

Pursue Your Dream

I encourage you to pursue your dream. Each of us has a free will and the capacity and power to follow after our dream. Most don’t because it usually comes at such a high cost. For some, it has even cost them their lives. But what is life if one does not pursue their God given dream? That unquenchable thing that burns deep within you? I would rather die in pursuit of my passion than to exist in this life doing something that makes me feel miserable and incomplete.

My Personal Journey
Pursuing my dream has required me to remain single thus far. It has required me to make choices about material possessions vs. investing in my dream. It has required just about every single waking minute of the past 11 years of my life and literally hundreds of sleepless nights. It has brought me to my knees weeping on many occasions, crying out to God for strength, courage, patience and wisdom. It has required me to venture into the unknown. To move to places I had never been, starting fresh and new. It has required faith to move mountains, hope to believe for the impossible, humility of a child, a willingness to be teachable to change many things about my perspective and my life - from my diet and social life to my spirituality. It has required me to learn many new skills, some of which have taken years to master and some of which will take many more. It has required me to hold on even when people around me thought I was wrong and even crazy. It has often times required me to disregard my present circumstances and to keep on believing even in the face of absolute contradiction.

Destiny
Pursing your dream is to pursue your passion which is to pursue your destiny! To achieve your destiny is to fulfill your purpose for being here. To fulfill your purpose is to honor God and God’s hope for your life. To honor God with your life each day is the noblest thing you can do, it is the highest form of worship and reverence you can give.

Motivated by Love
One’s dream should always be motivated by love. Anything less, is tainted with selfishness and is not pure. There are no exceptions. To pursue a dream that is rooted in selfishness is not a “true” dream, and the end result will not bring contentment and fulfillment in your life. It will leave you wanting, with a feeling of emptiness. A true dream is a dream that God has placed inside of you, such a dream is always pure and perfect. It is directly linked to the way you are wired, the way you tick, the way your mind works, your personality type, it is linked to the time of the year you were born and even the day, the minute and the second! It is linked to the unique set of gifts that are in you.

And we all have this - we all have a dream inside, we all have a unique set of gifts, we all have a purpose and a destiny. We all have the capacity to walk in love and to live a daily life of thought and action that is based in love. We all can pursue our dream. The only person who can stop you is you. You are your worst enemy. But the good news is that you are also your best friend! You possess the power to be one or the other, you decide in each moment.

Each Day
We are confronted with lies, fear, control and manipulation on a daily basis. That is why each day we must renew our hearts and minds of the truth - that we have a free will and that we can pursue our dream, that we are gifted and unique, and that we can walk in love and fulfill our destiny. It does not happen on its own though. It requires letting go – of pride, selfish desires, judgment, prejudice… It requires forgiving those who have done us wrong, a willingness to give, a willingness to be accountable for our actions, a willingness to seek the heart of God.

Giving
Your dream will always be linked to giving in some shape or form for giving is what life is all about. It is not money that makes the world go round, my friend, it is giving! Who paid for the sun to shine today? And for the oxygen in the air? These are gifts. Take giving out of the equation of life and everything would cease to exist. A mother gives to her newborn or else it could not survive, a father gives to his son by preparing him for manhood so that he will not become a fool and a thief, a friend gives to a friend to lift them up and bless them, a stranger gives to a beggar out of compassion because in their heart they know it could just as well be them on the cold street with no home or food. God gives us seasons and the laws of nature so that food will grow and so that everything can survive and flourish.

And take a moment to look at the intricate details of your hand, the way it works, your fingers and all the joints that move to grab and hold things and how it is all linked to your brain so that you can control it, a masterfully designed gift from God! Who among us paid money for our eyes and ears? Something we cannot even put a price tag on was GIVEN to us while we were in our mother’s womb! Before we could ever even think to work to earn them! A gift! In this manner, our true dream will always be linked to giving.

That does not mean your dream will not bring you wealth, in many cases one’s dream will in fact bring great wealth but you should always remember that great wealth is not for you to hoard up, it is given to you so that you can give to others, so that they can in turn give to others. The film “Pay It Forward” presented such a great principle to live by, I love that film. If you haven’t seen it, watch it, it presents this whole concept of giving in the most compelling and heart touching way.

Be True To Yourself!
This is one of the core foundational principles I encourage people to live by. If you cannot be true to yourself then you will live a lie. If you live a lie then you will NEVER be happy or satisfied in life. Ask yourself, “Who am I?” If you don’t have an answer, then begin the journey of seeking and searching it out. One way to find out who you are is to first find out who you are not! Get out a piece of paper and make two columns, start narrowing it down. If it takes you a month or a year or 10, the day you find the answer will be one of the most liberating moments of your life! You will most likely discover that you are not who everyone else said you were. Everyone has their opinion and idea but what everyone else thinks means nothing! It’s YOUR life and only YOU really know the answer!

If Einstein would have listened to his teachers, he might have never discovered his genius. If the Wright Brothers would have listened to their critics, they would have never flown! If I would have taken over the family business like a good little boy then I would be managing restaurants right now instead of composing music that is being enjoyed and celebrated around the world! So, turn down the noise, get rid of all the distractions and unnecessary obligations in your life (that can be bad relationships, bad habits, etc.), find a quiet place all alone and look deep within yourself. Get face to face with the divine and it is there you will find the answer.

My Glass Is Running Over
All my life I have heard the quote, “Do you see the glass half empty or half full?” On the night of August the 20th, 2007, I realized for the first time that I will never again see the glass as half full but rather I will see the glass as running over! In all that I am and in all that I do from now on, I will always see the glass as running over! I will live and see life with a perspective of blessing and abundance. My glass is full and all that runs over from it is for any and everyone who will receive it. For example, the songs I share with the public are but a handful of the songs I compose and sing out while alone in my time of personal communion with God. The Sun The Moon The Stars is what is spilling out of my glass, Illusion, The Exodus, Aliesha Shine, Together Forever Whenever, Kali Spera, these are all spilling out. I encourage you to see life this way, see your glass as running over. Say what you see and you will see what you have said. See the glass running over and it shall be. Jesus taught, Ask, and you will receive. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened.


Be Patient
It may be a while before you can see your dream manifest in the physical realm. Perhaps there are some things you need to learn first, some areas in which you need to grow and mature, some obligations you need to take care of. One does not fulfill their dream of becoming a doctor until they complete medical school and go through years of training. One does not perform in an arena until they have practiced thousands of hours while alone and performed in smaller venues. What I am saying is that all of these things you may feel are holding you back from your dream are actually part of it! You cannot get to the top of a ladder at the first step.

Always remember that the journey is as important as the destination! Don’t despise the journey, even if it takes 50 years to arrive at the destination! This has been the case for my manager, John, he has worked and dreamed his whole life to taste and see what is just beginning to manifest before his eyes! Your dream is every day, yes one day you will reach a certain place of accomplishment and you will say, “My dream has finally come to pass!” but then you will only set another dream to achieve, so enjoy the journey. Each step, each day, each moment, no matter how painful or how challenging, enjoy the ride!

On the island of Maui in Hawaii there is a place called Hana, many people hear about Hana and can’t wait to go only to find out that when they arrive, there isn’t really anything there at all! It’s the RIDE to Hana that is magical, it’s the 700 turns in the road, the waterfalls along the way, the fruit trees, the views of the ocean and rainforests! If your goal is only to get to Hana, your arrival will most likely be rather anti-climactic. But if your goal is to enjoy the ride, then you will tell everyone like everyone told you, “You gotta go to Hana!”





My Personal Search
Personally, to become who I really was and to begin fulfilling my dream, I had to “get out of my father’s house”, meaning I had to leave my comfort zone and place of familiarity. Comfort and familiarity breed a certain kind of habitual living, it can be positive or negative, in my case there were many things I needed a clean break away from – people and their ridiculous expectations, organizations and all their absurd rules and regulations, jobs and their monotonous routine, etc.

For me, it was so extreme that I even felt compelled to change my name! I began going by, Odysseus, the Greek version of my middle name. It was so liberating and just downright cool! No one knew me, no one criticized me, no one judged me based on my past. It was just what I needed. I felt empowered as never before to just be ME! The real me! Who I really was! I felt like I could breathe! I let my hair grow long for the first time! I painted my nails black and wore earrings for the first time!! I stayed up composing music all night long over and over!!! I bought 20 boxes of my favorite “unhealthy” cereal and ate them all as fast as I could!!! 10 times, I drove 1000 miles to attend week long teaching seminars all about provoking people to be true to themselves and to fulfill their God given destiny! In all of this, the warrior and artist in me was awakened and I finally began to let go of all my fears – my fear of man and his judgment and criticism, my fear of persecution… for the first time in my life I didn’t care what anybody thought about me except one: God. If God was cool with me, that’s all I needed to know, everyone else could go jump in the lake for all I cared! My canvas was white and I began to paint it just the way I always dreamed it to be! COLORFUL and TRUE!!!

Your Search
For each, it is different. “The Search” certainly does not always involve moving somewhere else but it does always involve doing something different. You can’t do the same thing over and over and expect to get different results. If you mix half water with half juice you will always get the same drink. If you want to discover something you’ve yet to find, then you’ve gotta do something you’ve never ever done before!





Success
Do not measure success by monetary gain or by how others see you, measure the success of each day by whether or not you were true to yourself, by whether or not you walked in love. A day of truth and love is the most successful day any man or woman can ever live. Mother Theresa had few possessions yet undoubtedly lived a very successful life. Life is not about what you’ve got, it’s about what you give.

Be Honest With Yourself
I am a person who encourages people to follow their hearts and dreams but it’s necessary that people be honest with themselves. For example, if you do not have a single athletic bone in your body then you might want to reconsider your “dream” of becoming the next Michael Jordan. : ) That’s a fantasy, not a dream. There is a BIG difference between a dream and a fantasy, do not confuse the two. I’ve seen some people in singing competitions on TV who couldn’t even carry a tune, for that person to pursue a singing career is absurd. I always wanted to be an artist (with pencils and paint) but I have NO natural talent for it whatsoever, I can hardly even draw a stick figure! It would be crazy for me to pursue such a thing when it’s blatantly obvious to me that it is not the gift God put in me. I was always fascinated by gymnastics and would have loved to be involved in it. As a matter of fact, the world famous coach Bela Karolyi had his personal training gym not far from my house, but I did not have natural talent for it, it was not my gift.

A Question For You…
What is it that you can do effortlessly? Stop and REALLY think about it. Can you write? Can you cook? Are you good with numbers? Good at focusing on one thing all day long? Good at organizing? Good at leading? Are you good with mechanical things and with using your hands? Do you love to be around people? Do you love to travel? Do you speak multiple languages? Do you enjoy reading? Do you love nature? Animals? Are you always thinking of ideas for new businesses? I assure you that the things which come to you so naturally do not come naturally to everyone else. Find out what your gifts are and then start to walk in them and you will naturally begin to fulfill your dreams.

The Time Is Now!
You can change your life today! Now, in a single moment! It’s up to YOU and no one else! It’s your life, your day, your choice! How? With a simple decision. You see, most people think of change in terms of something you can see with your eyes and touch with your hands, and this is true, but FIRST change happens WITHIN! Change is a DECISION. It is not based on external things - it doesn’t matter where you live, how rich or poor you are, how old you are, etc. You are a person, you are beautiful, you are priceless, your life is a gift from God! Decide today that you will BE TRUE TO YOURSELF. Decide today that you will GIVE and always BE MOTIVATED BY LOVE. Decide today that you will FULFILL YOUR PURPOSE! Decide today that you will PURSUE YOUR DREAM! ~ Niko