I was in a cab a while ago laden with goodies from a trip to my parents’. The driver was a nice looking middle-aged man. Very polite. He took a call on his cell  and after he hung up I asked what language he was speaking as it had been musical and not one I recognized. He told me it was Farsi….the official language of Iran. And after spending 17 years studying and working in Italy, he was fluent in Italian as well. I discovered that I was in the cab with a highly trained architect.

I asked what on earth made him leave a good life and a career he loved to come to Canada. He explained he wanted to give his daughters a better chance at a better life. Their accomplishments since moving here, which he proudly cited, have made him very happy. But I heard a deep sadness in his voice as well; because how many opportunities are there for Iranian, Italian speaking, middle-aged architects in a new country?

As we approached my house my eyes were already welling up with tears. I paid him quickly, way over-tipped, wished him good luck, threw my bags out of the car and before I was ten steps away started sobbing. From there to the door I repeated the same litany over and over….broken dreams, broken dreams, broken dreams. Walking down the hall to my kitchen, it changed to “No more!!!”

I was crying for him. I was crying for myself. I was crying for everyone I know who has lost a dream to circumstance or tragedy.

When I’m asked why I want to take on the task of helping people strive for their heart’s desire, it’s because too many tears have been shed….too many hearts have been broken….too many spirits have wilted. Too many architects and artists and dancers and writers and healers and teachers have given up on their dreams. Your dreams don’t give up on you. SO WHY SHOULD YOU GIVE UP ON THEM? Why do working to survive and working towards a dream have to be mutually exclusive?

Next time you walk by a stranger or even someone you’ve known a lifetime, listen carefully. That music you hear is their song.

As I declared in the manifesto on my first website (see image below), I wanted to start a network of people helping people achieve their dreams. And that’s what Donna Marie Antoniadis is doing on shesconnected.com as well. And that’s what the sponsors of the Yoga Meltdown yesterday at Queen’s Quay were doing. I witnessed a community of people gather together to support and uplift each other in their dream to create a physically strong and mentally harmonious life.

Well you can help too. If you know someone who longs to sing their song and you know of ANYTHING that might help them take that first step, I urge you to make that effort.

(visit lindakaban.com)