KAJAMA.COM NEWSLETTER

Q & A with MATTHEW DICKS, Author of Someday is Today

Someday — when the kids are grown, when work lightens up, when I win the lottery — I am going to start that business, become a yoga teacher, write that book, develop that app, paint that picture, finish my degree, pick up that musical instrument.

There’s a Japanese proverb: “The day you decide to do it is your lucky day.” But how do we make the decision to actually start and complete creative things? This is the question that author and nationally acclaimed storyteller Matthew Dicks explores in Someday Is Today: 22 Simple, Actionable Ways to Propel Your Creative Life.

We hope you’ll enjoy this Q & A with Matthew about the book.

Tell us about Someday is Today and what inspired you to write it.

I wear a lot of hats: Author. Elementary school teacher. Storyteller. Consultant. Speaking coach. Minister. Wedding DJ. Not to mention father, cat owner, husband, poker player, and mediocre gofer.

I do a lot of things. As a result, the question that I am asked most frequently is, “How do you do all the things that you do?” This book seeks to answer that question.

I have spent much of my life devising strategies that have allowed me to make my dreams come true while still finding plenty of time to be a normal human being, with plenty of time for friends, family, Netflix, and laundry. Some relate to the efficient use of time. Others focus on maintaining positivity and momentum in a world so often awash with negativity. Still others ask you to examine the way you make decisions in your life to ensure that your choices lead to the best possible outcomes.

Lots of people dream of doing something great someday – writing a book, building a business, making art, traveling the world, changing the fortunes of those less fortunate – but most people die having never fulfilled their dreams.

It’s an ongoing tragedy for so many people who believe that there is an endless supply of somedays. This book seeks to end the tragedy of someday by helping people turn somedays into today.

How important is hope when it comes to the realization of our creative dreams?

Hope is critical to the success of the creator. Hopelessness leads to apathy and inaction. Unless you believe that today can be brighter and better than yesterday, there is little reason to move forward with purpose and no reason to be enthusiastic about the possibilities of the day and the future. Knowing and believing that things can get better, progress is possible, and dreams can come true is essential to anyone dreaming of doing anything worthwhile.

You say in the book that “someday” is might be your least favorite word in the English dictionary. Why is that?

“Someday” is an insidious word that allows people to put off their dreams to another day. The problem is that our supply of somedays is finite, but by the time most people recognize this, it’s too late.

What is the One-Hundred-Year-Old Plan and how can it help us live with out fear of regret?

The problem with decision making is that so often, we make decisions about how we spend our time and effort based upon the next hour, the day, the next week, the next month, and even the next year. This may feel good in the moment, but if we extend our view across a lifetime, we discover that making decision based upon short terms wants and needs often leads to a life filled with unfulfilled dreams and endless regret.

The One-Hundred-Year-Old Plan asks you to look to the future when making a decision about how to spend your time and effort. Rather than relying on the version of yourself existing in the moment, look ahead to the one-hundred-year old version of yourself – the version who is looking back upon your life and judging the way you’ve spent your time – and ask that version of yourself how they would like you to spend the next hour. That version of yourself knows that friends and family comes before Netflix. Working towards your dreams is more important than time spent on social media or video games.

It hard to make decisions based upon the here and the now. But when we ask our future self what we want from our current self, answers are often much more obvious and decisions are better made.

What advice do you have to offer those whose inner perfectionist is preventing them from starting a creative project?

Understand that creative people make terrible things all the time. In order to do something good or even great, you must make mistakes. You must produce poor results. You must accept the fact that every single person on this planet who has ever made something great has also made many, many bad things. Perfection almost always equates to inaction. The need for perfections causes dreams to remain perpetually unfulfilled. As the creator of things, we must simply begin, even if our first second, and millionth steps are miserable and better forgotten. It’s better to be moving forward, making terrible things, than standing still and making nothing.

What is the most important thing you hope readers will take away from your book?

I hope that people finish the book believing that success is attainable, dreams can come true, and progress is possible. All of the things we want from life can be achieved if we focus on how we live each day. Our lives are an assemblage of every tiny decision that we make, and the course of our lives are determined in great part by this assemblage of tiny decisions. Small changes in how we live, piled atop one another and stretched out over time, can yield enormous results. My book seeks to help people see those choices more clearly and make these choices more strategically. There are no magic pills, but there are a multitude of small, significant ways that we can improve our chances of success every hour of every day. I hope my readers believe this and begin today.

Someday is today.

Matthew Dicks is the author of Someday Is Today and nine other books. A bestselling novelist, nationally recognized storyteller, and award-winning elementary schoolteacher, he teaches storytelling and communications at universities, corporate workplaces, and community organizations. Dicks has won multiple Moth GrandSLAM story competitions and, together with his wife, created the organization Speak Up to help others share their stories. Visit him online at www.MatthewDicks.com.

Excerpted from the book from Someday Is Today: 22 Simple, Actionable Ways to Propel Your Creative Life. Copyright ©2022 by Matthew Dicks. Printed with permission from New World Library.

Do you believe that praying for those who have passed away has an effect on them? Do spirits find comfort in the prayers of the living? Do they know we love them?

Heather

Susyn:

I absolutely believe that praying for our deceased loved ones has an effect on them, and that they deeply appreciate it. We can always connect with the spirits of those who have passed, though it is sometimes difficult to know if they can hear us. Whether we pray for them, converse with them, or simply grieve for them, we are connecting with them on a spiritual level.

Some people believe that when we die, we cross over into heaven, where all our problems are solved or left behind on the earth plane for others to deal with. Nothing could be further from the truth: If we pass over with unresolved issues, negative feelings, resentments or regrets, we will be required to continue working on them in the spiritual dimension.

It is helpful to send departed loved ones our prayers to help them with all of this. Though health and financial problems have been left behind, emotional and spiritual ailments still need to be healed. Keep in mind that it is more difficult to work on these issues from the other side, so our prayers for our loved ones are greatly appreciated.

Think of a prayer as a ball of energy. When we say a prayer for someone else, we ask for things that would be in their best interests. Every time we channel our attention toward something, it grows stronger. This is how our prayers help people who have crossed over to move forward; our prayers give them a sense of strength and energy so that they can do what they need to do.

Praying for the dead is no different than praying for someone in a foreign country who is fighting a war or suffering from a health problem. Whether they can see or hear us or not, the prayers we send help them in ways we might never imagine.

If you have recently lost a loved one, you are most likely praying that they have made it to the other side safely, that they are all right. You can rest assured that any health problems and physical pain they suffered have been completely left behind. If you know of other specific concerns, you can focus on those. For example, if they left unfinished business with a loved one or were in conflict with a relative when they passed, you may want to pray that the issues of their heart are resolved.

As you pray, remember to include moments of silence in your thoughts, for often our loved ones will reach out and try to communicate with us when we are focusing on them. You may be surprised at what they have to say!

While our friends and family who have passed away do know that we love them, through prayer, we can actively remind them of how much we treasure and miss them.

*****

Oceania:

Your question triggered a memory from my college days. I had a psychology professor with a perpetual twinkle in his eye. He was kind, humble and humorous, and his lectures were always captivating. When they ended, spontaneous applause would sometimes erupt. On one such occasion, he shouted, I don't need your approval! Then he smiled and added, ...but I sure do enjoy it!

I think your departed loved ones would say something very similar. Their perspective is now one of greater wisdom and understanding, so while they don't need your prayers, they sure do enjoy them! An added bonus is that your prayers are good for YOU! We have countless options for where to focus our mental attention in any given moment, and some are better for us than others. Whereas worry and regret pull us down, loving thoughts uplift us and support our well-being.

When my elderly father first got satellite TV, he would sit back and use his remote to flip through the hundreds of available channels to see which program he'd like to watch. He complained that he was at the mercy of too many options because by the time he got through them all, the hour was over. I suggested that he proactively choose a genre like sports, religion, old movies or news, and narrow his search within that field. This is similar to narrowing the focus of our mental field and then choosing exactly what to think about. Counting our blessings, affirming and envisioning our desires, and prayer are all premium channels of thought!

As I was getting to know my retired neighbor, she shared with me that on most days, she writes a letter of gratitude by hand on pretty stationary. She adorns the envelope with a Love stamp and cheerful stickers before dropping it in the snail mailbox. Sometimes she writes to family and friends, but more often she writes to people she doesn't know in order to thank them for affecting her life in a positive way. She has written to the president and other officials, to the local library and fire station, and even to authors of books she has read.

If she asked me, as you did, whether I thought her letters mattered to those on the receiving end, I would say, Of course! I'm confident her recipients, like those who hear your prayers, sincerely appreciate her efforts.

I also think that the person who benefits most from the process is her! Pausing to give thanks through letters or prayers is one of the best things we can do for our spiritual and emotional health, so carry on! Your departed loved ones want you to make the most of your remaining time on earth.

Astrea:

Many times in life we hear, "You will always have what you NEED, but not necessarily what you WANT." Your spirit must have needed to experience the feeling of leaving your human body, and the suggestion in the next chapter of Sylvia Brown's book was all it took to get you there.

Even though you hadn't read it yet, your SOUL recognized the title of that chapter as something it had been seeking, and your soul, knowing that you had that reference to read after your experience, got with it and out you went!

While I don't usually recommend her books, Sylvia Brown has a wide reaching and powerful effect on lots of people. A Gemini like you would be able to relate easily to her writing and put it to good use. Synchronicity - you gotta love it!

I like your description of "getting caught." That's exactly what it feels like, isn't it? One minute you're free and hovering above the room, and the next minute, ZAP! back down into your corporeal form you go!

As a little kid, I loved that "feeling of return." With practice, most of the time we can control that event, but sometimes, when our physical ears hear a distracting noise or something else occurs to knock us back into reality, back we go. With practice you will be able to control your return better.

I find it interesting that you were visiting your mother-in-law and not someone in your own genetic family. Evidently, you and your husband got married for reasons that are even deeper than love. His family's interest in "psychic stuff" will nurture your children in such matters and help them to grow into their own abilities.

You'll never have to be concerned that when your daughter visits them, she'll be discouraged from exploring her own psychic life and power. My parents encouraged me to develop my psychic senses in a time when it wasn't nice to even discuss such things in public. Heck, it's STILL not considered a great topic at the dinner table in some families!

Your kids will get to talk about it ALL and ask questions and read and study. This is going to give them such an edge in life! Talk with your husband about how you want to present this to your kiddos, so that you are united in your approach and ready to tell them their experiences are all natural and okay.

A word or two of warning: Geminis often have difficulty staying grounded in REAL LIFE. Don't get so strung out on your ASTRAL life that you neglect what you're doing here on Earth.

You are at the beginning of a long journey to learn where your power really lies. Try to be patient with this process and take your time.