From Paris, With Love: How a 23-Year-Old Intention Came True
Twenty-three years ago, I stood in Paris and thought to myself, "I can’t wait to be back in this city with someone I love."
It wasn’t a formal goal. I didn’t write it in a planner or create a spreadsheet tracking my progress. It was simply this quiet wish - this intention I placed out into the universe and then went on with my life.
Fast forward to today - my wife and I have been together for 18 years, married for 15. We recently walked hand in hand through Paris, living the very moment I had imagined more than two decades ago. The Eiffel Tower still sparkled at night. The cafés still overflowed with the scent of fresh pastries. And there we were - together- living proof that sometimes the seeds we plant grow in ways we can’t predict.
That’s the reminder I want to give us this week: set one intention, create the dream, plant it, and let it be.
We’re often told to “hustle” and “grind” our way toward our dreams, but some intentions need a gentler approach - like planting a seed in a garden. We don’t dig it up every week to check if it’s growing. We plant it, we nurture it, and we trust the process.
I am not perfect at this, here’s how I am learning to do it:
1. Get Clear on What We Want to Feel
Instead of fixating on the exact circumstances, think about the feeling we want to create.
In Paris all those years ago, I didn’t say, “I need to return in exactly this year, staying at this exact hotel.” I simply wanted to feel love in this city. The feeling gave the dream room to grow.
2. Speak It… Even If It’s to Ourself
I hope one thing you have been reminded from me over the years is that our words have power. Saying something out loud or writing it down plants it deeper into our subconscious. My Paris dream might be seen as small to some, but not to me and it was spoken, whispered to myself as I looked out over the Seine.
3. Release the Timeline
The seed doesn’t care about our calendar. The moment I released the “when” and “how,” my mind could focus on living my life. Years later, without forcing it, the dream came back to me in the most beautiful way.
4. Take the Small Aligned Steps
Even if you’re “letting it be,” we still take steps toward the life we want. For me, it meant building the life where love and travel were possible, focusing on relationships, career, and joy and sharing ways to be THE!
5. Trust the Process
The hardest part? Patience. The most rewarding part? Seeing how the universe sometimes delivers our dream in an even better form than we imagined.
As we stood together on the quiet Paris street near our hotel, I realized: dreams aren’t simply goals we chase. They’re seeds we plant, intentions we release, and gifts we allow to arrive when the time is right.
So this week, I invite us to do the same, set one intention, plant one dream, and then trust it enough to let it grow.
Who knows? Twenty years from now, you might look around and realize you’re standing right in the middle of the dream you once imagined.