From SGI USA, I'm Cassidy Bradford, and this is Budability.

The weekly series where I talk with Buddhists from all walks of life about the power we each have to change our lives in the world around us.

To bring in the new year, we're doing something a little bit different for this episode,

bringing you multiple stories, all based around a theme.

We hope you enjoy.

I think people started to ask me what I wanted to be when I grew up when I was maybe five, six years old.

I didn't know anything existed beyond being a teacher, a firefighter, a mom, a magician.

By the time I reached high school, I was dabbling in musical theater and working at a sandwich shop.

I felt like I was wandering around in the dark,

hoping that I might just discover some brightly lit path toward my future.

Maybe a big sign confirming that this was indeed the correct path for my life.

It didn't quite happen like that, but that's a story for another time.

When I started my Buddhist practice in college, I was encouraged to have goals and dreams.

But for some of us, it's hard to have dreams.

We don't know what we want to do.

For others, maybe it's challenging just to work toward the dream you've had since childhood.

As we start a fresh year, I'm sure we're all evaluating our lives and what we want this year to look like.

So today, we're talking about dreams.

How do we allow ourselves to dream?

How do we find purpose in our life?

And if we have a dream, how on earth do we follow it?

You're going to hear from two young Buddhists, one who learned how to open herself up to possibilities,

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