Waterfall of Dreams
A Global Community Uniting Women Through Shared Experiences
Project Status
Between 2008 and 2013, around 3 million people living in more than 20 countries around the world actively participated in the Waterfall of Dreams project.
The project was put on hold in 2013. Now, we're ready to revive this important initiative with your help.
The Vision
According to the famous Swiss psychologist Carl Jung, we are born not only with biological heredity, but also with psychological heredity, which to some extent can determine the behaviour and experience of an entire nation. What principles will our children be guided by if an invisible 'fault line' has run through their parents' feelings, impressions and emotions in recent years?
Understanding Our Era
The natural desire for security can explain the birth of the pseudo-ideology of success, whose main values are material prosperity and fame. People who do not possess these qualities find themselves in the shadows of life today. In a reality governed by the laws of show business, the small problems of 'ordinary people' are of little interest to anyone unless they bring commercial benefits.
We are a population from an era of paradoxes. Global processes of renewal require the manifestation of powerful creative energy, and an active position is demanded of each of us. However, ordinary people are becoming more and more withdrawn. Loss of faith in positive change, feelings of helplessness, detachment, and complete immersion in personal concerns are leading the lives of most people in a direction opposite to the general vector of development.
What is Waterfall of Dreams?
The Waterfall of Dreams project is aimed directly at ordinary people. It will not be just a magazine, not just a club, not just another social network, but all of these things at once.
The main characters will not be 'famous' personalities, but people we meet on the street, in the metro, in shops and places of leisure, little-known activists, real hard workers. We believe that every person's life story is unique. And in the pages of the magazine, the lives of our heroes will be presented in close-up.
The Power of Real Stories
Everyday life throws up many questions for each of us every day. Simple everyday situations seriously test us: what is most important, not at a particular moment, but in general; Are we capable of protecting our dignity and that of our families? What are we afraid of, and what do we teach our children? Real-life stories in which people do not give up even in the most difficult circumstances can make others stronger and help them see new horizons.
Building Connections
We live in the information age. This opens up enormous opportunities for all of us. Today, even thousands of kilometres apart, people can provide each other with tremendous support. Everything in life is made up of little things. We sometimes get upset by a small word thrown out carelessly, and feel happiness from a single smile directed our way.
Only a society in which people help each other is capable of dynamic development. The project is based on the belief that a sincere story about one's life, a real story, gives rise to interest in a person. Interest leads to communication and friendship, and sometimes to joint initiatives.
Why Women?
For some reason, I want women to be among the first participants in the project. Probably because women are unique creatures. There is something to learn and admire in each of them, regardless of their social or professional status.
- Some are distinguished by their particular gentleness and femininity
- Some have an inimitable talent for communicating with people and winning them over
- Some are examples of inner strength, determination and zest for life
How to Participate
Share Your Experience
Participants in the 'Waterfall of Dreams' project are given the opportunity to post publications describing their problems and ways to overcome them.
I will only publish true stories about personal experiences of overcoming life's problems. Your authentic experience can help someone else find their way through similar challenges.
Anyone can leave comments and ask questions, creating a supportive community dialogue.
Types of Stories We Seek
Out of the endless array of problems that women face, 20 to 30 of the most typical types can be identified:
- Problems related to marriage and relationships
- Challenges with raising children (illness, adolescence, etc.)
- Personal struggles (depression, divorce, job loss, alcoholism)
- Balancing work and family life
- Overcoming societal pressures and expectations
Every experience and every way of solving a particular problem is equally valuable.
Who Should Participate
I would like women who have experience in solving various problems to share them as part of this project. These will typically be women over 40 — at the age when women become more open, are not afraid to talk about their shortcomings and problems, and are less critical of others. They have already raised children and have their own experience in solving various problems.
The Bigger Picture
In Russia, there is virtually no culture of 'success stories.' It is not success that is promoted, but its attributes. Our project will be successful if it contributes to a change in people's psychology. If they stop being shy about their sincerity, if they are proud of themselves, if they feel that someone else's shoulder is right there beside them.
A waterfall consists of countless drops, each of which, like our lives, reflects the whole world. And together they form a stream. A powerful and strong stream. We can make history.
Join the Revival
Help us revive this important project and continue building a global community of support and shared wisdom.
If you want to help me revive this project, please contact me!
Project Reviews
Hear from participants who have engaged with the Waterfall of Dreams project:
Armina V.
Cultural Observer • International PerspectiveI believe that women play an important role in society; they shape men, their views, their priorities in life, their principles. And here you have politics, economics, and a socially oriented society. Where women's consciousness is developed, where they have an inner culture, a sense of responsibility, and moral stability, their society is developed both politically and economically!
Every society of women deserves its men, its leaders, its politicians, its husbands, its sons. And every woman must find her own society, where she will be comfortable, where she will be the best.
Without understanding, there will be no prosperous society. This isn't economics, it's the development of consciousness, it's understanding.
Elena Lenkova
Advocate for Inner Growth • Waterfall of Dreams ParticipantSince childhood, I didn't understand or realise myself, but I felt sorry for everyone. I felt sorry for the weak, completely rejecting injustice and lies. All these cases caused me great distress.
In my opinion, along with placing responsibility on a young person, we must teach them to find a way out and instil respect for their personality within them. Everything in our country is through suffering. Sometimes it is contrived. But how can a young person know that? It may instil fortitude, but an excess of negative emotions can break a person.
We teach mathematics, foreign languages, etc., but no one is interested in the inner world of the child. Parents don't have time; they are just trying to survive. And there are few real teachers. This project addresses these crucial gaps in understanding and supporting each other.
Irina Sh.
Teacher & Community Builder • Waterfall of Dreams ParticipantFrom 1996 to 1999, I had to live in a military garrison, where my husband served. I had finished teacher training college and thought I would easily find a job at a school. But it turned out that they needed a teacher for rural schoolchildren.
I had grown up in the city and couldn't imagine what life would be like in the countryside, where there was neither gas heating, nor running water, nor telephone. To get to school, I had to walk seven kilometres through the forest. In winter it was minus 40 degrees. I was 20 years old, and I had to take on such conditions.
The children were very nice, but wild. School didn't exist for them. Teachers came and went because they couldn't stand such harsh conditions. I tried very hard. The main thing that helped me survive was the support of other women. The garrison was essentially a separate village, with its own rules of survival.
We women had to help and support each other: someone would bring onions, someone else potatoes, someone else milk. We did everything together. When the children were sick, we helped each other. When there was no running water, we drew water from the river together. When there was no gas, we collected firewood together.
The main thing I gained from living in such a difficult garrison was real friendships, trust, and that wonderful sense of someone's shoulder. I understood the value of mutual help and support. I learned what real friendship is, what genuine trust is. This is what the Waterfall of Dreams project is about—creating these authentic connections that sustain us through life's challenges.
Elena S.
Geologist's Daughter & Nature Lover • Waterfall of Dreams ParticipantThe world I grew up in was different, not like in the neighbouring village or, even more so, in the city. My parents were geologists... or, more precisely, geophysicists. We lived in a geological expedition in Kazakhstan, where there were mostly geologists and drillers.
These wonderful geologists and geophysicists were romantic altruists with burning eyes and pure hearts. From early childhood, my parents took me with them, and I loved travelling with them, soaking up the atmosphere... talking to my parents' friends... I listened intently to songs accompanied by guitar and stories of the fantastical.
There was no deceit, no falsehood, no greed, no seeking of advantage from one another... that is why it is so difficult for my parents now, and it is not easy for me either. It was always travelling, through fields, forests, steppes... rooted in nature.
I have been living in the city for many years now and I clearly understand that I am not a city person... I have got used to it, of course, but I definitely need to be in nature from time to time... otherwise I start to suffocate, get depressed, get sick. I am irresistibly drawn to the forest... It's impossible to convey the feelings I experience there... I became part of it.
And then our happy world was destroyed overnight... the collapse of the USSR led to the collapse of the entire system. Geologists were no longer needed... people were thrown out onto the street, in the truest sense of the word. And now a forest has grown in place of my little homeland, not even a brick remains.
People were scattered around the world, but the friendship remained, can you imagine? A year ago, we organised a meeting at the place where our geology department used to be. Almost 150 people came from all over Russia, Kazakhstan, even Germany... we met and cried. Not everything in our lives is hopeless! This is the power of genuine connection that Waterfall of Dreams celebrates.