Entering the Dream

Lizard by ekamelev from Pexels

During my Writing with the Wild class Keepers of Change, lizard came through in all of its colorful and scaled glory. The messages that poured through are an important reminder of the power of the dreaming Self. Lizard spoke clearly and my hand wrote the message swiftly. An excerpt from this message:

You can only hide yourself away for so long until you lose your essence. We are also creatures of connection and when we can connect in our environment with others who are sharing the same dream, we can expand the dream and take action steps to make it happen.

One of the most persistent struggles for me in this incarnation has been the deep seeded feeling that I ‘don’t belong anywhere.’ While my travels have taken me to some magnificent places on the planet, and I have chosen to stay in some of those places for a number of years, it hasn’t been sustainable for one reason or another. Sometimes financially, often due to visa regulations and rules that must be abided by since we live on a planet where we create borders and boundaries to maintain a sense of order and control. Some may even say the reality we live in isn’t real much like the fabricated world of The Truman Show or The Matrix. Mostly, my “assignment” had come to an end and my heart compass was being redirected. Although I felt “close” to people throughout these journeys, I have yet to know the feeling of being fully welcomed and embraced into a community. I know this is also contingent on me fully accepting every part of me. This is a work in progress. I also know that I do not need to be anything other than who I am and those who can embrace this as well, will meet me. I am not for everyone, and everyone is not for me.

I do honor, however, that everywhere I have gone has left an indelible mark on my soul and heart, along with the people with whom I have crossed paths—regardless of whether it brought pain or pleasure, it led me closer to my purpose.

One aspect of myself that has been a source of inspiration and sometimes frustration, is my capacity to dream. I have experienced vivid and often lucid dreams since I was a young child. I would often wake up exhausted from all of the traveling I was doing and would need to take time to pull all of my pieces back to me in order to feel awake and ready to face the day. Sometimes my dreams were prophetic and even if the dream did not give me exact dates/times/experiences, the feelings were strong enough for me to take heed. I longed to talk about my dreams and share them with friends and family, but this was not always met with the same enthusiasm or interest and could be brushed aside as my “overactive imagination.” More recently, I was told by a Chinese medicine practitioner that it was not “normal” and linked to something imbalanced in my constitution. Well…

Thank goodness I didn’t let that deter me too much, nor do I ever want to be “normal.” I am grateful for my imagination because it is in the imaginal realm that I have been given the opportunity to play in the fields of possibility. I believe this was also what allowed me to have a strong connection with children and my students when I was teaching. They were not so closed off from that mystical, magical place of constructing reality in each moment.

A pivotal moment for me was years ago when I discovered the work of Robert Moss and began to study his dreamwork methods through books, courses and eventually became a Dream Teacher which gave me an added skillset to support others in working with their dreams. It was through these trainings that I met kindred souls who also believed in the power of dreaming and who understood the gift of walking the Shamanic Path.

To be a dream-weaver and walker between worlds requires a willingness to surrender at a deep level. It does not mean that the ego is not present, for we need our ego to support us in survival; rather, it encourages the development of the discernment muscle of intuition. It is a deep dive into the unknown on a daily basis, sometimes without the lamp. It requires us to travel ‘light’ which means letting go of the grip of past traumas, patterns, grudges, addictions and inherited ancestral pain that could not be worked through in their lifetimes. Traveling ‘light’ also means remaining grounded, no matter what chaos is happening in the outside world. It is a sacred dance offered to many, yet few choose to embark on the journey.

Our planet is undergoing a radical upleveling which affects all areas of life. This means that it is a ripe time for the dreamers of the world, meaning everyone, to get on board accessing their inherent gift of co-creating with the life they want to live. For some this might mean reaching out and getting support on a psychological level for the first time, or to listen deeply and upgrade your physical health. For others, it might mean becoming curious about your relationship with that which is bigger/greater than you. This might take you on a spiritual quest or a return to God or Higher Power. Others might be learning how to sit with their own abundant wisdom and through slowing down, appreciate the joy and blessings that are already here. It can be a bit of all of the above, and then some. Absolutely everyone is on their own path and there is no right or wrong way to go about it. In a world that is becoming more divisive, there is also an invitation to make the choice with how you will face this. The more divided you are internally, the more the external divisions will threaten to split you. The journey to acceptance and wholeness is an inside-out job.

As lizard so potently pointed out, it is up to us to stop hiding from ourselves, and to seek out the support and connection from those who share in a similar vision/dream as us in order to build the stable foundation that has been dismantled for so long. I believe it is well and good to manifest a life for yourself that brings you all of the abundance and goodness that you have longed for, but there is a fissure in the belief system if one is only calling on this goodness for themselves and those closest to them. In order to truly feel the freedom of an authentic way of life, then we must employ our hearts to amplify a dreaming field that will support the revision of the collective.

To share the same dream does not necessarily mean that all of the puzzle pieces fit in an exact way. Our differences are what make the tapestry of humanity so unique and exquisite. Sharing the same dream is pulsing to the beat of the drum that has reverence for all beings, human and more-than-human, while also honoring that we are the planet itself. We are the elemental aspects of water, fire, earth, air and ether. Our dreams can traverse the pathways of these molecules and through these revelations we come to meet ourselves in ways both expanded and limitless.

It is through the varying pathways of the waking and sleeping dreams that one can get closer to believing that belonging is a choice not decided by anyone outside the Self. One of my greatest mentors, is the writer and wisdom keeper, Maya Angelou. In an interview with Bill Moyers, she shared her perspective on belonging:

MAYA ANGELOU: You only are free when you realize you belong no place — you belong every place — no place at all. The price is high. The reward is great…
BILL MOYERS: Do you belong anywhere?
MAYA ANGELOU: I haven’t yet.
BILL MOYERS: Do you belong to anyone?
MAYA ANGELOU: More and more… I belong to myself. I’m very proud of that. I am very concerned about how I look at Maya. I like Maya very much. I like the humor and the courage very much. And -when I find myself acting in a way that isn’t — that doesn’t please me, then I have to deal with that.

My dream for the world is that moment to moment, step by step, day by day each human being comes closer to believing in belonging to themselves. When we heal this inner fracture, then we can see and celebrate others for their belonging to themselves. And when we have a world where everyone belongs, perhaps then we have dreamed our way into the most magnificent world.

I’ll keep dreaming this and I hope you will join me.