Day 332/366 days Towards Self-Mastery.
Dreams. We think we know so much about our mind and our psyche overall, yet there has been very little research into the possibilities that dreams offer us.
We all dream. I don't think that's a pretentious statement. It would be difficult to find someone who doesn't dream. So I imagine that our dreams have a purpose.
My experience would tell me that our dreams are problem solving issues that we are unable to tackle with our cognitive, conscious mind. The sort of problems that feed our monkey mind and keep it in circular motion all day long.
Why did my life turn out like this?
What happened to me as a child?
Why do people react to me that way?
What did I do wrong?
Should I have done that differently?
Why do I have that reaction even when I don't want to?
What's wrong with me?
You get my drift...
Our dreams at night seem to tell our stories in completely different ways than our thinking mind. Which is kind of a good thing as our conscious mind can't work out the answers to these sorts of questions.
It seems to me that our dreams come from a deeper place in our memories. They seem to access the unconscious parts of memory that our waking mind has difficulty excavating.
In my work we draw on a Jungian approach to dreams. Each aspect of the dream is considered to be an aspect of our psyche; our mind, our soul. When a dream is explored with a number of other people the messages can become vivid and alive with the perceptions, experiences, feelings and movement of others as they engage with the dreamer's story.
We'll often wake with an understanding of the message from our dream even if the movie itself didn't make a lot of sense. Is that your experience?
Often I wake with a feeling in my whole body that tells me something of how I have been avoiding feeling into a particular situation.
Sometimes with solutions to problems that I've been mulling over, or a more complete understanding of an exercise I'm undertaking in life or in meditation.
When I was feeling most troubled in my life, my dreams were often difficult to understand, complex and at times, scary. Nowadays I am mostly entertained with dreams of beauty, calm and peace. Until the next challenge comes along, and then it gets weird again.
Our dreams may be an untapped resource. Spend some time journaling and exploring the meaning and feelings in your dreams.
366 days Towards Self-Mastery
When I considered my New Year's intentions for 2020 I had just one: To allow my heart to love what it loved...and let it lead me. (If not now, then when?)
I've spent months working on integrating my life. To live life more fully with my home life, my interests, my work, my responsibilities, all coming together, all connected. I want to give each the attention that they desire and need, and still have time and energy for the others. That means living and working from the heart.
As I was clearing out my bookshelf over the Christmas break I discovered Simple Abundance. I set it aside to explore it on New Year's Day as I lazed through another delicious day of nothingness. Sarah, the author, says this book is about living in grace. Living in grace I realised, is about Self-Mastery.
My thirst for understanding the human condition has driven me all my life, and hand-in-hand with self-mastery it has been a life-long goal. And seeing as I love to write, that living in grace is about self-mastery, and I love a bit of a challenge, then if I am truly going to let my heart lead, I really don't have any other choice. So scary as it feels, I'm starting out on a daily mission of leaning into the suggestions of this daybook and making a daily post to keep me accountable. If not now, then when?
I'm Josie. You can find out a little more about me here.
Simple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy: by Sarah Ban Breathnach.
This book is written for the Australian and NZ market because it refers to seasonal changes. It's available on Amazon here if you'd like to follow along.