
We live our day in our heads, thinking. Whether we are conscious of it or not, we’ve got a tape on rewind-repeat in the background day and night. Thinking about relationship patterns, worrying about outcomes, afraid of pain, ruminating about all the what ifs.
Of course, sometimes this can be a good thing because the “container of who we are” gives us the agency to interact with the world. And when we keep within the boundaries of our container then the ego-self tells us we’re safe.
For many of us this is okay. After all, the ego brain is our best friend. She is our familiar space. Like siblings we may argue and even come to fisticuffs at times (figuratively, of course). But we’re family so we stick together no matter what regardless of repeating unhealthy patterns.
I live mostly in my emotional brain. As an HSP, my high sensitivity first experiences and then filters all those feelings of surprise, hurt, pain, fascination, as well as vibrational gut sensations. I depend upon my spidey senses.
A Choice to be Made
If I’m not mindful these essential feelings can automatically trigger memories of embarrassment, even shame. In the hamster wheel of looping patterns there are lifetimes of humiliation to work through. It could keep me stuck a long, long time.
I know that I’m sucked in an old pattern because my body tells me. It feels heavy. My shoulders are tense, and they hurt by the end of the day. At night I’m apt to clench my teeth. The invisible protection shield that I’m holding is old and heavy. Overall, being triggered this way depletes my energy.
However, if I pay attention, when my jaw muscles tighten or a tension headache appears, my awareness alerts me to take a minute. I close my eyes. Roll and relax my shoulders. Inhale a few deep, replenishing breaths. And exhale all the built-up stress.
Now, in a more relaxed state, I can experience what’s happening as the observer. I have a greater capacity to appreciate all those feelings. Instead of spiraling into some negative story, I stay curious. There’s a choice to be made.
Poet David Whyte in his poem The Winter of Listening he writes, “Inside of everyone is a great shout of joy waiting to be born.”
In order to access this joy, I can choose to acknowledge all those glorious feelings and emotions – then – use this energy for creative pursuits. I can stay in the moment and allow insights and intuitive synchronicities to happen. When I take a relaxing walk in nature or when I notice goosebumps activated by my sixth sense I’m able to tune in to how peaceful this feels.
It doesn’t mean that the affecting emotions have gone away. However, now I can more easily appreciate what my body, my feelings, and the images that have emerged are telling me.
Dreams Can Help
This is where dreams come in. Dreams are portals. They’re an important threshold. They help us experience the images, the figures, and the dream characters that we’ve created from our inner wisdom in the dreamscape.
When I work individually with clients or when we share dreams with others in Dream Circles, we focus on our bodily sensations and the emotions. These are the very feelings that sculpted our dream figures, the colors, landscapes, and dream personalities. So, they deserve our attention.
In her poem Dreams, Mary Oliver offers insight, “All night the dark buds of dreams open richly.” This is where we begin. Simply observing the flowering of our inner ground of being. Be mindful of our rush to interpret too quickly. Stay still. Open. Breathing. Noticing.
What are the “dark buds” of your dreamscape? Allow whatever appears in the dream, waking vision or journal entry to show up as it is. See what it all looks like. How does it feel. Is there a title or a theme that you would give to this dream gift.
The magic is in the observing. If we get tangled up trying to figure it all out, we’re apt to use the thinking brain to analyze and come to a more literal interpretation. But dreams are more symbolic and figurative. This can be frustrating for that “hurry up and get it done” part of ourselves, for sure.
This perceptive approach enables us to see what’s appearing in the dream. We can take a breath, pause, and keep observing what has shown up. Is there something you didn’t see in the dreamscape the first time? Go back and take a look.
In Dream Circles we calm ourselves with breathing and a short meditation. We encourage each other to stay in the present moment as we reenter the dream. In the presence of the now we are able to take a look again with fresh eyes. We see what the dream is offering us with an expanded vision.
Now, our inner wisdom has a chance to be heard. Finally. What’s being illuminated behind the dream figures and symbols is glimmering. Our inner eye suddenly notices it. Our more intuitive self takes a look and perceives a shifting energy manifesting.
As David Whyte suggests in his poem The Winter of Listening, “I feel it grown in me now and ready to arrive in the world.” It’s a healing experience.
Resources:
Poem: Dreams by Mary Oliver
Poem: The Winter of Listening by David Whyte
Book: Whole Brain Living by Jill Bolte Taylor, PhD
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