4 January 2010 Comments Off on Important Dreams

Important Dreams

DeadTreeImportant dreams show up differently than our usual day-to-day dreaming. They may be brighter, more colorful, contain more body awareness, or simply evoke a totally different feeling tone that alerts us to pay special attention.

These days I find myself too busy to consistently recall everyday dreams.

When I studied dreams I went from recalling one dream every ten days to recalling three or four a night. This change in frequency occurred over a period of three months. I processed dreams for several years. Then I dialed this back, setting myself to recall only dreams with direct messages that will inform day to day understanding or behavior.

I asked my internal guidance system to adjust my dreams in the following ways:


Make important dreams stand out clearly
Make them very short and to the point

This spares me the time of sorting and sifting through dreams all the time, and writing down long, confusing sequences.

This week I had three short, vivid dreams, in color (I usually dream in black and white or pure concepts), from which I woke up instantly alert, knowing that I needed to take note of them. One of them came with words telling me to share the dream with a specific friend.

The most important of these three dreams featured a single, several-second sequence of old man toppling quietly to the ground.

Anyone see the movie Avatar? It’s an amazing journey full of truth and feeling. The old man in my dream was the height of the sacred tree in the movie. In other words–ENORMOUS.

The old man in my dream represents two things.PeytoTree

On the mundane level it is about the weakening of existing (patriarchal) social structures, like the banking system and the way we are learning to own what some call personal power (I call it personal agency) instead of handing it off to authority.

The inner meaning was personal to me, but perhaps useful for you as well: It was a reminder that getting big in the world–having power–makes us a target too. If we set ourselves up to be greater than others this can be a spiritual error. I am becoming more powerful, and my guidance system is reminding me to stay on the earth, stay low, stay humble.

The mind (masculine element) likes to tower. The heart (feminine element) likes to tiptoe among the moist moss and other delights at the forest floor. We are happiest when we keep these elements in balance.

Remember that those who serve, including some of the greatest people in history, stayed among those they served instead of towering above.


Do you influence your dreams? If so, how?


What are your thoughts about getting big in the world and service?

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