Another change that many people notice is that some things they are seeing in the dream state are parallel lives, or alternate realities. More and more of us are beginning to experience that we are in fact, more than this body, this 3D life, this job, these roles that define us in our day to day life. It can be confusing, as the edges of our reality blur and we find that instead of a little pond each of us is really an ocean. How do you define yourself when the boundaries move out so far? I find that defining is an element of the past that needs to change too. What if we didn’t define who we are or where the boundaries are, but just let the experience be the experience? What if it was ok to see changes taking place in how we experience ourselves and our life and it is just ok to not know what it means. Maybe we will find a new way to understand what is happening, but for now, it is what it is. To be sure, it is not a dysfunctional letting go of boundaries, but it is the awareness of the clear boundary we have established, and then allowing it to expand. The clear awareness of Self (capital S) but knowing Self to be more than we thought we were. Not an intellectual knowing, but an experiential knowing that we are more than we thought. The comforting thing to know is that when we allow something we don’t understand to just be, eventually, the meaning will come clear. And the new “meaning” might not be based on anything from the past.

I have long understood the idea of getting out of your head and into your heart. But then I started hearing “go beyond the mind”. Hmmm. I wasn’t sure how to do that, and it seemed to be something or somewhere other than the heart. I wasn’t sure what was meant by that, but I knew I would “get” it sooner or later. Now I know. I have experienced it, and now I Know. I have been doing it for awhile but I hadn’t stepped back far enough to see that the picture was that big. Beyond the mind is a place of knowing, of intuition, (true intuition not that trite use of the word I have been hearing from the most unlikely places and people). It is actually a different dimensional “place”, only a slight shift, it is within, but it is an expanded within. If you don’t get that, you are in your head. But don’t despair, in time you will suddenly experience it and say “Ohhhhhh, now I know!”

So, yes dreams are changing as is everything else. You will still find that you get a lot of answers in your dream state, but know that sometimes you are just bringing back to waking 3D life the memory of other “you’s” in other dimensions, and maybe they will have figured out something that is helpful to your 3D self, or maybe the other way around. Or maybe not, maybe you are just bringing back a memory. It is all you, so it doesn’t matter which way the information is going, or if there is a meaning, just watch it and see where it takes you. It is more of an adventure now than it ever was, really. And the rules are different in those other dimensions, judgment must be suspended. Don’t let go of your discernment, though. This you in 3D is Home Base, so if you get scared or confused, bring yourself back home by remembering “I Am That I Am.”

I remember when it was declared that the mind is the new frontier. And there is a lot still to be learned about the mind, but already some intrepid explorers are moving into yet another new frontier, Beyond The Mind. Certainly the dreamstate is one doorway into the other places in consciousness, but it can be accessed during waking state too. It is all the same in many ways. It is still you and still your experience, and may interweave back and forth between waking and sleeping. So take a deep breath and explore. And keep breathing, you might be surprised how grounding and expanding it is to breathe slowly and deeply.

I first began this journey by looking up possum in the medicine cards one evening after being startled to see one run across the street in front of my car. I hadn’t seen a possum in the city before and I was most surprised. I looked it up and sure enough, I could relate the meaning of possum to what was going on in my life. Opossum uses a variety of strategies, one of which is to play dead, and the suggestion to use some strategy to deal with a situation immediately gave me some clarity on an issue that I was pondering at the time. I did not need to play dead, but the kind of strategy that I might use was apparent to me and in fact was helpful in the eventual unfolding of the situation.

Recently, I stood beside a pond observing an intense feeling of stuckness and wondering how I was going to accomplish a major change that I longed for, but which seemed nearly impossible. Seeing a dragonfly around a pond is not unusual in itself, but to see one at the particular moment called to my attention that the immobilized feeling was an illusion and that I could certainly create a way out of the corner I felt trapped in. It was not only a good reminder, but was the perfect moment to have those thoughts. My psyche was “ripe” at that moment to accept the potential of moving beyond the perceived barriers. I felt a surge of excitement and a sense of soaring as I spontaneously drew in a deep breath. I could see, feel, smell, taste, and know in that moment that I could allow in the creative solutions that I would need to do what I wanted to do. I knew answers were coming from my creative self, and I stayed open and alert over the following weeks. The most interesting series of events unfolded and I have accomplished that change.

Throughout the above process, a number of deer appeared at the side of the road, or even crossed in front of me. Deer is a common message-bringer for me, whether buck or doe, they herald changes to come, and remind me that gentleness and inner quiet are called for.

In one incident with Deer, I was rounding the top of a hill when I suddenly knew there were a bunch of deer in the road ahead. I slowed my car, and sure enough, five of them were crossing on the other side of the little rise in the road. As the fourth one set its hoof upon the pavement in front of my stopped car, it paused and looked into my eyes for a second and then pranced regally across the road. I was breathless as I crept slowly on my way, eventually picking up speed again, with the awareness that the process I was in was also going to be picking up speed. It did.

It is not always animals or insects that act as signposts in our waking life. I have had two incidents of smacking my head quite hard on an object that brought me sudden clarity. The first time, I was loading some things in my car to deliver to someone. Suddenly my head collided with the trunk lid, and in the split second following I had the clear thought that this load of stuff was not going to be appreciated the way I thought it was. I didn’t listen that time, and in the weeks following my well intentioned delivery, I heard some feedback that verified the message I had received so unceremoniously.

The second “smack-up-side-the-head” is comical in retrospect. In the dazed moment after that whack, I “heard” a very distinct question. “Will you STOP worrying about a couple dollars worth of quarters?” (left behind on a ledge at the carwash). I released that one right that instant!

Years ago, I spent many months worrying abut whether or not I could survive on my own if I were to pursue the divorce that needed to happen. All attempts at saving the marriage had failed and it was inevitable, but I was at a loss for how I would earn a living. I was sitting one afternoon at an intersection waiting at a red light as I mulled over this question. Then it was as if someone took my face in their hands, turned my head and fixed my eyes upon a billboard sitting high atop a building. In large orange letters, was all that I needed to know. “THE MONEY IS WAITING FOR YOU” it declared. I drew in a breath, softly uttered “ohmygod”, then laughed, and felt relieved as I recalled my spiritual belief and remembered that I would always be taken care of. That was about 16 years ago, and I can assure you, I have been just fine.

There are less dramatic ways that we can discern messages from our waking life. We can look at themes that run through our days. Do I have a habit of being late? Then we can ask some questions about that. Do I not want to go to that job anymore? Or am I over-committed, then maybe I need to look at simplifying my life by reducing my activities.

Recently, a friend noticed that she was frequently hearing about car fires. She didn’t think much about it, but several weeks later happened to take her car into the shop for a minor repair and was told that there was a malfunction that was not apparent, which if it got worse could cause the car to catch on fire. She felt that “flutter” of a significant moment, and ok’d the repair.

It is not necessary to attach significance to every little thing that happens. Some things are just what they appear to be, a stubbed toe is just a stubbed toe. But there are other times when there is a deeper meaning, and we can learn to recognize those times. If we cultivate the awareness of the feelings in our “gut”, and listen to that still small voice, we will find waking symbols do occur from time to time to give us nudge in a better direction. Wisdom is there for us, day and night.

The Shadow appears a lot in dreams. The dream self is nudging us along to becoming more self actualized or individuated or whatever terminology you wish to use for it. We can only become more of who we really are by facing our limitations and blocks and turning them into free flowing, positive energy. Like many circumstances in life, contemplating “the doing” is usually worse than the actual doing. What is gained by facing our shadow is worth any pain or uncertainty we have to slog through. Most shadows can be faced in waking life and transformed easily by a slow progression of small steps. Some can be faced in the dream-state, and transformed on the spot. Most shadow material is not as scary as it may first seem, but once in while a big one shows up and then you will want to seek the assistance of a therapist, spiritual coach, or mentor.

We usually think of the Shadow as the monster chasing us, or the threatening character lurking around the corner, or a variety of other fearsome scenarios. It can, however, be the antithesis.

The Shadow can be a positive element that we are avoiding. How many of us have a gift or a talent which we either take for granted or keep hidden because of some belief that we aren’t good enough or due to the memory of someone laughing or criticizing us at some time in the past? Our dream self will address these shadows as well. Have you dreamed at any time of hiding something, or being afraid of something you couldn’t see, or finding a room in your house you didn’t know was there? Maybe the Shadow you were dreaming was your disowned passion and beauty. We can be as diligently terrified of our greatness as we are of our monsters.

This brings to mind the well known quotation (never mind the controversy over who authored it)…

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond imagination. It is our light more than our darkness which scares us. We ask ourselves – who are we to be brilliant, beautiful, talented, and fabulous. But honestly, who are you to not be?"

Keep this idea in mind as you study your dreams, maybe you are being asked to acknowledge your positive shadow, your greatness, in addition to a monster or two.

Keep on Dreaming!
Julia Moen

This rang bells in my cells when I first read it, and not in an intellectual way, but because I have lived this. Over the years that I have been on this “path” I have done a lot of deep inner work and found that personal “growth” is a snap. The leaps of consciousness and expansion of awareness occur with no effort at all. The enlightenment is easy. It occurs spontaneously after the “making the darkness conscious".

It is the “making the darkness conscious” that requires some effort, work, and a little pain, of the emotional sort. It requires total honesty with oneself, about oneself, and facing the darkness, sometimes known as the monsters within. You will find yourself, crying, shaking with fear or anger, maybe pounding pillows, as you release long repressed “stuff”. But it passes, with the use of a technique or two, or three, and the understanding that the goal in bringing these feelings up is to let them go. Acknowledge, face, release, forgive, and love yourself. Then the Light dawns, the literal feeling of being lighter, being different, newborn, wells up almost as if by magic. To feel this new freedom and find aspects of yourself you didn’t know were there comes naturally after the cathartic release of the old blocks and barriers that were hiding in the subconscious.

We cannot unfold our enlightenment and highest potential by creating a façade of syrupy positive thinking and speaking. A positive attitude is important, crucial even, and so is facing the darkness within. It must be owned and transformed.

I have found lots of ways to do this, and have done a lot of it over the years. Of course, my dreams have helped me along the way. Dreams are an excellent and trustworthy companion in this journey toward enlightenment.

Dream on!!!
Julia