The new year began with a storm, winds gusting to 120 km/ hour, and a heavy driving rain. I was grateful not to be out in such weather, glad to be in the shelter of home as 2025 came roaring in.
Did you make a resolution for the coming year? Whether you did or not, have you allowed yourself to dream? There’s a difference; a resolution is more often than not, proscriptive, like resolving to give up smoking. Anything based on a negative, not doing something, has far less chance of lasting. A dream, on the other hand, is something to aspire to, to work towards. A dream is more than just a wish; it is not a something to get, rather something to live.
There is another kind of dream; the dreams that come when we sleep. Everyone dreams as part of a sleep cycle. Usually we don’t remember, however when we do, we experience a shift in reality. In dreams we might swim effortlessly under water without breathing or fly through the air without any aid. We never question that such things can happen when we’re dreaming, we simply notice and accept what is. In dreams our sense of time collapses as past and future fold into an ever present ‘now’.
Recently I dreamt I had a role in a movie but I had no idea what the film was about, no idea what my lines were or what I was supposed to do. Such dreams are a professional actor’s nightmare - it was the kind of dream I used to have when I was an actor. In the dream I was a bit player in a large production; my dream character as a character in a drama! The director was nowhere to be seen. It became clear that others were in the same predicament and even the stars of the show had no idea what they were doing. None of us had any context. It suddenly occurred to me that perhaps it didn’t matter; all we needed to do was respond. We could not see the whole, only our narrow perspective. That was not a handicap, simply a focus… a way forward.
I woke up with a feeling of deep peace. I felt nourished and energised. This was very different than the actor’s nightmare.
Such dreams that come inform our waking self and those other conscious dreams we seek to bring to life. To manifest such a dream, we are called to attend to the deepest parts within us, our curious creative selves. As my dream character said, “all we need to do is respond”. We respond to the life that is here.
I felt this dream encouraging me to give myself to what calls me, let my intuition fuel my curiosity and follow my inner guidance.
We learn to listen to our hearts and not just the arguing chatter of mind.
We are living through times in which we need to listen to our hearts. We are on overload with chatter, our minds on hamster wheel streams of thinking. We have never been so overwhelmed with information as at present. The tools that supposedly connect us more often than not have the opposite effect. Our mobile phones, offering an illusion of endless connectivity, actually disconnect us from our immediate surroundings. We are plugged into a global information network yet strangely disconnected from our humanity.
The power of the storm is humbling, reminds me that I cannot be separate from this world we all share. I find this grounding. I come back to myself and ask: what does my heart tell me? How do my dreams ask me to live?
I hear the answer clearly: am I being loving, with myself, with others?
"Be a witness, not a judge.
Focus on yourself, not on others.
Listen to your heart, not to the crowd."
~ Rumi
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