Understanding our dreams can reveal powerful insights about how our fears are catching up with us.
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Symbols and Dreams
I’m a pretty active dreamer and on good days I remember my imaginings and reflect on their meaning in my life. I’ve noticed that our fears have a way of catching up with us. Often, aspects of my waking life are reflected in my dreams and reimagined in some way. For instance, I tend to spend a lot of time in food courts, offices, traveling and shopping – common activities in my life that have evolved in new ways in my dream world pointing to questions and challenges I may be facing.
Going from French pastry shops to being caught in the middle of a Zombie Apocalypse was a new theme for me. I was running through city streets being pursued by half dead monsters who were hunting me down. It started innocently enough, but then these creatures just kept coming after me – as I tried to run away from them, they climbed up a wall after me and would not stop pursuing me. I woke up to avoid being “caught” but the experience gave me some things to consider.
If you couldn’t tell, I enjoy doing dream interpretation (for myself and clients). While potentially confounding, it can actually be quite creative as we unlock hidden signs and symbols and consider different points of view. It’s a powerful way to gain insights from our unconscious, bringing to awareness things that may be uncomfortable for us to explore in the light of day. I helped one client unlock important information from a fearful recurring dream that helped her see the opportunities that were available to her.
Being persistently pursued by zombies reminded me of the state of the world. We are facing an onslaught of undesirable challenges. From fire to floods, tornados, droughts and more. Mother nature is pissed and she’s showing us her anger. The universe is reminding us that we are mere mortals, not invincible Gods who control fate. This is quite an ironic devolution (is that a word? somehow it felt more appropriate than breakdown) of our species – from believing we can control and subjugate others through sheer force of will to realizing we are subject to greater forces at hand.
Seeing the world as it is
We are being dogged by our worst fears come true. We have approached a state of unavoidability. Somehow (yet not surprisingly), our attempts to disregard the difficulties our world is facing through our selfishness and indifference to the earth as a precious resource have been futile. You can only ignore something staring you in the face for so long. Like potholes in a road that you navigate around but can’t avoid when they become deep dangerous craters that need to be filled, closing the whole street down. (Just like my dirt road driveway, which is another story though potentially related to the zombies.)
As a society, we can’t keep ignoring the challenges we’re facing. We must find new solutions collectively. To do this requires us to do our own internal work. What do I mean?
- Prioritize your values. What’s important to you? Know why it matters. Decide what you want to do about it.
- Be kind to yourself. The challenges we’re facing are overwhelming and have begun reaching a scale where global coordination is required. This invites us to recognize – what can you do yourself and when do you need support? Appreciate that you are doing the best you can. If that doesn’t feel like enough, then consider where you can a bigger impact.
- Take action. Work towards what matters – prioritize those values that you treasure and the people you care about. What small steps can you take to make progress? One step forward will help you start to build forward momentum.
- Persist on your path. While we may face ginormous issues, that doesn’t mean we should give up altogether. We can’t lose hope. We are here to make a difference in the world through our unique and indelible imprint. What is the journey you are here to take and what is the impact you want to make?
STANDING IN OUR TRUTH
Once we know what matters to us, we need to own it. At a recent event where I shared my somatic, energy and shamanic healing background some guy commented that he didn’t believe in people who advocated for “do no harm” (an essential principle of most healing work). He told me that if someone was going to mess with him, he was going to give it right back to them double after attending a recent gun show. I said “how interesting! I’m from the Do No Harm school” with a smile. Perhaps he was threatening me or trying to get a reaction and I have no doubt he relates to my zombie nightmare.
Imagining those who have an extractive “rape and plunder” perspective towards life – take, defend, destroy – is counter to my belief system. And yet, they may have their reasons and experiences. I don’t pretend to understand the reasons for war other than power, control and subjugation. Personally, I would rather be dancing, but perhaps I need to start running more.
Thankfully I know that we can re-imagine our dreams when we understand the messages they’re telling us. We can’t always run away from the inevitable changes in life we’re facing, but we can face them. We’re not here on this planet very long and I believe have an opportunity and obligation to leave it better than when we came, not worse.
How can we find our power? I don’t believe it’s through our ability to take up arms, but rather in our willingness to face our fears, choose a strategy that supports us and fight back. To overcome our apathy and our fight/ flight/ freeze/ fawn knee-jerk reactions. To become thoughtful, intentional and responsible citizens.
I hope you sleep well without nightmares. But should you be interested in an outside perspective on what may be going on in your unconscious, you know where to find me. Reach out and we can do some creative dream interpretation to help you unlock the workings of your soul and point you in a direction that feels enlivening and impactful.
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