This morning I wrote in my journal about how I had so many dreams last night. Many of the spirituality/personal development books I read, the authors say that writing down the dreams is essential as a practice of learning to access our subconscious self, or listening to the messages that the spirit guides give us, and for developing the relationship with our inner souls.
I have always followed this philosophy myself, however I am often overwhelmed by how many dreams I do have, (and in so much detail), and that if I was to write them all down each morning, I would spend too much time every day on this practice.
The other thing I find is that I have so many dreams that I often wake feeling like my mind has been working all night, and I don’t feel refreshed.
But anyway, this morning I decided to pick a couple of things from the night to write down.
I chose to write first about one particular snippet, not because I could remember the whole dream and details, but because when I woke (early this morning at 4.55am) it prompted me to write it down in the notebook I leave beside my bed. I just wrote the word ‘avocado’ as this seemed relevant and stood out for me in my half-asleep state.
When it came to writing down the dream relating to this, I couldn’t really remember the dream itself. It was something about something eating something (yes I know that’s VERY vague!). I had a feeling it had something to do with a robot eating avocado, although I couldn’t actually remember if that was the case. While writing this, I had a sense of the robot needing the oils, and it made me think of the Tin Man in The Wizard of Oz, who always wanted a heart. So maybe I thought, the dream referred to me being a robot – just going through the motions without any emotions, or without any heart. When I wrote that down, it spoke to me. That is how I feel my life is lately – just going through life getting everything done that needs to be done (work, kitchen duties, driving and helping out the kids, household administration, social obligations etc) but then no time is left over for the things that inspire me, that talk to my heart (like this blog, photography, art, sewing, personal development etc). I realised I need to factor time for my heart. All this time I’ve been worried about the health of my heart (long story, probably will be another blog post) from a physical point of view, but that’s just it – I haven’t been looking after my heart at all, as I’ve been ignoring it and not listening to my heart, and not taking into consideration my heart’s desires, and not following my heart, and not making time to do the things that make my heart sing (ie keep it healthy and vibrant).
After all that, I’ve realised that it doesn’t matter necessarily if I remember the dream in minute detail. In fact, what I’m starting to realise is that often it’s the times when I only remember a short fact about the dream that I feel like I have received the message I need. For example, one time ‘I dreamt I was learning how to fly, and was struggling to get in the air’, or another time I woke up just remembering that in the dream I was on a cruise ship. Both of these elements had messages for me in just those words themselves.
Often I find it’s when I write about the dream that I get the messages that I need, often in fleeting feelings, even if it doesn’t relate exactly to what the dream actually was. Often when I first wake up, it’s the thought that first comes to me that gives me the message, not the actual events of the dream. And the act of writing is what starts the flow of the communication with my inner self.
Back to my dream about avocados, they make me think of the good fats and oils that our bodies need. Maybe my heart needs this for good health from a physical body perspective.
I’ve been finding that dreams can have more than one meaning or message. I’m starting to give up on being OCD about finding out the meaning of the dream, and just letting the dreams start a dialogue with my inner self.
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