Dear Reader,
I hope you are experiencing this time of year with much joy and peace in your life. I am just in from a morning walk along the harbor’s edge here in Lerwick. It was snowing, and all was quiet except for the piping of tiny birds and the coarse screech of an occasional gull. These few sounds, along with the presence of seals feeding in the water and the blinking yellow lights of the gritter spreading sand in Bressay seemed intimately connected.
It would be easy to think the walk itself inspired this morning’s blog post, but the walk was only a continuation of an early morning opening into non-personal space, triggered by a dream still fresh in my mind when I woke up.
In my dream, my buddy Bill and I were walking along a dirt road through the woods. I was walking ahead. I heard a loud crash, and a huge bear broke through the trees and ran at Bill, who immediately dropped to the ground and played dead. The bear sniffed, took Bill’s arm in his teeth without biting – and waited.
At that point, I started to run. The bear, having lost interest in Bill, looked at me, thought for a few seconds, and ran after me. Fortunately, I am a fast learner! I dropped to the ground, as I had seen Bill do, and also played dead. The bear (it was very large, and very fast) ran up to me, sniffed, and took my arm in its teeth without biting me. Then, it waited. I was scared, but I had no choice but to surrender and wait. The bear pressed it’s nose against my side. I continued to wait. The bear remained motionless. Finally, it seemed satisfied, got up, and disappeared into the woods.
Bill and I continued along the path, and eventually the bear reappeared ahead of us, now in the form of a woman. When we finally passed her, she was working in her yard and ignored us completely as we continued on our way.
Everyone’s dreams are personal, and the details of my dream are not important. I am writing to show you how it gave me intuitive insight. When I woke up, the dream was still fresh, and I felt an intense desire to focus on it. I did my morning reading and pulled a card from an oracle deck as I usually do. The message on the card was: “Pay attention to your dreams.” I love it when that happens!
I wrote down as much of the dream as I could remember, then sat quietly and asked for guidance about the meaning of the dream. After a few seconds, clear, insistent thoughts cut through the regular chatter in my mind. I have come to recognize these thoughts as guidance; they have a specific “feel” and tone to them. The thoughts indicated that Bill represented a teacher guide, and the bear a powerful messenger. The question asked through the action of the messenger, was “Are you ready to do what it takes, despite your fears, to move forward on your path?” The answer was yes.
Dreams can be interpreted in many different ways, as you know, and someone else might interpret this dream differently. I feel comfortable with my own interpretation for many reasons. The dream was vivid, set apart from my everyday dreams. I remembered it easily; in fact, it insisted itself on me when I awoke. I payed attention to it right away, noting my desire, and creating the space to learn from it. I received validation from the oracle card I pulled; I asked for guidance about the dream, and received clear information in a form that I recognize and trust, based on practice and experience.
That process, dear reader, is part of the beauty and delight in working with intuition.
I honor your loving heart,
John
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