It’s been a painful and heart-wrenching few weeks. Unable to read or write or work much since the massacres on Israeli civilians on October 7, I wasn’t sure I would be able to show up for my monthly audio chat on Patreon.
But a good talk with a fellow dreamwork practitioner and a few juicy dreams compelled me forward with renewed inspiration and dedication to this research and work.
The episode I ended up recording is titled “Dreamwork in and for Times of Crisis.” In this audio chat, I review how I believe dreaming is a gateway to the soul, and as such provides us with support and guidance our minds may not easily access while awake, when focused on our everyday needs, tasks, and concerns.
I then outline the ways in which dreamwork helps comfort me during dark days. My dreams, it seems, slowly and with care for my capacity for suffering, re-engage me with new and old matters of the heart, in an effort to heal me.
Some of the skills I’ve acquired and benefits I’ve received as a result of dreamwork include:
- connecting to long-forgotten or suppressed feelings
- differentiating anxiety from terror, fantasy from true imagination
- identifying my actual desires, as opposed to what I think I “should” want
- noticing how toxic shame stops me from doing the things I want to or can do with my life
- experiencing the innocent, joyful child or teenager I once was and can still access, through dreams
- strengthening my capacity for self-love and empathy for others
- allowing me to encounter people and places that no longer exist in waking life, and engage with them realistically and meaningfully
- meeting the world with a richer sensory experience. (The texture of which feels less dead, more alive.)
On the episode, I also focus in more closely on how dreamwork teaches us critical thinking — a skill even the smartest people I know seem to seriously lack when activated or triggered.
When activated, trauma very often impacts our ability to feel, and it also keeps us from thinking critically. Both feeling and critical thinking are required if we are to remain heart-centered, open-minded, and hopeful about the future.
This is especially necessary for those of us seeking spiritual growth and for those of us in healing, teaching, or mentoring roles. And, critical during times of crisis.
As I often say, what we investigate, identify, and reconfigure in our dreams, through dreamwork, we get better at investigating, identifying, and reconfiguring in our waking lives. This inevitably leads to greater attunement with our souls, increased capacity for love of self and others, and improved relationships with people and the environment.
Listen to the audio chat here on Patreon. I’m planning on writing a longer article on this topic, and planning an in-person workshop, as well. For more information on the workshop, contact me directly.
