I am on a roll when it comes to having guest bloggers this month! It’s so exciting to have great bloggers write about their favourite topics.
This week I am happy to share the beautiful Petrea Hansen Adamidis invitation to join her during the Dream Dialogues eCourse starting March 20th.
Petrea is an inspiring artist and experienced Art Therapist who will help you explore the wisdom of your Amazing Dreams while having fun and learning more about your Inner Self.
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| Click here to find out more. |
Dreams Awake
Nighttime is a time to rest. Rest our bodies rest our minds rest our souls. Rest.
It is a time of rejuvenation of body, mind and soul. When our energy, thoughts and creativity dance together in a vibrant show of obscure brilliance called dreams.
The days weeks months years weave together their messages of importance, the ones we have ignored, or missed or misunderstood. They put on a show for us, the captured audience of dreamers. Our own unique and tailored story plays out before our minds eye. They show us what we need to know. What we have forgotten, what we want.
That is the gift of the dream.
We watch them, remember them, forget them and the messages get lost amongst the chatter of our minds. But they are relentless. They come back to us. A foggy shadow in the crevices of our minds. Slowly they peek through the clouds of our life. The clouds of self-doubt, worry and fear created by self and reinforced by other.
If we pay them no mind they retreat. But dreams are persistent nonetheless. They become stronger and more prominent in our memory as we open our eyes and our hearts to their existence.
This is the work of our Inner wisdom. It will knock and knock and ring that bell until we answer it. We notice fleeting images, synchronicities that are symbolic messages. We become tuned in to their meaning the more we allow ourselves to notice. Then the messages come forth. The more we look the more we understand.
The layers of meaning behind dream symbolism can be hard to decipher when we are used to communicating with words only. But the truth is many of us are visual learners. That is the beauty of the dream. Unfortunately, many of us have lost the language of imagery and have forgotten how to approach it.
Our censors can get in the way of us remembering not to mention deciphering our dreams. So we must be relentless in our listening as well.
Luckily there are many ways that one can train themselves to remember their dreams. I have previously written about When Dreams Elude You on my blog.
With practice and tools you can begin to unleash the creative wisdom of your dreams.
To start set an intention:
· I have the wisdom inside
· My dreams are here to guide me
· I can remember my dreams
This will open the door to your dreams revealing themselves to you.
But what do we do with our dreams when we remember them? How can we understand them? How can we figure out their symbolism? While there may be books out there that act as a kind of “Dream Dictionary”. I don’t believe that it is that simple.
Dream’s wisdom can be elusive but it is within reach. Using art to draw out their essence and their their meaning is one of the best ways to do this because the art meets the dream in the realm of imagery. When we approach our dreams in a strictly linear thinking way, we miss a lot.
Through making dream art, dreams can become the tools they are meant to be. Dialoguing with your dreams this way can bridge the gap and allow your wisdom safe crossing into consciousness.
Our dream symbolism is as unique and complex as we are. To understand our dreams therefore we need to understand the aspects of self that surface in our dream.
This is not always easy.
Sometimes it is hard to let go of our thinking mind that wants answers in an easily translatable format. But if you want to go deeper into the realm of self you need to be prepared to get messy. The kind of messy that finds you painting or smearing pastels over paper in search of understanding. It’s through the art making about your dreams that you by-pass those wicked censors.
But once you are past, there is a treasure of wisdom waiting.
So are you ready to get messy?
Petrea Hansen Adamidis R.C.A.T. is a Registered Art Therapist, artist, & an avid nature nut with over 18 years of experience working with children, families and adults. She is passionate about connecting families through the expressive arts, and connecting adults to their inner wisdom and muse. Join her at ArtTherapist.ca where she offers a free e-course “Free Your Inner Child” plus other creative resources to draw the self out. Petrea is an engager in silliness extraordinaire and a therapeutic story weaver, who’ll take you on awesomely exciting yet relaxing adventures with her guided imagery meditations.
Follow her on Twitter or Facebook or Stop by her other blog on parenting at Offbeatfamily.com for some self-care meditations
Thanks so much for having me here Karina!
Dreams are so fascinating! when I remember them, lol…..I have a dream journal in the drawer of my night table in case I want to capture my dreams….but dream art sounds really intriguing!
It’s my pleasure, Petrea : ).
VedaSun: I know! I would love to do dream art too. Thank you for reading : ).
Hi Petrea and Karina! Petrea, whoa, I LOVE the thought of dream art and I also love how you ended it with ‘so are you ready to get messy?’. This was very timely for me, I’ve had some disturbing dreams lately that I think I’m read to look at. And Karina, looking at your smiling face in the banner at the top of your page makes me smile too!
Thank you, Marla for your sweet comments and YES, it does sound great to get messy : ).
Gina & Marla I should have mentioned that making Dream Art is also lots of fun!
Marla, dream art works really well for getting images out of your head from disturbing dreams.
A beautiful post and as always Petrea is so inspiring. Dreams are such a fascinating subject and I love the idea of dream art. Many women dream even more vividly just before & during their period so I would love to see how their dream art changes throughout the month ♥