Together, We Light the Way

Click link to go to:
Previous Article • Next Article
Together We Light the Way Index

Healing Dreams

Healing Dreams

Yet the Holy Spirit, too, has use for sleep, and can use dreams on behalf of waking if you let Him.  T-8.IX.3

The Course suggests that we give our dreams to the Holy Spirit so that He can use that time to teach us. I do that often, and most of the time I have to assume it is happening because I really can?t tell. Occasionally though, I am aware of and remember the lesson a dream offers me. This happened to me the other night. At least, I remembered the dream, and was aware that there was a lesson in it for me. Discerning that lesson was not as easy.

I dreamed of babies. There were triplets and though I can?t remember that part of the dream well, I do remember that the babies were stolen from the mother and I felt sad for her, in the way you feel when you hear a stranger?s sad story. Then, in my dream, I started remembering that I lost my child in the same way; someone took this child from me. Immediately, I felt guilty thinking,? ?how could I had forgotten this?? Then the horror of what had happened began to take hold, and I was overwhelmed with grief. I understood why I had chosen to forget. The grief and anguish were truly terrible and I felt it as strongly as if it were actually happening to me at that moment. When I woke up, I found that I was unable to shake the dream off. The sadness and grief stayed with me.

For the next two days I felt mildly depressed and then suddenly I would feel so grief stricken that I would start to cry. It was very strange. I have never had a dream affect me so strongly. I asked the Holy Spirit what I needed to understand from this dream, for surely, a dream this vivid must have a message for me. One thing I realized was that my youngest daughter, Susan, was associated (in my mind) with the stolen child for whom I grieved. This made sense, because I have lost her, in a way. She has a partner now and they spend all of their time together. Even though we have always been very close, now I don?t see her very often and miss that closeness acutely.

Feeling like I have lost the close relationship I used to have with Susan, and feeling regretful and sometimes angry about that is a situation I have taken to Holy Spirit often to ask for healing, so I thought this might be what the lesson is about. ?But then, Holy Spirit, what do you want me to learn from it?? I just couldn?t figure it out, but I kept asking for clarification because the emotions associated with the dream wouldn?t go away. Finally, on the third day I asked again what on earth is going on with me. Here I stand in the shower weeping over a child lost in a dream. I wondered how anyone could take someone?s child. How could someone deliberately cause another person so much grief? For that matter, how could I cause myself so much grief? Aha! Suddenly, I got it.

I have been grieving for a dream child; for a loss that never happened. I have been causing myself grief. Is this not what I do all the time? How often do I cause myself pain and grief over something that is happening in the illusion? This day dream world is no more real than my night dream world. Grieving for something in it makes no more sense than grieving for something in a night dream. And yet, I spend most of my waking moments experiencing the tug of one emotional attachment after another.

I started thinking about how much I would rather be writing or performing a wedding or delivering a sermon; yet, here I am, driving hundreds of miles each day, working in the heat, fighting off ants and mosquitoes so that I can earn a living. The more I thought about it, the more dissatisfied I became with my life circumstances. I wished I didn?t have to do this work, but I wasn?t willing to give up the money I earn doing it. I started to feel trapped and my anxiety level rose.

I thought about my dream. There is nothing wrong with my job. Many people would love to have it, and I enjoy it most of the time. The bottom line is that my job is neither good nor bad, it is just a job. I decide how I want to view it, and that decision determines how happy or how miserable I will be. As I was getting myself worked up about my dissatisfaction with the job, I stopped and asked myself why on earth I would choose to do this to myself. Why would I deliberately choose to feel frustrated, trapped, miserable and fearful? I decided right then and there to choose differently. I imagined myself sitting in front of a large box. I started placing all of my various dissatisfactions in the box. I looked at each one and thought that I didn?t want it anymore, and then I dropped it in the box. In went the frustration, then the fear went in next. I kept doing this until I couldn?t find anything else to put in the box.

I imagined myself carefully closing the box and taping it shut. Next, I wrapped it in paper and tied it with a bow. I then imagined myself bringing it to God and offering it as my gift to him. With that box, I knew I was giving him my need to think I was in control. It doesn?t seem like much of a gift since my sense of control is mostly in my head and has little effect in reality, but I have always clung to that illusion, and somehow thought it was important to my survival. It took some courage for me to give this gift. I had to acknowledge that God loves me and wants only what is best for me. I also had to acknowledge that He knows better than I do what is best for me. ?Duh?, you might say. ?Yeah, yeah, I know.? But still, my stomach quivers a bit as I hand it over. As I release my hold on this gift I say to myself, ?I relinquish the illusion of control which I have been hanging on to.?

I used this same process with my daughter. I sat down with the box. I put in my sense of loss as I acknowledged that loss is real only in the world of form and that world is an illusion. I put in my resentment at her partner for ?taking her away from me.? I put in my fear of being abandoned. As I prepared my gift to God, I asked that I might experience a Universal Love in place of this special relationship.

The world may seem to cause you pain. And yet the world, as causeless, has no power to cause. As an effect, it cannot make effects. As an illusion, it is what you wish. Your idle wishes represent its pains. Lesson 190

Since I have completed this ritual, I have had some of those emotions pop up unexpectedly, but I recognize them for the insubstantial shadows that they are; just habits of thought, really. I return them to God and express my gratitude for the peace He gives me in return. The days following my dream were unpleasant and confusing, but I am so grateful for that dream. It was a real blessing as it caught my attention in a way my usual lessons had not. I had asked repeatedly to be released from the pain of the situation with my daughter, but had not looked at the thoughts that were causing it. When I think about it, I realize my dream was the answer to my prayer. It helped me to see the thoughts causing my discomfort and so gave me the chance to look at them with the Holy Spirit and to ask for healing.

He is free to choose again when he has been deceived; to change his mind when he has made mistakes.  Lesson 194

© 2004, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
You may freely share copies of this with your friends, provided this notice is included.

Tell a friend about this article.

Printable Page

<< Back to main page of Together, We Light the Way

Has this page been helpful to you?
Your contribution to support this site is greatly appreciated. To make a tax deductible contribution with a credit/debit card, click here.
Click here to donate from your PayPal account.
Or send a check to Pathways of Light, 12530 Lions Chase Court, Huntley, IL 60142.