For the past few weeks I’ve been teaching my students, who are teen moms, to make alphabet books for their babies using recycled manila file folders and colored markers .

While they’ve worked on their creations, I’ve spent the class period making my own alphabet art.

Each one is based on a symbol from the week’s dream harvest – one that is tugging at the edges of my imagination and that doesn’t want to let go.

I’m no artist, but that doesn’t matter because the finished product isn’t as important as the process. This is time to sit with the image for twenty minutes or so. I’ve found that with each drawing, I feel a little closer to the dream. While I sit and sketch, the symbol takes up residence in my waking imagination. Meanwhile, I have a good time playing with colors and paper and art.

In my ideal world I would have time to do dream work every day, or at least every time a symbol or character from a dream captured my imagination.

But my life is full of waking life adventures, commitments and projects to pursue.

So for now I think I’ll enjoy this new way to do dream work, one letter at a time.