Let It Begin With Me … & You …

These days I’ve been wearing my peace sign socks and earrings more than usual, and spouting my lefty liberal opinions, well—quite liberally. The political times: a particularly bitter campaign cycle, plus escalating and chronic conflicts around the world—seem to require it.

But I know it will take a lot more than just putting on peace signs or pontificating to create real change. For decades, ever since I was a teen, I’ve also joined peace marches, voted my conscience, signed petitions, and written my share of blog posts and letters to the editor, too. But does any of this really make an impact? What would it take to truly contribute to the creation of deep and lasting peace?

The older I get, the more I believe in the clichéd lyric: “Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me.” Peace is an inside job as much as it is a public political pursuit.

As someone who not only studies dreams, but who also lives by their wisdom and guidance, I believe that what we see outside of ourselves, collectively speaking, reflects what is inside of us. We see turmoil in the world because there is turmoil in people’s hearts and souls. And that includes me. And you, too. Your dreams provide you with a nightly report on your inner battles, be they squabbles, skirmishes, or all-out war. That’s because the images in our dreams depict various parts or ourselves, including what we feel, believe, fear, desire, etc. Looking to our dreams, then, we can identify our inner conflicts and the obstacles blocking our path to our highest and best potential—and inner peace and harmony.

But achieving improved self-awareness through dreamwork isn’t enough. The next step is to work with the contents of your dreams, and then take action steps to bring your insights into the light of day. In this way you begin to come into harmony with the various parts of yourself, and you become someone who can more effectively usher peace into the world.

All of Me

If you’re ready to try to negotiate a lasting peace between the factions within yourself, here’s an exercise that will help you identify the various parts of yourself that are showing up as characters in your dream.

• Choose 1-3 characters from a dream. They can be people you know in waking life, or characters that exist only in the dream. Either way, write down each character’s name (if you know it) or use any identifying label (carpenter, teacher, or woman in blue dress, for example).
• Next, for each character list three personality traits or qualities that come to mind when you think of that person. Go with the first three things that come to mind. There are no right or wrong answers here.
• Now, look at those characteristics: Which of them do you share? How are you different?
• Review the dream as if this character is a part of you and then look at the places where the dream characters are in conflict. For example, if in the dream you were fighting with your best friend who is artistic, flighty, and generous, consider whether in your waking life you are struggling in some way with the part of yourself who is artistic, flighty, and/or generous. Is there a way that you are in conflict with your own inner artist? Are you being stingy in some area of your life?
• Use the information you gain from this exercise to take some action bring yourself into balance. If the dream is showing you that you’re in conflict with your inner artist, for example, maybe it’s time to sign up for a collage class, or take out your colored pencils and draw.

Dreamwork is an integral step to bringing more peace to our lives and to our world. But be an active dreamer: Get informed on the issues, vote your conscience, and take action on the issues that you care about.

Contact me to schedule a dreamwork session and learn more about what your dreams are telling you.