Many years ago, I began a dream journal. I found dreams interesting and mysterious, and I had heard that Paul Simon used his dreams to write songs with. As a musician, I thought I might be able to do the same.
It never happened like I thought it could, but about ten years into my occasional journaling of dreams, I recorded one which struck me as actually having meaning to it—a personal message of wisdom, to me! I was amazed and fascinated. The dream was about my trying to hide from some evil thing in the form of a Rottweiler that I knew without a doubt would be my end. When I met and fought with the beast, I managed to rip its head off, and in doing so, found that it was made of rags and dried meat. I realized that the dream was using symbols to show me that my fears are false; a fierce threat turns out to be stuffed with rags—nothing but a pretend-thing, and the dried meat told me that it used to be a real and active thing to fear, but it was now just dead and dried up and no longer any source of threat.
After that, I recorded my dreams more faithfully, watching for any more messages. I discovered that now and then, my dreams would include symbols wrapped into the content in a very precise way that would carry a bit of wisdom for my life, or it would give me new insight on how I was hung up and missing out because of my attitudes. I began to count on my dreams to help me out with life, and felt more connected to what I call my inner self—some might say my spirit or my Higher Self. I knew that my inner self was looking out for me and felt a deep sense of belonging and connection to my spiritual origins.
After a few more years of benefiting from the insight I received from my dreams, I was given one that informed me that what I had learned was also needed by others:
I was with a group in a small, pleasant room, listening to a professional-looking man read from a book. We were listening thoughtfully, although I don’t know specifically what the content was. Since his voice was giving out from all the reading, I said with some hesitation that I would take over the reading if that would suit everyone, although I felt that my voice was not as strong or as appropriate for the task as his. At the same time, the room had become a small section at the top corner of a large auditorium, where many people were seated throughout the room.
I realized that to be heard by everyone, I would need to be down on the stage, so I made my way carefully down the bleachers which served as seating for the auditorium. As I descended, those in distant areas were standing up and moving down to sit closer to the stage. It seemed that all of the people there wanted to listen to the reading I was going to give. When I got down to the stage, I was handed an odd old microphone of dubious ability to project what I would be reading, but it was what I had to begin with, and that’s what I would use.
So I chose the dreams in my journal that carried the most insight and wisdom or were special in some way, and with them as the core I wrote a book that explained my discovery of dreams as carriers of wisdom and insight—thus, the title Wise Dreams: Subtle Messages from the Inner Self, published by Balboa Press in 2013.
Last summer, I decided to give workshops on the subject to promote the knowledge that I felt was so important for everyone to have. I will keep holding local workshops, and take advantage of other opportunities as they present themselves, to teach people about their internal guidance systems, as I call it now. This is my purpose, I feel; this is why I am here, now. I am excited about the future, and about connecting people more firmly to their spiritual side by showing them the guidance available in their dreams. We can rely on the wisdom from spirit; all we need can be found within us.
Receiving wisdom and guidance from within will increase one’s sense of peace, one’s self-confidence and the ability to trust life. It will help us to evolve spiritually, and improve our sense of connection to each other, to nature and our planet, which so very much needs healing. I will go out and tell the people: That is how I plan to change the game!
This Women of Green and Women as Game Changers inspired guest blog post was written by Rebecca E. S. Cleland (Becky). Becky Cleland is intimately connected with her inner spirit, having been a seeker of deeper understanding since her early twenties. She has kept dream journals for almost three decades, and is the author of Wise Dreams: Subtle Messages from the Inner Self. Cleland is a musician, an artist, and holds a Master’s degree in Library Science. Cleland and her husband Ben Seymour live in the North Carolina foothills.
Women of Green is TURNING UP THE VOLUME of the feminine voice on the planet in order to create the world we know is possible.