Alysse Aallyn

Category: #History

  • #DreamTherapy – Dream Journaling with Alysse Aallyn

    Dawn – Relief – All suffering comes to an end. “This too must pass” is a true mantra. Every dream is followed by an awakening which is followed by another dream. In the moment of relief from the fear and the tension that preceded it we are still shaking from the experience we went through. We are in no condition to make decisions. We are just so grateful that it is over. What is required of us, however, is appreciation of the cycle. We are surfing, whether we like it or not. Another wave will come. We had better learn how to ride it.

    Challenge – Mentally, we will rise above the cycle. Take a good, long look at it. This is hard to do when we are quivering and feeling victimized but it is necessary. What pattern do you see? The surfing analogy is a good one because the tides are not rhythmic nor perfectly predictable, we simply know another will be along soon. Is this necessary? Sometimes there’s a way out; we can change jobs, switch professions, get a divorce. Figure out where the pressure is coming from. Assess your abilities. What part are you good at? Where do you suck? Can you enjoy any part of this? How can your performance be improved? Most of us take pleasure in things we are good at. Can your enjoyment be deepened?

    Danger – Learned helplessness is real. We give up. We stop trying to game or even understand the system. We lie down under the shocks, no longer even trying to escape, until they kill us. Don’t succumb.

    Opportunity – You can win, but the game is bigger than our mortal understanding. Nevertheless, you can comprehend the majesty of what we are up against and appreciate it as a knife appreciates the whetstone. We learn through analogy, we remember through stories. You can always improve, becoming a graceful, competent athlete of our mortal existence until you graduate into the next sphere. You can change and affect your fate.

    Roll with the punches. When Jesus says, “Resist not evil” he means, allow evil to roll over you and smash itself against your non-resistance. Study martial arts to increase your knowledge of how to manage and overcome Superior Force. Cultivate a Dream Buddy, a dead or fictional character you know well and summon them to your aid. Ask your dream buddy.

    Dream Buddies don’t have to be actually alive or present – people choose such different characters as St. Francis, Sherlock Holmes, Mother Theresa, Joan of Arc, Mulan, Buddha and Jesus to be their buddies. Some are more comfortable with an animal – your personal power creature; the jaguar, wolf, eagle or wolverine. You can change Dream Buddies based on the problem confronting you. Ask their help before you go to sleep, solicit them to come to you in dreams to shed light upon your difficulty. Then the next morning, start writing and remembering the moment you wake up. Some key dreams take a lifetime to decipher.

    Models & Mentors – “Worry is like a rocking chair – it gives you something to do but you never get anywhere”
    – Erma Bombeck

    “For fast acting relief, try slowing down” – Lily Tomlin

    “Happiness is the relief after extreme tension”
    – F. Scott Fitzgerald

    “Laughter is the tonic, the release, the surcease of pain” – Charlie Chaplin

    Mantra – “I delight”

    Meditation –

    #Haiku: Taming Wild Mind

    Raging surf –
    Wild ride;
    Harden torrent into
    Path.
    Breathe.
    Hurricane’s Eye.

  • #DreamTherapy – Dream Journaling with Alysse Aallyn

    Night – Balance – We are different people in our dreams. We wake up amazed, even ashamed, of the things we wanted, said, did. Who are we, really? Are we the wishes and fears that rush through our subconscious or are we our daytime selves?


    The answer is – we are both. We must balance between the flood of desires and objectives that sleep flushes out.

    For everything there is a season,
    a time for every activity under heaven.

    
A time to be born and a time to die.
    

    A time to plant and a time to harvest.


    A time to kill and a time to heal.
    A time to tear down and a time to build up.


     A time to cry and a time to laugh.
    A time to grieve and a time to dance.


     A time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones.
    A time to embrace and a time to turn away.


     A time to search and a time to quit searching.
    A time to keep and a time to throw away.

    
A time to tear and a time to mend.
    A time to be quiet and a time to speak.


     A time to love and a time to hate.
    A time for war and a time for peace. Ecclesiastes 3

    Balance is a key law of nature to avoid the dreaded death-like stagnancy. Once our conscious is in harmony with our subconscious, our dreams will balance our waking life. In dreams we try on many lives. Even the worst nightmare can be looked at objectively, as a story with potential significance.

    Moderation in All Things – said Hesiod, the Roman poet 750 BC and its still good advice. We use balance as a whetstone to sweeten our pleasures and soften our griefs; torrents that are otherwise unsurvivable.

    Challenge – We need to set up our brain’s “reward system” to handle pleasure and suffering or we will be prescribed drugs in an attempt to achieve the same effect chemically. Drugs can be useful as training wheels; ideally we want to teach our systems to achieve the same effect naturally. Calm is the first step to balance, so we must learn to calm ourselves. Meditation and yoga offer the best methods for reliable self-soothing. First we assert calm over our breath, then our bodies, lastly our thoughts. It’s not that difficult! Reminder: we do it every night as we fall asleep.

    Danger – Unfortunately our contemporary life has become a competitive pursuit of “highs”. A good life well-lived provides natural highs – learning a sport, falling in love, listening to music, having children, enjoying the grandeurs of nature. Our intellect teaches us that every “high” is dramatically enriched by thinking and planning! That’s why we are called the species “homo sapiens.” Therein lies the benefit of Dream Journal.

    The pursuit of highs without the thinking, planning, consolidating and enshrining stages always leads to excess and grief. Highs for their own sake inevitably disappoint, leading to a pursuit of more and more dangerous highs, which, if we are not thinking about them, sharing them with others and incorporating them into our beings, damage our core ability to experience joy.

    Opportunity – Joy that is held in the mind and considered is joy endlessly re-experienced. It will be yours forever, and you will be able to share it with all the people you love for the rest of your life. Conscious dreaming (often called lucid dreaming) provides the best avenue to filter these experiences down to your subconscious level. Always have a joy to think about just as you are going to sleep, and another for when you are waking up. This will sharpen your apprehension of ecstasy and deepen your life.

    Models & Mentors – “The key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule but to schedule your priorities” – Stephen Covey

    “Don’t get so busy making a living that you forget to make a life” – Dolly Parton

    Mantra – “I balance”

    Meditation –

    #Haiku: Stability

    To assert balance;
    Employ wealth of
    Eternal universal mind

  • #DreamTherapy – Dream Journaling with Alysse Aallyn

    Day – Focus – Good morning! Do you wake up fearful, fretful and exhausted? Why do the terms “woke” and “wakened” have such a bad rap, when all they mean is being fully aware?

    Being “Awake” Is Not Just Desirable but Necessary. We need awareness to achieve balance between the negative and positive forces that block or enhance us. If we refuse to wake up we are prey to indescribable fears.

    Worry borrows trouble and erases pleasure. It’s OK to plan but it’s destructive to worry. “Rumination” is endlessly thinking over a problem in a circular way – it isn’t going anywhere. If you dream only about your problems, you are at risk of wasting your valuable dreaming time.

    Learning to Self-Soothe so you can Focus productively – The Buddhists are fabulous at training the brain to calmness. This is a physical discipline and it does take practice. But as in any practice, we start out needing both effort and commitment, and you will have to “forgive” yourself over and over – “I suck at this.” Learning to enjoy the process is key. You are your own toddler. Be delighted by the effort and moved by the commitment. You don’t yell at a toddler for falling down. Study the work of Pema Chodron (libraries everywhere) for assistance.

    Challenge – Regard your mind as a “wild horse” in need of soothing and training. It is scared of everything it sees. Talk to it calmingly. Focus on small, pleasurable things, the green grass, the blue sky. Give thanks for the green grass and the blue sky. Focus on the breath – out with the worry, in with the fresh day of joy and discovery. Now close your eyes. Are you still seeing the green grass and the blue sky? Isn’t that wonderful? Now they are yours forever. Tonight you will dream about them. Cherish them in your heart.

    Danger – How strong is your negative voice? We all have at least one – some of us have many. List them in your Dream Journal. We need to recognize them to firmly push these destructive forces away. Your negative voice is belittling, angry and demeaning. It doesn’t think you can accomplish anything. It is not a helper, in fact it is toxic and we are going to tell it goodbye. Read Viktor Frankl’s wonderful Man’s Search for Meaning and Pinkola Estes’ Women Who Run With the Wolves for advice on how to pluck the lotus of joy from the mud of despair.

    Opportunity – Learning to focus at our advanced age is nothing to be ashamed of. It is a daily practice of mindfulness and joy in the classroom of creation. Be proud of your effort, your commitment and the confidence you are modeling for all future generations that life itself is a dazzling gift. You are alive at this perfect moment for some perfect reason. Let us find it.

    Models & Mentors – “Your habits will determine your future” – Jack Canfield

    “You’ll never change your life until you change something you do daily. The secret of success is found in your daily routine.” – John Maxwell

    ‘Practice isn’t something you do when you’re good. It’s what makes you good.” – Malcolm Gladwell

    “It’s easier to prevent bad habits than to break them.” – Benjamin Franklin

    Mantra – “I wake”

    Meditation –

    #Haiku: From Within

    Glowing eyes:
    Focused feet
    Heart worn on the outside
    Motive’s brainchild.

  • #DreamTherapy – Dream Journaling with Alysse Aallyn

    Planets & Stars – Eternity –Do you dream of astronomical events? Are you circling the stars in dreamland? Do you find yourself studying vast deserts, steep, empty mountains, person-less vistas? These are eternity dreams. You are struggling not with questions of death or afterlife, but the “ongoing everythingness” of reality itself. What is “time”? How long can “time” continue if nothing is “alive”?

    You Are Training to be Immortal – Immortality is neither desirable nor guaranteed. If you feel a desire to live “forever” – what is the “you” in that sentence? Matter is already immortal – Your body is composed of exploded stars. Are you afraid of the “next phase”; or do you want a certain period of your existence to continue “indefinitely’? But you know that’s impossible and ultimately very undesirable. Change is life – changelessness is stagnation. Without human life, planets and stars continue to evolve. Eternity, like God, must be outside time. Perhaps what you desire is a continuation of your personal memories and consciousness. Would you ever want to know the terrible things God knows, or do you yearn for a safe return to infancy secure inside the arms of a most loving mother? Open your Dream Journal and spend some time considering your own desires. Which are evanescent, and which are everlasting?

    Challenge – Some people feel so angry and violated by life that they want to harm the future itself. They don’t want anyone to be happy, ever. While admitting that life on earth can be very unfair and terrible, you don’t ever want to be one of those people. They have “eternalized” their own misery. That is hell; they themselves have sent themselves there. You could wish to eternalize your finest moments, when you brimmed over with love, when generosity and joy poured out of you.

    Danger – Ultimate judgment is not up to us. We don’t know everything, our empathy and compassion are not boundless, we cannot “see” in all directions and dimensions. We are forced to make snap judgments on the ground, battlefield decisions an quick-time changes; but we must leave finality to God. Arrogance and solipsism are serious blinders that harm our spirit as they harm others and the planet itself.

    Opportunity – We are offered repeated opportunities for growth, for humility, for insight. We need to take advantage of these, all the while admitting that since life is a see-saw process, it is usually two steps forward and one step back. How can we recognize growth sand proceed in that direction? Growth manifests health, while harm plunges everyone into darkness. We can feel compassion without knowledge. Mentally we can wish others to avoid suffering and the roots of suffering even when we don’t understand what those are even for ourselves. Take every opportunity to meaningfully connect with others. Your spirit will automatically lighten.

    Models & Mentors – “Trust in dreams – they are the hidden gate to eternity” – Khalil Gibran

    “Launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment”
    – Henry David Thoreau

    “What we do in life echoes in eternity” – Marcus Aurelius

    ‘Love is the emblem of eternity, effacing memory of its beginning and all fear of its end” – Mme. De Stael

    Mantra – “I progress”

    Meditation –

    #Haiku: Age

    Occlude self –
    Elide “forever” –
    Include all:
    Blue print eternity

  • #DreamTherapy – Dream Journaling with Alysse Aallyn

    Paradise – Bliss – What is your definition of paradise? Do you find yourself dreaming of a tropical getaway? If you wanted to find your bliss, where would you look? You’ve become your own Dream Journal. Define heaven; raise consciousness or lack of consciousness? Would you want to know what is happening in the world or would you want to be removed from the world? Can you be happy if you know there is suffering anywhere?

    We create our own Heaven every day. As we mature, we either elevate or denigrate our consciousness. We are creating “heaven”, or “hell” – our choice. Which direction are you tending? Which direction do you want to go?

    Are You Heaven Material? When we are young, we obsess about whether we are really liked or loved, whether we are really “popular.” As we get older we slowly realize that people like/love to the extent of their spiritual and emotional ability/depth. Shallow people offer very shallow love – nothing can take root there. It can flip in an instant. If the whole purpose of life on this planet – a struggle by any standard – is for humans to become more like God then we are being challenged to create the kind of emotional and psychic depth that understands and accepts everyone’s struggle, everyone’s challenge.

    Challenge – Bliss is a provable psychic state of timeless ecstasy mapped by “alpha waves” which can be seen in the brain. This state is called “flow”. We drift outside ourselves and belong to the universe. This is such a happy condition we long to cultivate and re-experience it, which we can do by immersing ourselves in art, meditation, love, sexual/emotional union, or deep thought.

    Danger – We bounce between self-obsession and living entirely in and through other people. Neither condition is optimal, although there are times in our lives when these states are necessary. Balance – sometimes called moderation – is the key. We are in the group, but we are not “the group”. We can elevate the group with the power of our Soul or we can drag it down through thoughtless mirroring. Some people choose to never develop a self. They pass from group to group, trying to “fit in” and quell the inner voice that says. “this isn’t right.” This is a violation of our basic human mandate: to develop a soul that is worthy of God.

    Opportunity – You are on a hero’s quest: you are the hero and the quest is for your Soul. This is both an inner and an outer quest. We have responsibilities from birth onwards; we clearly are our brother’s/sister’s keeper. We are our own keeper, too. Mistakes – sometimes devastating ones – are expected. It’s a dangerous world and we will meet more than one predator looking to make a meal of us. We must be wily as the snake and tender as the dove. Because in the end, it’s all about Love. The more you give, the more you feel.

    Models & Mentors – “Follow your bliss and walls turn into doors”
    – Joseph Campbell

    “In a state of bliss – everything is love” – Deepak Chopra

    “Joy is a connection to what matters – a sustained sense of well-being and inner peace” – Oprah Winfrey

    “I need not sell my soul to buy bliss” – Charlotte Bronte

    Mantra – “I flow”

    Meditation –

    #Haiku: Limitless Joy

    Rejoice in group fortune;
    Cherish,
    Cultivate
    Broadcast
    Generous bliss

  • #DreamTherapy – Dream Journaling with Alysse Aallyn

    Aspiration – The Future – Do you dream about the future? Outcomes desired or feared? People changing or evolving? A more orderly or chaotic world? We know the future is real – it keeps arriving every second! How often does it match our aspirations? How often does that matter?

    You Are a Planner – Nothing comes to reality without a Plan. This seems a main reason for the existence of God – the Planner of bluebells and quasars seems so real to us and the scope of the universe, its chemistry, math & physics, so interesting. Even the people who insist “chaos” is everywhere don’t actually want chaos in their own lives.

    Is your mind greater than the universe? Clearly not. God is a thought-problem of Universal Capability. No single brain has been able to encompass the universal design – not even Einstein’s. Wishing is helpless and invites one to selfdom which leaves the wisher worse off. But plans evolve, along with us, and even when they fail, WE succeed. Edison said he hadn’t failed at anything, he simply found “ten thousand ways things don’t work.” That’s called knowledge!

    Challenge – Open your Dream Journal. What dreams would you LIKE to have? You are talking to your subconscious which in turn invites your unconscious which learns from the collective. Take an active role in your future, in making wishes and dreams come “true”. Don’t bother investing pride and honor in being “right” – with a universe this complex, NOBODY’S right. Invest instead in having a good, flexible map that evolves along with you. Plans are adaptable – they must borrow from all disciplines. Plans can be Art – Art is what this universe IS – and so are the people in it. Give it room to grow.

    Danger – Don’t forget the people who choose evil. They’re out there and we won’t play into their games. Don’t dismiss Fundamental Attribution Error; many systems are set up to send you down. There’s also coincidence and happenstance, which is what the phrase “Being in the wrong place at the wrong time” expresses. So our map must be modified to deal with tragedy –the ongoing and universal tragedy of illness, war and disaster. We try to avert these things, are learning how best to avert them but everything isn’t up to us. There are dark forces at work that enjoy harm and destruction so we can’t become over invested in “winning” because we can’t see or know everything.

    Opportunity – This is where Faith comes in. Jesus said evil will not win, that your joy can never b taken away, and that’s good enough for me. Find your own mantra to stay strong and keep working on a healthy you designing a healthy plan and promoting people around you who can make your plan better. You will also be contributing to their plans – and that’s gratitude. And love. Win-win!

    Models & Mentors – “The future is completely open and we are writing it moment to moment” – Pema Chodron

    “The future starts today, not tomorrow” – Pope John Paul II

    “A good education is the foundation of a better tomorrow” – Elizabeth Warren

    “An uncertain future is not oppressive when Hope guides us”

    – Charlotte Bronte

    Mantra – “I can”

    Meditation –

    #Haiku: Destiny

    This day’s good
    Because yesterday
    I thought about today:
    Momentum

  • #DreamTherapy – Dream Journaling with Alysse Aallyn

    Meditation – Mindfulness – Are you wakened by nightmare? Lie quietly in the dark, anchoring yourself with your own breath. Your soul is free, your brain is rampaging, but your body is centered Here. Feel it. This is called Mindfulness. If you are sleeping with a Dream Buddy, touch them. Use their body as your anchor.

    We can only live in the Now, but it is our greatest good fortune as a species that we can enrich the present with powerful visions of past and future. In our dreams we expand this to universal pasts and futures. But the Now is the lens where our Body is focused. To be absent from the Now is to miss the ecstasy that is our birthright.

    Patience Multiplies Wealth – Wealth that is psychic, emotional, spiritual as well as physical, financial and actual. Eating unripe fruit robs us of our harvest. Therefore we must learn to settle into the Now, learn to line up Past, Present, Future with Conscious, Subconscious, & Unconscious. Open your Dream Journal and make Six Categories: Now, Past, Future, Conscious, Subconscious & Unconscious.

    Consider the Moment – you are in the Now but what are you thinking? What does it remind you of? What are you fearing? Have you ever experienced anything like this before? Does this experience make you feel attached to any other human, living or dead? When you have considered this, it is time to meditate.

    Master through practice. The first step is Emptying. Push your thoughts, memories, worries away. Concentrate on your breath. If this is too hard, choose a mantra (such as “Thank You” or “Namaste”) or a piece of music without lyrics (Marconi Union’s Weightless is fabulous for this.) Just celebrate the emptiness, the Nothingness. As thoughts come to you, release them like balloons. You are the world’s anchor. Celebrate You.

    Challenge – In the control of your own mind lies all freedom. Without it you are a slave, whatever the world may think. Buddhists call you mind a “wild horse” that must be tamed. Learn to greet the Now as an old friend who knits everything that is “you” – all the scattered psychic pieces – back together. You can FEEL the healing.

    Danger – In our new digital world it’s very difficult to claim Time for yourself. Can you turn off all the flashing lights, the signals, the seductions, the threats? You absolutely must not only learn to do that, you must feel important enough to do it. Turns out, that’s the most difficult task. Tell others, “This is my recharge time. It’s absolutely critical.” Twenty silent minutes per day. Alone. You. Finding Eternity – and the Eternal You – through the Now. It doesn’t come easily. It comes through your infinite willingness, your scrupulous patience, your holy dedication. Don’t give up on You.

    Opportunity – Nothing happens. Nothing happens. Nothing happens. You must give up on your competitiveness. Surrender your expectations. Push away the past, the fears, sadness, the depression, the loss, the anxiety, the rage, the worry. All can be released into the universe, floating away from you to pop harmlessly in the stratosphere. You are alone now with the infinite. Slowly you begin to feel the pleasure, an indescribable ecstasy in which your ordinary human body becomes incandescent. Suddenly you want better things for yourself. More sleep. Better dreams. Healthier food. A world of love and joyous possibility. Dip your toe in that completeness, twenty minutes per day. (Or more, if you can.) Treasure this glimpse of Heaven.

    Models & Mentors – “The first thing to learn is the breath.” – Confucius

    ‘Breathe In. Let Go. And remind yourself that this very moment is the only one you know you have for sure, and give thanks for that.”
    – Oprah Winfrey

    ‘Feelings come and go like clouds in a windy sky. Conscious breathing is my anchor” –
    Thich Nhat Hanh

    “While we breathe, we hope” – Barack Obama

    MANTRA – “I am”

    Meditation –

    #Haiku: Meditation – Mindfulness

    Joyous
    Breath
    Supports
    Eternal now:
    Blossoms spirit;
    Sparks
    Thoughts,
    Shared
    Dance

  • #DreamTherapy – Dream Journaling with Alysse Aallyn

    Youth – Resilience – Dreaming a lot about your childhood? Your conscious mind is “mining” your subconscious for guides to the way you feel now. Did you pick the wrong path, and if so, why? Can you summon the effort to go back and fix it?

      “You’re as young as you feel” is a true saying! Ever met a “young” seeming old person? They are interested in everything. They are not frightened by new ideas. They don’t talk endlessly about their illnesses, complaints, how the world has gone to hell. They look forward to the future. The nature of “resilience” is that you “spring back”. You can actually use mistakes as energy, to improve your map-making. Surely you’re familiar with ”resistance training.” You get better muscles that way!

      Challenge – Open up your Dream Journal. How can we feel young when life keeps beating you down? The way to improve your resilience is to improve your philosophy. Do you believe people get old, they can no longer participate in the rat race, are shoveled under and it’s over? There’s a locker room inspiring pep talk. Don’t love and intelligence both REQUIRE wisdom? Adopt a philosophy that gives you hope. This is easier to do around young people. Grandparents cling to grandchildren. It’s good for both of them.

      Danger – Don’t get stuck in a “feedback loop.” Don’t hang around depressing, toxic people who mouth depressing, toxic notions. In our society old people are shunted off onto sidings, gathered together in communities that focus on “nursing”. Depressed yet? Re-orient your mind to focus on “health.” Resilience is a requirement for wounds of all types to heal.

      Opportunity – In a famous letter to Ann Landers, someone who wanted to go to medical school bewailed that they would forty years old when they got out! Forty! Landers asked, “How old will you be if you DON’T go?” Wise people all realize HOW YOUNG THE REST OF YOU really are, who are complaining about being “too old” to do what you want to do. You have plenty of time, because ALL time is NOW. Your new philosophy? “Spring back.”

      Models & Mentors – “Reasons for hope – our clever brains, the indomitable human spirit and above all, the commitment of young people when they’re empowered to take action” – Jane Goodall

      “We don’t even know how strong we are until we are forced to bring that hidden strength forward” – Isabel Allende

      “Success is not final, failure is not fatal, it is the courage to continue that counts’ – Winston Churchill

      “Hardships often prepare ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny”
      – C. S. Lewis

      Mantra – “My World Is New”

      Meditation –

      #Haiku: Resilience

      Fresh pink skin blooms
      Scarless
      Free;
      Regenerated fresh
      Every
      Morning

    1. #DreamTherapy – Dream Journaling with Alysse Aallyn

      Symbiosis – Interdependence – you can’t make it on your own. We are social beings, we need other people, all those characters peopling your dreams. We are DEPENDENT on them. This is such a tough thing to face that there are whole categories of people who go around insisting they “made it on their own.” They’re the only ones who believe it! They assemble a vast team, and not only that, they are dependent on teams set up by others to provide safety, water, heat, light. Visit a country where this isn’t a given and then you’ll realize what a massive enterprise is taking place around us.

        Flourish, Don’t Exploit – Symbiosis benefits everyone. If it leaves you “worse off” it’s not symbiosis, it’s exploitation. In our dreams we fear depredation, loss, failure, humiliation. We depend on the Collective Unconscious for the meaning in our lives. Our sleep world is the theatre where we rehearse our fears, making them LESS LIKELY to come true! We fear dependence because that means our “supply” can be cut off. But we also provide supply to others. What, and who? Any way we can improve the supply lines?

        Danger – Interdependence is a delicate balance, requiring sensitivity, reflection, and the capacity to change. Above all we want to avoid “Doomsday thinking” in which “since” the obvious entropy of the universe ruins all relationships eventually, so, by this reasoning, they must be ruined NOW. This “fear” completely overlooks the spiritual growth which time allows. Interdependence gives us insight and time and improved relationships – a recipe for emotional and intellectual thriving.

        Challenge – To become independent (i.e. free) we have to face the fact of our dependence on others and their dependence on us. Get out your Dream journal. Consult your Dream Buddies. How symbiotic are your relationships? Is there harm involved? Depredation? Abuse? Don’t make me repeat the 17 warning signs of an abusive relationship. It’s unequal, never a two-way street. Belittling? Baiting? Shaming? You should be able to recognize these techniques NOW so you can strategize a way out! If you DON’T recognize them there’s a very good chance your dreams DO. Pay attention to them. It’s possible to be abused by relationships with people we’ve never met – banks – corporations – landlords – employers – if this isn’t an equally mutual beneficial relationship we’re OUTTA HERE. (This is why authoritarians fear Cancel Culture. It reduces their depredation pool.) Yes you CAN find and foster relationships that are more beneficial.

        Opportunity – Nobody and nothing’s perfect and nobody wants that –ugh! Perfection is about stasis which is DEATH. WE are all about change, growth, evolution, becoming. Wisdom! Sharing joy! A back and forth process involving OTHER PEOPLE. Let’s work on our confidence. Let’s work on our spiritual muscle. Let’s work on our mapping abilities so we have a good idea where we’re headed. Expect surprises and greet them when they show up: “Hello old friend.”

        Models & Mentors – “Symbiotic relationship in nature teaches us cooperation and shows that we are all connected” – Sanchita Pandey

        “You are in a dynamic relationship with the universe because your existence is win-win” – Teal Swan

        ‘Symbiosis is a much higher reflection of intelligent life” – Frederick Lenz

        “Love is a positive, symbiotic, reciprocal flow between two or more entities”
        – Inga Muscio

        Mantra – “Let’s play”

        Meditation –

        #Haiku: Symbiosis = Interdependence

        I think with
        Your memory I
        Stretch with
        Your muscles
        Grasp with
        Dead hands

      1. #DreamTherapy – Dream Journaling with Alysse Aallyn

        Memory – the Past – Do you dream frequently of past events? Are they different – worse or better – than what you remember actually happening? Do you feel nostalgia for a past that never was? Do you have a favorite period in history or fantasy universe that you wish you lived in, instead of this one?

          You are the Hero of Your Saga – Open your Dream Journal and start writing. Accept your centrality in your own myth. It doesn’t matter what other people think – they are the bit players. Think of your past as a Quest Saga. What did you want? How did it change? What blocked you? What tools have you got at your command? Where do you go from here?

          Challenge – You absolutely CAN rewrite the past, but first you first must face its full horror. Generally, because we were children, we didn’t know what was going on, were co-opted by our persecutors and prevented from fighting back. Things are different now! The hardest thing to accept is that beloved caregivers didn’t want the best for us – they wanted us to be just like them.

          Danger – “I don’t believe in ghosts but I never met a person who wasn’t haunted” is a very wise saying. What haunts you? Or who? Ghosts are malignant – if they weren’t they would be power spirits, fairy godmothers or guardian angels. What malignancies from your past are out to get you and how do they make themselves known? One of Freud’s contributions was to point out that people prefer their neurosis – ie imprisonment – to liberation. Why? What’s in it for you?

          Opportunity – You became YOU. Yes, you have scars – these are bragging rights! You have been through the wars! ‘Rewriting” the past means understanding what really happened, the limitations of those who surrounded you, and exploring your chances and choices today. Just because parents, teachers or “society” sentenced you to play a role, you can step out of it at any time. Buddhist thought is very helpful here. Buddha teaches that life itself is an illusion – a dream. It changes depending on how we think about it. In the present, inside your mind, you hold all the keys to your own liberation. Re-visit Pema Chodron’s Noble Heart and Eckhart Tolle’s Power of Now to explore how you can assume immediate control of your life and your mind and turn your past into fuel to power your growth.

          Models & Mentors – “You never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory” – Dr Seuss

          “Nothing has happened until it’s written down” – Virginia Woolf

          “Memory is the treasury and guardian of all things” – Cicero

          “In the end, we’ll all become stories.” – Margaret Atwood

          “Your brain forms the same neural connections and muscle memory whether you are imagining a task or actually doing it”- Yo Yo Ma

          Mantra – “I remember”

          Meditation –

          #Haiku: Memory – Your Past Is Never Where You Left It

          Block Past subsuming
          Present – overwhelming
          Future
          Short circuit
          Change