Alysse Aallyn

Category: #PersonalChange

  • #DreamTherapy – Dream Journaling with Alysse Aallyn

    The Moon – Influence – You can’t feel it, but you can dream it. Something is pressing on you, like gravity, the way the moon’s pressure rolls the tide.
    Your Subconscious Knows – You are a secret to yourself but your subconscious has all the answers. She only reveals herself in dreams. Time for some interpretation. Object dreams are fear dreams, people dreams are love dreams, motion dreams are time dreams. The opposite of fear, remember, is attraction, the opposite of love is hate and the opposite of yearning is stasis. Each forward pulse contains its opposite.


    Challenge – With the knowledge of this assistance, you can interpret your own dreams. Open your Dream journal. If you are an artist, draw or paint it. Don’t look for rigid accuracy – we seek connections, not edges, walls and blocks. The purpose of dreaming is to address blocks. If you are a writer write out not only the dream but its connections, what it makes you think about, what if it reminds you of. If there was a prominent object, animal or person in the dream seek out a picture on the internet, gaze at it for insight.


    Danger – We seek to heighten, not damage, your self will. Others in your life – relative, friends, advertisers, politicians – are trying to take control of you. Don’t let them. The way to stop it is to take control of your fears yourself, so that you will not be ruled by them. Remember, the opposite of fear is attraction. We always seek a way upward. The direction of the spiral must be UP.


    Opportunity – This is a unique opportunity for self-definition and growth. Form a Dream Group where you discuss your dreams, offer positive (i.e. helpful and growth oriented) interpretations of each other’s dreams and attempt some lucid dreaming together. The way to do this is to promote s Sacred Circle with drumming, hand-holding, music and yoga. Choose a late evening hour when you are naturally tired. Like on the floor – protected by yoga mats, a comforter or a comfy carpet. Inaugurate a round of deep breathing, punctuated by soft, rhythmic chanting. “OM” is easiest and most effective. The first person to wake prepares a floral, herbal tea such as chamomile, puts on soft music and slowly wakes the others. Discuss and write down everything you remember. This is usually a dynamic way to take control of your dreams and begin dreaming as a group.

      Mantra – “Fearless”

      Models & Mentors – “Moonlight drowns out all but the brightest stars”

      – J. R. R Tolkien

      “Like the Moon, come out from behind the clouds. Shine!”– Buddha

      “Everyone is a Moon, and has a dark side he never shows to anybody”

      – Mark Twain

      “The moon gives pure solitude and tranquility”
      – Haruki Murakami

      Meditation –

      #Haiku: Dream Group

      Souls
      Wake
      Together
      Floating;
      Prison dissolved;
      Share
      Language with
      The moon.

    1. #Dream Therapy – Dream Journaling with Alysse Aallyn

      Winter – Dormancy –


      What’s happening when nothing’s happening?

        DREAMS – Why isn’t it spring yet? Sometimes the blossom withers. Why? Your dreams remain lively, so, let’s consult them. Do you dream of endless sleep? Deep snows? Hibernation? Do you identify with the drowsy bear and the sleepy sloth?

        Now’s the Time – This is the sacred moment before a burst of creativity. You are gathering your forces. Compare it to a pregnancy. Things are happening, but so slowly and deeply you are not aware of them, with the result that you may feel confused and frustrated. Instead, revel in this burgeoning becoming in the midst of sleepy peace.

        Challenge – We cultivate our desires without pushing our extracting them. We curate our sensations. Spin through pictures of animals – what jumps out? Who is speaking to you? What are they saying? Wat are you afraid of and why? Make notes and collect images. A collage creates a deeper, more resonant picture. Sometimes it’s all in the eyes.

        Danger – In sleep we are entirely vulnerable and we have cultural and historic reason to fear that state. Guard your dormancy with supportive beings, with sleep music, with healing rituals. The triple-locked doors, the blackout-curtained windows, the silenced devices protect us in our chosen nest. This is “think-time” not “party-time.” We will create a “protective spell.” Don a bracelet of “worry beads”, then summon your happiest memories and tell them by touch, eyes closed, one by one. Send every ounce of your remembered love and joy out into the universe with a command to come back to you a hundred times. A thousand times so that your love can spill over and be shared with all you touch, near and far.

        Opportunity – You create yourself. The fetus of this pregnancy is YOU. In every dreamy hibernation second you are rebuilding yourself, adding visions, promoting fresh understandings and positive interpretations. Life offers us the chances of joy and misery – use your consciousness to accept this tool and allow dream-time and prep-time to penetrate ever deeper into your subconscious, to the unconscious, and down down down, deepest of all, to the collective unconscious where we recall in our bones and teeth and cells everything that has ever happened to every living thing as if it happened to us. This is the source of all imagination and creativity, accessible to you in your dream state.

        MANTRA
        “I dream deep”

        #HAIKU : Dormant

        Embrace the cold,
        Without regret,
        Secrets kept.
        Sharp, white;
        Freshening
        Sleep.

      1. #Dream Therapy – Dream Journaling with Alysse Aallyn

        Dreams – Imagination-

        Let’s learn to enjoy our dreams, to look forward to dreaming. I like waking up in the early dawn because when I go back to sleep I can set an intention for dreaming – all the best dreams (and the most memorable ones) happen at the very end of sleep while you are coming up through the lawyers of sub- to semi consciousness.

        Lucid Dreaming – Is when the dreamer realizes it’s a dream. Dreamers often use their lucidity to “manage” the dream – and that’s an important step – but don’t forget we’re here ultimately to find out what the dream is trying to tell us.

        Remember – You’re the Pilot – Do you long for caretaking? Are you eager to give over the reins of your life to someone else? If so, your dreams are likely to become scary, unmanageable and unsatisfying. It is time for you to take charge of your power – you are in control of your own brain.

        Challenge – Open your Dream Journal. Date it, and write, “I want to dream about…” Fill in the blank. Be as detailed and specific as you want to be. It is perfectly OK to allow your waking mind to construct desirable dreams – great works of art got their start in just this way! You may hear a voice… someone from the past who discouraged your “day-dreaming” and wanted you to focus on your work, on the present and on them. Explore this memory fearlessly. It is not rejecting or “hating on” that person to disagree with them – there are certainly times when the priority is to focus on other things – but right now you are exploring your own brain and testing out its powers. Clearly that’s an important and necessary project. Gently take control from this Remembered Forbidder and say, “This is my time now. I am in charge.”

        Danger – We all know the cautionary tale of Scary Guy Who Live for Video Games and Doesn’t Have a Life. Do you fear the power of dreams and the pleasures of daydreaming will suck you away from Real World Competence? They won’t – as long as you are reality centered. Some people dream of different outcomes, things that are impossible – instead of finding workable avenues of growth and advancement. Positive dreaming deepens and enhances, doesn’t evade reality. It’s just that reality is so much wilder – and we are so much more powerful than we can credit!

        Opportunity – Here’s a chance to reveal your True Self. It’s OK to be scared – it won’t harm you to recall the helplessness and confusion you felt in childhood so long as you also remember the joys of accessing power – swimming, bike riding, sports, lovemaking, dance, joint projects, creation of all types. These are models for your future. Some of us believe this growth goes on and on – even after death.

        Models & Mentors – “I dream things that never were and I say, “Why Not?” – George Bernard Shaw

        “A dreamer finds his way by moonlight…sees dawn before the rest of the world.” – Oscar Wilde

        ‘You have within you the strength, the patience and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world”
        – Harriet Tubman

        “I’ve had dreams, and I’ve had nightmares. I overcame the nightmares because of my dreams.” – Jonas Salk

        Mantra – “All things are possible”

        Meditation –

        #Haiku: Imagination

        Dreams bloom
        Across brain; sinking
        Sands of wakefulness
        Glaze;
        Leave behind
        Pearl

      2. #DreamTherapy – Dream Journaling with Alysse Aallyn

        Duality – Ambivalence –


        What Kind of Nightmare Is This ? We dream about things we don’t want and people we aren’t. Strong feminists dream of rape, vegetarians dream of meat, pacifists dream of fighting. It’s confusing. What gives?

          Language Isn’t Subtle Enough to Explain You – Your personality contains all feelings, all thoughts, all ideas, rippling through you in a vast subconscious well. Your unconscious connects with the “collective unconscious” of other peoples – dead, alive, even fictional. Why isn’t “hate-love” a word? You experience that regularly. How about “fear-attraction”? Common! What I’m suggesting is that we need to accept the fact that a “personality” is a dynamism, not a slogan. Ambivalence is natural. It’s healthy.

          Challenge – Facing this might seem the toughest part, but it isn’t for artists, who routinely “play” along their edge, peeking over it and imagining life on the other side. Art is the best way to express this, an enormous relief since it’s non-committal. Of course you’ll have to face the surprise of your relatives when your work becomes public: “Where did THAT come from?” But if truth be told, we’ve always been surprised to be related to these people.

          Danger – Society seeks to label and stigmatize. We need to explore our fear but we are afraid of becoming our fear. A simple safe word can’t work when people – bankers, politicians, therapists, employers – are so fundamentally untrustworthy. That is why our identification of ourselves as Brave Explorers is so vital. The vastness of our potential cannot be controlled by language. We will never be butterflies pinned down in a museum box for the instruction/curiosity of others.

          Opportunity – Appreciate your self. Don’t slam the door on yourself too soon. Sometimes the worst labeler, the most determined jailor, is Us. We are deeply afraid of wandering in the forest and losing the way to get home safe. But Brave Explorers carry Home within them. As Nelson Mandela used to quote from his prison cell, if we are the captains of our souls we can be the masters of our fates. We can learn to tolerate a little ambiguity/uncertainty/ambivalence. (Henley.)

          Models & Mentors – “It seems we are capable of immense love and loyalty and as capable of deceit and atrocity. It is this shocking ambivalence that makes us unique.” – John Scott

          “Ambivalence is a wonderful tune to dance to. It has a rhythm all its own.”
          – Erica Jong

          “The Simpsons is about alienation and the ambivalence of living with a family who you love but drives you crazy”
          – Matt Groening

          “Poetry is the home of ambiguity, ambivalence and uncertainty.” – Billy Collins

          Mantra – “I am Everything”

          Meditation –

          #Haiku: Contemplate Duality

          Causation;
          Polarity;
          Suspicious distrust;
          Embrace
          Growth process

        1. #Dream Therapy – Dream Journaling With Alysse Aallyn

          The Shadow – Dissonance –

          Dreaming of reversals? Sudden surprises or a creeping sense of unease? Upsets? Do you wake with a sense of having forgotten something important you almost understood? Feeling lost?

            Some dreams just leave us unsettled, feeling “weird”. Something touched us, but we are of a divided mind as to whether it was pleasant or not.

            You Are A Sensitive Instrument registering seismic shifts and deep tectonic disturbances below the threshold of consciousness. Remember, what we call “consciousness” is many-layered. Beneath your conscious is your subconscious – the things you’ve put out of mind.. Below that is your unconscious –the things you don’t know you know – it is the unconscious that is accessible to us in dreams.

            The Subconscious is noisy, like a neglected child. It will occupy all your attention if you let it. But the Unconscious is a lot more interesting. Something always IS “going on” OUTSIDE YOURSELF and you are alert to the many warning signals! This can be exhausting. We have been dreaming of relaxation, peace and quiet, the clear blue sky with not a single cloud, and here are all these depthless mutterings.

            And there’s a deeper layer yet! The collective unconscious connects us to other people, living and dead, the memories of your relatives, of history itself.

            Challenge – We are not going to get rid of our spidey senses and we must refuse to numb, ignore or inflate them. The key to intelligent management of dissonance is to think of the world as an orchestra playing a symphony. The more able we are to distinguish the varied instruments and musical lines the more we will appreciate and enjoy the experience. Balance is always key. In this cacophony, YOU are the important one. We accept all the levels of consciousness without fear; they will not control us. They are asking us to control them. We will schedule regular periods of rest and renewal where we put problems far away from mind and give thanks for this body, this moment, this sense of appreciation and wonder.

            Danger – Avoid a “bunker mentality.” The universe has many bunkers, but is bigger than any single one. We cultivate a hierarchy of response. Get out of bed in the middle of the night for a fire alarm, not a phone notification. Don’t allow yourself to ever feel helpless but seek out advice and encouragement from others who understand a healthy growth process. All of us live in groups, curate your group to promote intelligent awareness in an atmosphere of hope. Dissonance is never doom.

            Opportunity – We each have a chance to spend our night on the watchtower, but you don’t need to spend every night there. Consider dissonance an invitation to maturity. We are putting away childish things. The sky is NOT falling, however the climate is under legitimate scientific threat. Strategize ways to band together to take useful action. This is an opportunity to show self-love, as well as love for the group, the environment, the world and the future. Open your Dream Journal. The attitude, “I care about you so I’m going to take care of you” keeps us sensitive to the message of Universal Love that is waiting to embrace us.

            Models & Mentors – Great things are not accomplished by those who yield to fads, trends and popular opinion”
            – Jack Kerouac

            “Better to fail in originality than succeed in imitation”
            – Herman Melville

            “If you don’t fit in, you’re probably doing the right thing” – Henry David Thoreau

            “Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth”

            – John F. Kennedy

            Mantra – “I Hear You”

            Meditation –

            Haiku: Dissonance

            Nonsense;
            Clues disappeared
            Fragmenting circle
            Unsolvable
            Mystery

          1. #DreamTherapy – Dream Journaling with Alysse Aallyn

            Synchronicity – Education –

              Dreaming of longed for events?  Ultimate fulfillment? These are the kinds of dreams we are unwilling to wake up from, long, glorious parties of perfect happiness where everything seems to be unfolding exactly the way it should. Synchronous events are harmonious, asif the universe is a vast perfectly working clockwork machine.  These are “longing for security” dreams.

              What Provides Security?  Facts. Maps. Charts. Dictionaries. Understanding machines,systems, attribution and calibration – all the subjects of the educational process. This isthe reason we spend the first twenty plus years of our lives in instructive settings.

              Our Biggest Psychological Mistake – We take it personally (“God is against me!”) rather than understanding the systems behind disaster (soil depletion, germ theory, ozone destruction, overcrowding, nutritional deficiency, etc.) It’s called “fundamental attribution error.”

              You Can Learn – In fact you are a fierce absorber or knowledge. Advertisers know this, asdo the designers of games and entertainment generally. We adore self-educating mazes.

              Challenge – Open up that Dream Journal.  Assemble your Dream Buddies. We need todesign a life long learning plan that benefits US, not one that puts our hard earnedmoney in someone else’s pocket.

              Danger – we are seduceable. We get tired, we long for reinforcements and approval. Wejust want to put our feet up.

              Opportunity – But we are smart! Our self-designed goal system must contain refreshmentand renewal breaks. Most importantly, we will be needing a buddy as we go through thesystem, and a spiritual guru who provably has our best interests at heart.

              Models & Mentors – “Education is the key to unlocking the world. It is the passport to freedom.” – Oprah Winfrey

              “Learning never exhausts the mind.” – Leonardo da Vinci

              “Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world” – Nelson Mandela

              “Tomorrow belongs to the people who prepare for it today” – Malcolm X

              Today’s Mantra – “I love to learn”

              Meditation –

              #Haiku: Higher Education

              Go on,

              Splurge!

              Throw yourself at

              Knowledge!

              Nothing to lose but

              Ignorance…

            1. #DreamTherapy – Dream Journaling with Alysse Aallyn

              Solitude – Self-sufficiency –

                Dreaming of time alone? Fearing it, perhaps?  We are born into a cacophony of voices. It is vital that we carve out time to reflect on all that is happening to us and the part we play and want to play. Our dreams alone could fill a shelf of books – plus we need time to cultivate, curate and care for a daytime self. Sometimes we have other people to care for and relationships to manage. We need to learn how to be our own best friend.

                Your Mind Is Your Most Important Tool – Your mind determines your experience which controls your mind which develops your experience in a perfect feedback loop. In a culture based on “likes” from strangers we are all too ready to hand the reins of our brain over to God know who. Advertisers,influencers and partisans do NOT have your best interests at heart. We must learn how to develop that feedback loop into an upward trending spiral.

                Challenge – We are determined to develop self-confidence. We need to trust, not fear, our ownreactions. This takes practice – “reps” in the words of the physical trainers. There is no need for two weeks alone on the Appalachian Trail (nice as that would be) because we are already alone inside our heads. Open your Dream Journal and consider: Check your voices: what are you saying to yourself?“Good effort” or “Idiot”? It matters! Many of us treat ourselves worse than we would treat any otherhuman (or animal.) That changes today.

                Danger – We are not proposing a life without feedback or a divorce from reality. If you really were yourown best friend, you would protect, not exalt yourself. You would strategize towards health and sharing,not secrecy and isolation.

                Opportunity – find a voice you respect and admire to model your internal voice. Strategize with Dream Buddies. Can you check with this person that you are on the right path? We all need a life coach or acheerleader in our corner. 

                Learn to enjoy time alone by building in rewards – indulging in nourishinghobbies as simple as walking and reading. You don’t need rocket science, you need a healthful day today peaceful retreat inside your own head.

                Models & Mentors – “Loneliness is the poverty of self – Solitude is the richness of self.” – May Sarton

                “The happiest of all lives is a busy solitude”  – Voltaire

                “Solitude is necessary for creativity” – Picasso

                “The best thinking is done in solitude” – Thomas Edison

                Mantra: “I am enough”

                Meditation –

                #Haiku: Solitude – Self-Sufficiency

                Plaited rhyme of

                Past and future voices

                Advise, protect

                Entertain

              1. #DreamTherapy – Dream Journaling with Alysse Aallyn

                Peace – Serenity – The Power of Happy Dreams – Do you have a mental happy place to retreat to whenever you need a psychic lift?  It doesn’t even need to be a place you’ve ever actually been for you to dream about it. Multiverse proponents would argue that you’ve already been there. Do your dreams involve beaches, vacation, relaxation, memories of happy times when you hadnothing to do but enjoy yourself and revel in the moment?

                Happy Dreams are prophecies of all the peace and serenity that await us, greeting us whenwe first came into the world.

                Peace is Possible. Serenity is an Idea. Most of us are familiar with the “serenity prayer”  written by theologian Reinhold Niebuhr:

                “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference, living one day at a time; enjoying one moment at a time; taking this world as it is and not as I would have it; trusting that You will make all things right.”

                It’s possible to maintain serenity, even when things are awful. The Serenity Prayer works as aninoculation against pointless worry, which is seen as “borrowing trouble.”

                Challenge – Like meditation, serenity is a mental state that takes practice. Take out your your Dream Journal.Make a list of your most pressing concerns. Can you do anything about any of them today? If so,appoint a time when you will take a step towards resolving this concern. If you can’t do anything aboutit, put it forcefully out of your mind. Imagine your worries as a bunch of balloons. Now let them go, one by one. Put each useless worry on a piece of paper and burn them slowly, each by each. Give yourself a“mantra”; a word or phrase you find comforting and centering, and repeat it out loud to yourself. St. Julian of Norwich recommended: ”All things will be well”, Coué offered, “Every day, in every way I amgetting better and better”, some yoga enthusiasts chant a simple “Om.” You can use a phrase from yourown past said to you by a Beloved Person – “now you’ll be fine” “You’re safe” “You’re perfect”“Everything’s all right”or the tried and true: “I love you.” My favorite is from Revelation: “Every tear wiped away.”

                Danger – We are all worried about missing something, or someone. Often that “centering person”, that reassuring person from our past is not just the one who gave us the relaxation code, but is also the one who told us what to worry about: ie.”Make sure all the locks are locked” “Have you done yourhomework?” There certainly are things to be concerned about (“Are you registered to vote?”) but there are plenty of worries we CAN’T help with. Return to the serenity prayer and start weeding out – onpaper – your Justifiable Concrns. One of the best things about Anxiety – and I mean this – is it offers anopportunity to ask for help. Yes, I say “opportunity”! Because life is  all about RELATIONSHIPS. Soworries offer us a unique chance to forge a meaningful, worthwhile relaionship with Someone Else. Who? It depends. Get ready to experiment. As with every other relationship in your life, yourrequirements, tolerance, communication goals are unique. Many people want to speak to a professional– therapist or life coach – and plenty of professionals out there are auditioning for a little – or a lot – ofyour hard-earned cash. An excellent place to start is with Proven Gurus like Tolle Eckhart or Pema Chodon who can be accessed from any library. See what you think. Evaluate their assistance. Inquirefurther.

                Opportunity – This is a perfect moment to harness the power of lucid dreaming. Lucid dreams are INTENTIONAL. Imagine that! You could go to that happy place ANY TIME you needed it and, best of all, use your night time rest as an arena and your “happy place” as a vessel to anchor your subconscious. We have worries we don’t even know about yet! But we also have powerful forces onour side. Practice sleeping to “special music” with a mental picture of your “happy place.” Aaah.

                Models & Mentors – “Do not let the behavior of others destroy your inner peace.” – The Dalai Lama

                “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference.” – Reinhold Niebuhr

                “Serenity of spirit and turbulence of action make up the sum of life”

                – Vita Sackville-West

                “Enjoy the peace of nature and declutter your inner world” – Amit Ray

                Meditation –

                #Haiku: Wealth

                Peace to dream

                Play to share

                Health to dance

                Worlds to

                Explore

                Joy to

                Extend

              2. #DreamTherapy – Dream Journaling with Alysse Aallyn

                Recovery & Rebirth –

                The compulsion of recurring dreams torments us. These re-envisagings of past events re-enact Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder for all to see, shaming and blaming at the same time.

                My recurring dreams all involve writing, my sister’s involve the car accident she was in at four years old.  Get out your Dream Journal. Consult your Dream Buddies. Do you have recurring dreams? What are they trying to tell you?

                Don’t be afraid – You’ve got this. We’re going to change your dreamscape. We’re going to begin dreaming about rebirth.

                You’re the Pilot – “The bad news is time flies – the good news is, you’re the pilot.”  What do memories in general – these memories in particular – symbolize for you? 

                “Recovery begins to happen we repel a demonic force that kept us in thrall” – could beaddiction, illusion, corruption, compulsive behavior; even a poisonous culture.   Were we hostage to another human being who didn’t have our best interests at heart?  This requires deep thought about our best interests. As our brains clear we get ideas. Ernest Hemingway used to say we are “stronger at the broken places”; Nietzsche expressed it as “what doesn’t kill me makes me stronger”. Healing provides peace as well as joy.  We give thanks that wehave begun the journey.

                Challenge: Expect to stumble.  Watching toddlers try to “rise and walk” we consider it lucky thatthey don’t mind being laughed at. (In fact, they love it.)  It takes them time to figure out this new modality.  Like beginning skiers, they cling to objects, sway exaggeratedly back and forth, slam into others, and plop down SPLAT; not just once or twice but over and over.  In fact the toddler hasn’t been born who suddenly vaults up suavely and starts swanning around in a sophisticated manner.

                Embrace the First step of Recovery: “Expect to go splat.”  Of course we don’t WANT to –fingers crossed –  it’s dangerous and bruising.  We’d better arrange to have a friend around – just in case. But you don’t fail unless you refuse to rise again. Don’t even bother counting the times you were “brave”.  It’s only the “getting back up” that counts. As long as you’re doing that,you’re a true winner.

                Danger – Life never goes the way we planned.  There’s the excitement of finding a plan,investigating goals, making them ours, and committing to the plan – and then there’s living the plan.Suddenly we don’t know how to get through the next ten minutes –worse, we make a “big mistakes”unconsciously. The rational self we’ve planned for fails to show up and instead we turn into someirrational monster who threatens to kill when momentarily frustrated. 

                This is like sport-learning. Allow each new behavior to penetrate every fiber of your whole body. Rehearse over and over. (10,000 times?)  It’s ALL mistakes at first. Our mental concepts of “perfection” and “purity” arecompletely misplaced here; this is more like forming calluses over tender new skin. It feels funny atfirst, sore. It might actually “hurt.” We’re on the early steps of a long journey to a wonderful place;and we won’t get there unless we forgive ourselves, pick ourselves up and keep going.

                Opportunity –  We wish happiness was “automatic’ but it requires planning. Pledge to contrastplanned empowerment with benumbed abandon. Think about what this means. Who envies loss of consciousness?  Wouldn’t it be better to remove the source of the pain, the shame we are escaping from? Is this nostalgic fantasy really some faint memory of union, with an equally desperate hordestanding in for the lost, beloved Other? What would it mean to give up these blind yearnings, thiscultivated pain and these unbearable memories to lead a fresh, released and intentional life? It means accepting and becoming a new self in all our exquisitely uniqueness, exploring everything that implies. It doesn’t mean we’ll never have another recurring dream. Dreams become a conversation we are having with our deepest selves, by the light of the universe. Recovery is “self-forgiveness”;going forward with a clear-eyed, honest appraisal of ourselves, resources and desires. “I am free”

                Models & Mentors – “Rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life” – J.K. Rowling

                “The airplane takes off against the wind, not with it” – Henry Ford

                “Believe you can and you’re halfway there” – Theodore Roosevelt

                “The best way to predict your future is to create it” – Abraham Lincoln

                Meditation –

                #Haiku: Recovery = Rebirth

                Mulligan –

                Rare gift;

                A “do-over”

                ‘Cause you DO know

                What you know now

              3. #DreamTherapy – Dream Journaling with Alysse Aallyn

                Rainbow – Serendipity – 

                Do You Dream of Pots of Gold?  Magic transferences? Breaks in the laws of physics benefiting only you?

                You Were Born Lucky – Consider: What is the greatest piece of good luck you’ve ever had? Your parentage? Talents? Home town? Best friend? A piece of advice? A special teacher? Think about it. Have you ever been offered apiece of good luck you couldn’t take advantage of, but wish you had?

                How lucky do you NEED to be? Are you familiar with the faces of gamblers seated hour by hour at the slot machines, wearing special gloves so their skin doesn’t fall off? Seriously, who would want to be them? Is it luck itself that wegive thanks for, or our ability to recognize good fortune? Perhaps it’s our ability to take advantage of a piece of good luck when we’re offered it. These memories have one thing in common- i.e. “ability”, which is not luck, which is YOU. Give thanks for these abilities. Let’s learn to develop them. Open up your Dream Journal.

                Challenge – A different way of thinking about fortune is not all the wonderful things that didn’thappen, but the terrible things that COULD have happened – and didn’t. In other words, let’s tryadopting a “glass half full” perspective and see how far that gets us.

                Danger – The danger is always the same – giving control of our psyche over to some other entitythat may not (almost certainly doesn’t) have our best interests at heart. We’re usually not evenaware we’re doing this. But when you want to “be lucky” what does that mean? In whose eyes?Let’s put ourselves firmly in the driver’s seat and take a look at the path ahead. Do we want to gothere? Do we really trust these people? Are we the dog throwing away a real bone to reach theillusory bone we see pictured in the watery reflection of Aesop’s Fable?

                Opportunity – As we negotiate our mortal existence we have a unique opportunity to takeadvantage of chance appearances and encounters – that’s serendipity. If we recognize them. Thenwe can compare our steps to the immortal framework of eternity and ask, How am I doing?

                Models & Mentors – “Serendipity is when you find things that you weren’t looking for because what you are looking for is so damned difficult”

                – Erin McKean

                “Steer into the skid” – Alysse Aallyn

                “Here you are moving ahead bravely in spite of everything going wrong” – Rithvik Singh

                “Take advantage of happy accidents” – Vincent van Gogh

                “There are no coincidences” – Sigmund Freud

                Meditation –

                #Haiku: Rainbow – Serendipity

                Happenstance –

                Fortuitous

                Chance; we’re

                Born lucky

                We just don’t know it.