“Dreams are today’s answers to tomorrow’s questions.” – Edward Cayce

Dreams are defined as an imaginary mindscape during sleep, fantasy, vision, reverie. We all experience dreams in one way or another, whether we are conscious of them or not. They offer us hope, insight, and pleasure. Alternately, dreams may also awaken trepidation and confusion. At the least, these moments of rumination are thought provoking and attention-grabbing. They might also, with deeper consideration, be mind maps for problem solving, affirmed synchronicity or the foretelling of future events – all powerful learning tools.

Other cultures value the dream life as much or more as the waking state. Native Americans consider their dream world sacred as do the Australian Aboriginals, who for centuries have respected dream time as a means of guidance and wisdom. Carl Jung believed they were windows into the unconscious offering insight into the self,  healing and personal growth. Dreams may be psychological in nature, offering a metaphor as a means of deciphering an issue at hand. Intuitive dreaming guides and confirms what we are aware of on a deeper level. Precognitive dreams, perhaps less frequent, predict events that will occur in ours or someone else’s life.

In Second Sight, Judith Orloff  clinical psychiatrist and intuitive,  recounts numerous studies of clients who have used their dreams as an avenue for restoring themselves. If we pay attention to them, dreams can be powerful guideposts when making choices  about relationship, career or health. This requires an intention to look at them consistently. Going to sleep at night with a question and opening to the possibility of answers or direction is a good way to begin. Notice when you wake the images, feelings and words you witnessed. Keeping a dream journal is helpful also; you may ultimately find patterns or themes in your night travels.

For me personally, dreams have been therapeutic and transformative. Nightmares have been openings to letting go of the outdated, difficult events of my life. Inspired and artistic nocturnal viewings have offered me insight into my creative side –food for thought and development as I traverse a crossroad. Other times we may “meet”  people we know and love, or others with whom we are working out problems. “Dreams are illustrations –from the  book your soul is writing about you.” In a place where we spend precious many hours, why not avail ourselves of this gift? Use the dream world to light your path, open your heart and discover.

This morning I woke from one of those brilliant, emotionally indelible dreams that you know really mean something. I was following the most enchanting music and my heart was light and joyful yet grounded in confidence. The music had grabbed my very soul and I found myself effortlessly moving to its source. I entered a whitewashed stone building and made my descent to an auditorium where the enchanting orchestra played. Down and around the corners of my subconscious. The music continues to guide me and I am in effortless, essential pursuit. I’ve got my ticket and I enter the auditorium.

This dream has sparked a reflection upon the last two difficult years leading up to this point, where now the certainty that I am on my own true path is a great source of peace, even in the face of life’s endless uncertainties. Having set my intention, I am making my dreams come true.

It is with tremendous gratitude that I look back on many months of darkness, stillness, waiting, listening and watching in the belly of the beast. Grieving for the life I wasn’t yet positioned to fully embody and overwhelmed by the sense of being in the wrong life, enough was enough and I simply began with focusing my intention. This simple yet extremely powerful step – making a choice – began to build momentum, and in less than a year my entire life had been completely transformed.

While we may at first have absolutely no idea how we will emerge from the darkness or cross the chasm that seemingly separates us from the life of our dreams, consciously choosing what we want and setting our intention is the foundation.

Maybe for now (if you are in that frustrating, confusing darkness) all you can do is endure your present situation and hold onto those intentions like precious seeds, waiting for the warmth and light of spring to bring them to blossom. But remind yourself of them daily, hourly even. Soon you will find those seeds gaining strength, and perhaps a bit like a celestial song, drawing you toward your vision.