Dream map

If you’re lost, unable to find your way home, or looking for directions to take you to where you want to be, you need a map.

Imagine an old-fashioned paper map, one you can unfold or roll out to examine in detail. A map that literally provides a big picture of where you are and how that relates to where you want to be.

Maybe you know where you are right now on the map, and you can place your finger right there – the railway station where the bus dropped you off. Or maybe you don’t know where you are, but in studying the map you can work it out – you’re where the river meets the track down from that old farmhouse you can see in the distance. Either way, you can use the map to visually explore the terrain, choose a destination, and decide on the best way to get there, before taking a single physical step.

Ok, so I bet you thought, when reading that last paragraph, that if you dispensed with the paper map and used Google maps or sat nav, you could quickly identify where you are by the dropped pin or wobbly blue dot, and that you wouldn’t need to work out the best way to get to your destination because you could just type it in and follow the automatically selected route. Stay with me and the paper map analogy for now.

Does a paper map offer you direct guidance?

Does it say, Go this way! Ignore all other paths and opportunities!

It doesn’t. It shows you all the well-trod conventional routes, the roads, railway tracks, footpaths, and it offers you possibilities for the lesser-trod routes, the hop-skip-jump across farmland, the adventurous mountain-top hike, the underground catacomb that emerges at your destination.

The map also shows you the potential pitfalls, the potholes, the quagmires, the ups and the downs, the paths that are maybe too close to the cliff edge for your liking, the mountains that may provide shade on a hot day or cast shadows that leave you shivering on a cold day. The map shows you shortcuts if you’re in a hurry, and meandering routes if you want to discover surprises or immerse yourself in mindfulness. You might choose an easy route, or a challenge. You might opt for your comfort zone means of getting from a to b, or you might opt for stepping into new territory, opening to all the gifts and lessons such a journey may bestow.

The point is this. The paper map doesn’t offer guidance. It shows you what is so that you can decide on the best path for you.

It’s the same with dreams.

Dreams don’t offer guidance. They provide a map of your mindset, symbolically showing you what is – at a level you haven’t glimpsed before – so that you can decide on the best path for you.

Your dreams reveal the map of your conscious and unconscious beliefs, patterns of being, patterns of doing, and ways of approaching life’s opportunities and obstacles. They reveal your subterranean emotions and feelings, possible pitfalls, hidden treasures, blind spots, and your personal perspectives of your life, past, present, and future. They reveal which of life’s paths you see as open and which you see as closed to you. They reveal which tracks you judge to be easy and which you judge to be difficult. They reveal the dead-ends or cul-de-sacs of some of your stuck ways of approaching life, and they reveal surprising ways that you can get to where you want to be if you change your approach. Your dreams reveal the mountainous shadows that can cast doubt or help you to see more clearly. They can reveal the tunnels that lead to light if you’re willing to take the risk. They can reveal the astonishing depths of your magnificence, and ways to clear access routes to let it shine.

So, when you’re looking for guidance, consult the mindset map provided by your dreams, survey the big picture and the small details, highlight the best paths for you, and make your decision.

You can learn how to interpret your dreams so that you can create your own map, or you may prefer to have help with reading your dream map, in exploring options, or deciding on the best path for you. There may be times when you’d enjoy having someone to accompany you through some of the more challenging aspects of your journey or be there to reflect with you upon your experiences as you go.

 

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