Category Archives: Adventurous Spirit

Dreams From the Box: Having an Adventurous Spirit on the Quest for New Gems of Character

When I listen to dreams from inmates, the first thing I do is remove judgement. It’s not my role to judge or criticize, just to listen and support. Recently, an inmate who calls himself “Money” shared a dream with me and he said he thinks it’s about how he is going deeper into himself and discovering the good things that are there which he never saw before. I got really excited when he shared the dream because it is such an awesome metaphor for the stages we go thru during transformation as we are searching for the positives.
Here is the dream:
I’m a desert, in Egypt, wearing clothes I would never wear, like khaki hiking shorts and a white polo shirt. I go into the pyramid and realize I am the guide, others are waiting for him to tell him what to do and where to go. I’ve been told not to push on the bricks but then I push on a brick anyway and then suddenly trap doors start opening and everyone falls down a hole one by one. They are each going down their own tunnels and falling and I can hear them screaming and yelling and then it stops and I figure they died. But then I keep falling down my tunnel and I land in a treasure-filled room and there’s all these gems and gold and stuff. It’s amazing and I realize it’s all for me and then in the far back part I see a mummy with a really special necklace. It’s gold and diamonds and really valuable so I get up as close as I can and I use a long stick to try to pull the necklace off. And then I woke up. What do you think it means?
This is such a perfect dream for the way transformation works because the energy used when going for change is a lot like being on an adventurous quest in an unknown territory. When we dig deep & have a lot of enthusiasm for the process then we can find “gems” of virtues within us – Courage, Confidence, Assertiveness & Patience – which we can then use in many life experiences.

My Dream About $10,000

wooden stairs to beach
Photo by Tembela Bohle on Pexels.com

October 01, 2018

In the dream, I am climbing the stairs to a very high waterslide. I climb and climb and climb, realizing it’s a long distance I’ve ascended but without experiencing fatigue. When I get to the top someone asks for some paperwork which I give them and they say they have a large deposit for me, about $10,000. I’m surprised and look around and it seems others are getting this deposit too. It has something to do with the work we’ve done and I’m feeling grateful for the compensation. Then we take turns going down the waterslide. The ease and fun of the slide makes the effort of the climb so worthwhile!!

My Dream of Bowing Before a Chinese Battalion

23 January 2018

I am crossing a rope bridge stretching from one large canyon to the next. Wooden planks, loosely held together by century-old ropes shimmy beneath my feet. To the right of me, is a mountain range. An enormous temple, with traditional Chinese architecture, rests on a nearby mountain side, reaching far into the heavens with its height and glory. Red pillars, gold embellishments, and high, angled stair cases standing out against the baby blue sky and forest green of the nearby woods.

I say to my travel companion, who is a lot like my friendly mother, I say to her that I’d like to spend time at that temple, perhaps it is a Buddhist temple, I query. She indicates that maybe we can stop there and spend time but maybe we can’t.

We continue along the shaky wooden bridge and as we near the land I raise my gaze upward and discover there is another large Chinese-style temple established on the mountain before us. A multi-ranked army, comprised of dozens of foot soldiers busy themselves with a variety of small tasks and their sprinkling across the mountain side gives the impression of tiny ants, busy at work.

When the emperor sees us, he calls his army to attention and shouts out a greeting. They all bow to us. Even though the bridge is rocking beneath my feet, I steady my footing and bow back to indicate my respect and my rank as a Martial Artist. At that point I realize I have a long sword in my left hand and a short sword in my right. I am a warrior and they acknowledge my presence among them. My bowing sets me a part from my companion and I am seen as her protector.

 

My dreams of swimming and other things

22 December 2017

In the dream, I am swimming in a large pool and I hold my breath and swim deep seeing if I can touch the ground but then instead of the ground being there its as though it opens up and I swim even deeper like its a bottomless pool.

In another dream, I am hanging out with one of my favourite bands, U2, and getting photos taken together, feeling so happy!

Three Dreams & Three Lessons

25 August 2017

I dreamed I was working in an office space and the toilet was a large movie chair and you just sat in it and peed through your pants, then it drained through the movie chair into a container which was emptied regularly. I hated it. I could not understand how others tolerated this. I figured the urine on my pants would begin to smell by the end of the day and so would everyone else’s. How disgusting! But it was obvious that complaining would get me fired. So I tolerated it & returned back to the office.

In another dream, from the top of a mountain I recorded a documentary. I zoomed up on cars & the ocean shore to begin the shot and then slowly zoomed out and back up the road which revealed I was kilometres high on the top of a mountain. My mom & sister watched the video and were jealous & envious of how much I had accomplished. My mom told me and others she didn’t want anything to do with me and that she rather enjoyed & preferred the company of my sister because she was much more simple.

Lastly, I was in a crowded space which seemed to be a freight train or a boat, set in the 1920s.  There was nothing remarkable about the travel at the beginning but then two things happened. One: some head of an organization spoke to the group from the stage and said he was working on a mystery and I realized I had just read exactly the thing that would give him the solution so I spoke out and told him this.

Next: a bedraggled woman came onto the boat looking for food & shelter. She wouldn’t leave when prompted. I took an object which resembled a ping-pong paddle and I waved it like a sword. I moved in a way to threaten her and she slowly backed away and off the boat.

Also, at one time I was looking out the window at 2 kittens in a nest in a tree. They were adorable and accidentally fell out but didn’t get hurt.

My analysis: This dream series is a mix of negatives & positives. The positives are that I learned how to use the strange toilet and conform with the work environment. I had the knowledge and evidence to prove a crime and I had the skill to defend a space and keep intruders out, even ones who elicited empathy and genuine concern. Plus I arrived at the top of a mountain AND recorded it in an enjoyable way for others to view!

The negatives in the dream came in a subtle way which is difficult to capture. It showed up when I said I had a book with evidence but when I went back to get the book I couldn’t find where I had left it. When I was getting that scraggley woman away, it took me two times to find the right paddle. When I had recorded the video I hadn’t stored it in an easy-to-retrieve location.

In this dream the negatives didn’t stop me; they just slowed me down.

In real life, I can think of ways that this is also true.

The solution then, is to remember when in my early life did other people’s jealousy and/or envy of me slow me down. When I explore that, and turn down their negative voices, when I block out what they have said or done which has harmed or threatened my life, then I can use my skills in a positive way to record documentaries, to solve mysteries & help others solve them, as well as keeping intruders and imitators at bay.