a birthday gift of the dream kind...

Joe and I know to our bones how blessed our lives are and for decades on most gift giving occasions we make donations to those groups that care for children, animals, and health care. We do leave a space during our birthdays for some special gift to mark the day. I usually know several months ahead what I might like. This year was different. I had no idea what I wanted and was ready to roll it over to next year…but some inner tug said, ‘wait’…so I waited. 

My dreams have taught me to wait…to stay…to pause…to take a breath. In that moment we create a space for something new to arise. If feels a gift to wait…

Then a few days before my birthday I saw a tongue drum that a friend was selling…a beautifully carved wooden drum. And I became aware of another healing from my dreams…

Working with my dreams has taught me that there is a voice that many of us hear…a harsh inner voice that can diminish us, shame us and cause us to question our worthiness.  It is a voice we heard a long time ago somewhere in the outer world and slowly it came to take residence within us as tragically many of us came to believe it.  

My dreams, and more specifically, the loving figures in my dreams, helped me question this voice, helped me know this voice isn’t us…it isn’t our friend…and it does not tell the truth.  

When I saw the tongue drum this harsh inner voice in me that has always told me, “you can’t draw, you can’t sing, you’re tone deaf, you have no rhythm” didn’t rise. 

It was replaced by another voice…a sweet voice…”what if…what would it be like…yes…” followed by a shy wonder. 

Here I am, with my little groupie Patrick, playing my birthday present, not knowing a whit of what I’m doing beyond creating deep tones…lovely combinations of sound that vibrate through the air…and through my heart.

Mary Jo Heyen is a certified Natural Dreamwork Practitioner working with clients in person, phone or Skype. Learn more about her work with dreams at www.maryjoheyen.com.