all our dreams...

When people learn that in addition to working with my regular dream clients I am also a hospice volunteer working with the dreams and visions of the dying, the question I am most often asked is, “Are the dreams of the dying different from other people’s dreams?”  There will always be so much to learn but for now I would have to say…not so much. 

At the moments nearing and surrounding our crossing the threshold, there can certainly be the additional element of visions, seeing deceased loved ones, spiritual figures, presences that can help in this moment of dying. These visions…visitations…seem to be a distinct experience from the dreams themselves.

In a culture where most of us don’t pay attention to our dreams we may tend to think that end of life dreams have a particular poignancy and urgency. And in the late stage dreams…the final days and hours leading up to the death the dreams do come closer in with support and comfort.

But for someone who works with dreams on a daily basis, my experience has been that end of life dreams seem to be no less urgent than those dreams I see with my regular dream clients…your dreams tonight. Our dreams come relentlessly and faithfully trying to help us find our way back to wholeness, inner connection, support and love…to our truest self. 

And if what I’m experiencing as a dreamwork practitioner is true, there is something incredible and magnificent about this.  

To know that no moment of our life is more or less important than another. We try to make a distinction about what is important and what isn’t.  But what if each moment, in health or in illness, in peace or in turmoil, in celebration and in sorrow, our dreams come to bring healing and wholeness? 

If we only seek out support and growth in times of difficulty then we are missing the lifetime of daily support that comes to us each night in our dreams…has always come to us. 

To begin to understand that the transition into death of the body is one part of this long human journey and that equally important each night, through our dreams, we are invited to be students of our inner teachers, to feel the love of the divine, to be in true relationship with others and with our soul. 

What if there are not just two threshold moments in our life…birth and death? What if, in each moment, in each choice we are at a threshold moment…the choice to step closer to soul?

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.