November Invitation: The Sacred Ordinary

 I often hear people unfamiliar with dreamwork say: “My dreams are just weird bits of random stuff. Occasionally I might have a big one, but most are about ordinary things, like folding laundry, not worth paying attention to.”I sometimes judged my dreams in similar ways before finding Natural Dreamwork.We are conditioned to compare, criticize, and give value to everything, including our thoughts, feelings, bodies, achievements, and inner experience. When I hear people envy other people’s dreams or discount their own dreams as worthless, I see this conditioning with compassion.Natural Dreamwork teaches us to see the sacred in the most ordinary dream moments. At first, I thought I was learning that the sacred can sometimes be present in ordinary life. But then I realized that dreams experience life as sacred in all moments. The sacred is ordinary and everywhere.In Natural Dreamwork, almost all my “biggest” dream encounters occur in connection with the most simple, humble, and familiar places, people, things, and interactions. For instance, I recently dreamed that I had put my old, worn, pink fleece sweater in a bag of Goodwill donations. A naked little girl who loves me pulled it out and wrapped it around her with real joy saying “Now, it’s mine! It’s mine!” cuddling delightedly inside it. Now, I wear that sweater and remember I am that soulful, joyful girl.Over a year ago, I dreamed I was given a peanut butter sandwich. I can still see the loving gaze of the mother who baked the bread and made the sandwich. I can still feel the sandwich being placed in my hands with all its warmth and soft sweetness and know it is given to me as the child needing to be lovingly fed.These are just two examples of profoundly ordinary and sacred encounters that come every night in our dreams. The healing medicine of these dreams goes deep. They teach us to meet every person, object, and place as sacred in both dreams and waking life. I am wearing my old pink fleece sweater as I write this reflection and feeling love penetrate my cells and fill my house. As you continue your own dreamwork journey, I trust you will have many, many dreams filled with ordinary things. Dreamwork will enliven them and you. Your old well-worn clothes will become vestments and your boring daily sandwich will become a sacramental feast. Here at Natural Dreamwork we would love to step into your dreams with you, explore together what it is that wants to be in relationship with you. If you are interested in working more deeply with your dreams, we invite you to visit About Us to learn more about our community of practitioners. Natural Dreamwork Practitioners work with dreamers throughout the world in person, on the phone and over video-conference. We are happy to connect with you, to continue the conversation with you about your dreams. Liza Hyatt, ATR-BC, LMHC is a certified Natural Dreamwork practitioner, board certified art therapist and licensed mental health counselor in Indianapolis. For more information about spiritual growth through dreamwork with Liza, please contact her at lizahyatt@gmail.com. You can learn more about Liza on the About Us page of our website.