the wink...
This post includes an invitation to visit and if you'd like, to follow my Facebook page - Dreaming into the Mystery. My life as a dreamwork practitioner includes working with the dreams of those in hospice and their families and I also help facilitate a local grief group where dreams of deceased loved ones are shared.
Dreams and visions as we are dying come with their own urgency and beauty. And if we are blessed with the telling of this kind of dream or vision, we, too, are invited to witness and find comfort in the miracles that can happen in one’s final days and moments.
While I post regularly on Dreaming into the Mystery, its main purpose is to include all of you...a gathering of stories and experiences you’ve had with those you love as the seen and unseen worlds start to overlap at this threshold…this sacred crossroads.
Following is an example of a moment that heartens us and reminds us that we are part of something grander than we know…
A while back Joe and I were at a social gathering and as people were sharing I, too, shared that I was a dreamwork practitioner as well as a hospice volunteer working with the dreams and visions of dying. In situations like this, after the conversation shifts to other topics there is usually someone in the group who makes their way over to me to share an experience. I delight in this and am glad that they know they will be speaking with someone who not only believes them but acknowledges and appreciates the importance of their experience.
A fellow came over to me and we spoke a bit about dreams in general. Then the conversation turned more intimate as told me about his father’s death, how he and his brothers were called because it was near the end and they had to fly in from different parts of the country. He spoke of how much they loved their dad, what great man and great father he was. They were standing around the bed, his father non-responsive, not sure he would be again. With tears rising, he said, “And then suddenly my dad opened his eyes, looked at each one of us…winked…closed his eyes and took his last couple breaths.” We both sat in silence for a few moments knowing what an incredible gift this father had left his sons…
Do you have an experience that happened during the final moments or days of someone you love…or a story that has been in your family…something that brought you comfort and support at this end of life threshold? If so I encourage and invite you to share it on Dreaming into the Mystery. And as we listen to each other, we find comfort in knowing that our loving connections, even after death of the body, continue on into the mystery.
(photos: Joe Heyen)
Mary Jo Heyen is a Natural Dreamwork Practitioner working with clients in person, phone or Skype. Learn more about her work with dreams at www.maryjoheyen.com.