a dream of on-going significance

”A note of music gains significance from the silence on either side”
Anne Morrow Lindbergh

In my 20’s, I had a dream that I was climbing a very steep mountain someplace far away like Nepal. And as I was climbing, my hair became longer and curlier and I was aging into my 30’s and then my 40’s and I was becoming stronger, more competent and more beautiful. I understood, even while I was dreaming, that the mountain was a symbol for my life. That I would ascend but the climb would be a challenge but I would reach the top in my 40’s and that I would have amazing, long curly hair when I got there.

That dream has been with me for ten years now. An analyst would say it is a dream that has “on-going significance” because my memory of it is as vivid now as it was the day I had it. The interpretation ten years ago relied on my unknown future. At that time, the mountain symbolized the passage of time, climbing toward success, the struggle to reach the top.

Ten years later, the dream has taken on a much more literal layer of meaning. I am approaching my 40’s (how did that happen?), am growing out my hair (which is coming in curly and gray!) and have been writing about a journey to Nepal.

Maybe that mountain wasn’t a symbol of my career – maybe it was an actual mountain in Nepal! Regardless of whether the dream was prophetic or symbolic, it has sustained me for nearly ten years.

TODAY’S CREATIVITY CHALLENGE:

Is there a dream, in your memory, that has on-going significance for you? Think back to the night when you had that dream and what it meant to you then. Spend the day today meditating on that dream, trying to remember its details. Why was it significant? Why has it stayed with you?

How has your interpretation of the dream changed from then to now? Has the dream been instructive in any way? Has it influenced any choices you have made? Write all this down in your journal and take note of any “body truth” that might shake loose while you’re remembering.