Building a Conscious Connection to the Unconscious Mind

Dream AttractionsnnSome of my most transformational experiences have been heralded by Spirit Animals and dreams. My first Spirit Animal was the wolf. When I was fifteen I dreamed of them constantly and then could not stop my mind from wandering back to my dreams. Like the tongue that endlessly explores the empty cavity of a lost tooth…every time my focus slipped and I became lost in thought, I was back with the wolves.nnI was practically getting beat over the head with the message and finally one day while in the grocery store with my mother I found the next step. There on the wall where people post items for sale was an index card advertising Wolf-Hybrid pups for sale.nnMy mom said that they were too expensive so I pleaded with her to let me call and ask if the man would accept payments. She said he wouldn’t but consented to the call and guess what, he did. I took home a wolf-pup and about a week later my mom made me return it, afraid that it’s play would be too much for her toy Pomeranians. When we returned the pup to the breeder, he asked my mom out on a date and two weeks later they were married.nnThis was the beginning of a new life and an amazing adventure…nnMessages in DreamsnnDreams still provide me with extremely strong guidance and I am aware that I travel astrally while I sleep to people who need my assistance. Upon awakening I know I’ve been with them, even though I don’t usually remember the content surrounding our night time activities.nnWith dreams, I find to uncover their meanings you have to understand the language of the unconscious mind. Those who are psychically inclined are usually very good at this because the same systems are in use in both places. Basically you will rely much more on how you feel and the images and events are strung together to communicate something very specific to your experience.nnNo dream book can help you in this respect because much of it is determined by how well you know yourself…this will define the meaning of what the images represent to you. The more emotionally honest you can be, the better you will be able to interpret the feeling systems that were engaged and the lessons or guidance that is being revealed.nnDreams always call our attention to areas of our lives that could use introspection, action, healing or some other form of growth. Sometimes they are a window into an upcoming experience, sometimes into our fears and insecurities, sometimes into our greatest hopes and life purposes but always they hold information that can be very transformational when used for growth.nnDeveloping Muscle in the Land of the UnconsciousnnSeveral things are helpful for growing your skills with the unconscious mind.nnHold Information Loosely. If you take the endeavor too seriously you are likely to get in your own way. What I mean by this is that you want a meaning so badly that you miss it altogether. Developing a light touch helps enormously, allowing yourself to play with it, to be wrong, to learn, to make your best guess and then see what happens will get you further along with this.nnKeep a Dream & Trance Journal. Keeping a journal of your dream and trance work is really helpful. First off, it helps you to remember the details of what you heard, saw, felt, smelled, tasted, etc. Notice also how it looked, was it grainy, clear, bright, big, were you overly large or small. Keep track of the details and of your initial impressions, gut feelings, what was most compelling about it and why you feel that way…i.e. what it reminds you of.nnKeep a Daily Journal. Your daily journal is where you are likely to notice the dream work and waking world overlap. In writing a daily journal you will take your observing dream self into your waking world and through the writing about your experiences you are likely to notice situations that felt similar to things you experienced in dreams and trance, laying the ground work in your thinking for correlation and reference.nnElicit Symbolic Response. This is a really fun practice that will sharpen your skills significantly. It is a way of speaking to your unconscious and drawing out from it a symbolic representation of a concept. Start with some experience to which you would like a symbolic reference. Begin breathing deeply and find a really fun memory or high moment, allowing it to play out in your mind to the end.nnTake a few more deep breaths and ask yourself for a symbol of what this experience means to you…some kind of metaphor and just wait for it to come up. You may hear a word, see a sign, get a fragrance or a taste or any combination of these modes. Write down what you got and play with recalling the symbol and see how it brings up all the feelings that were contained within your experience.nnThis is a great way to start building a two-way communication system with this most mysterious aspect of your own psyche! And it gets really fun when you figure out how to consciously harness the power of your unconscious mind and with it, begin to co-create your living experience - this understanding really hit home for me when I learned to control my dreams ;)nnCreating a connection to the unconscious mind is also a crucial step in developing your intuition. So start building your intuition today and if you feel stuck, hire a good coach to get help!