January 2020

Dear Dreamers,
How many 2020 ocular jokes have you heard already?   In the following paragraphs I will torture the metaphor just a bit more, but first, in a rare moment of total literalism, I want to share some 20/20 bliss:   this month I will have cataracts removed in both eyes and corrective lenses implanted (they DO that!) and I will open my eyes in the mornings with near-perfect vision.  ​

This hasn’t happened since I was 8 years old.   It’s hard to express how happy this makes me.  Only recently have I realized the limiting effects of serious myopia compounded with the gradual cloudiness of cataracts plus floaters and those dizzying bifocals.   I quit driving at night because I couldn’t see and headlights blinded me.  So I stay at home a lot.  Since I can’t see big things from a distance -  things like road signs, powerpoints and humans I should recognize, I unconsciously developed adaptive strategies to get by (driving only familiar roads, listening better, and identifying people by context, gait, and voice).  Since I can’t see little things like small print, sheet music, and crumbs on the carpet, I quit reading the small print, took up percussion, and vacuum barefoot if at all.  Really, I’m amazed by the limitations I’ve been accommodating.  And I can’t wait to “see” what happens to those limitations once I can actually see better.
 
Meanwhile, of course, I hear a restless dream group ready to jump in with projections about my waking life "dream" of 20/20 vision in January.   Yes – you can “do dreamwork” with a waking life issue – no actual dream required!
Here are some of the voices I imagine in the circle, after the group has dreamed the "dream” of my limited sight issues and corrective surgery in January:
 

•  I remember Janus, the Greek god of the new year, who sees both backwards and forwards into time.   In my dream, I wonder what I need to remember about my past and my future, and how they connect to my present moment.

 

• In my dream, I want to include both my personal and collective past and future. Globally and locally, it’s a critical time, and the year 2020 carries so much significance for collective issues: politics, climate, refugees, environment, peacemaking…I need to see clearly to make good choices.  I need to see with moral, compassionate, spiritual insight because my words and actions will have consequences. 

 

• In my dream 20/20 makes me think about accurate hindsight and foresight.  I wonder how I sometimes obscure my own vision through false perceptions, projections, old stories, old patterns, etc.  

 

• Janus is also the guardian of change, transitions, beginnings, and gateways.  So in my dream I feel that having 20/20 vision in the new year -  clear perception and insight - is necessary for beginning new projects and relationships.

 

• In my dream, getting 20/20 vision right now in this new year is about the emphatic importance of integrating waking life and dreamlife vision.  Seeing in the dark.  Being able to bring the wisdom of dreams into waking life for myself and others.

Thanks everyone!  My main Aha was about the ways I am likely to obscure my new perceptions with worn out assumptions and projections.   Given a chance to see anew, I don’t want to limit myself with my old adaptive patterns! What else is there to see?  In a person, an institution, a situation, a dream?  
And also yes – it matters what I do and say in these times of high stakes, hot tempers, and elusive truth.
 
What am I going to do about it?  Let’s start with opportunities for Jungian oriented dreamwork. Two free classes are coming up this month.  Details below. If you’re new to dreamwork, I hope to see you there!   

And consider joining a dream group: we begin the first week of February. 

If you’ve worked with me before, I’m starting Fourth Sunday meetings – please come join me in February 23 from 1:00-5:00.  More about that in the February newsletter. 
 
All the best to each of you for the new year…the new decade…Epiphany…and January’s new chances.
 
Deep dreams,
 
Laura

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Dreamwork Tip:

In my letter above, I used my vision issues as a model.   Tip: Remember, you can do “dreamwork” without a dream.  Anything that seems to carry significance for you in waking life can be explored using the same metaphorical processing skills we hone in dreamwork. ​

 You can use a situation, an arresting image from a movie or art piece, an interaction, a song lyric – anything that touches your heart or soul or piques your curiosity can be explored as an energy or  “part of you” that is asking for your attention.
Try it with the image above, or any other that moves you.