Fire by Night NewslettersDear 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:
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 Dreamwork Tip: 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.
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