Thursday, November 9, 2017

ABOUT SNOWFLAKES AND TUNNELS

Joella sent me this one from Colorado:

I’m outside and it’s cold.  As I look up, I notice that it’s starting to snow.  It’s not heavy snow so I can still sort of see individual snowflakes slowly falling down from the sky.  I have a few friends with me, and there are other people outside.  Most of us are wearing black clothing.  I open my mouth and some of the snowflakes come into my mouth.  The snowflakes get fatter.  In the distance, I see a tunnel, and I decide to see where it leads.

A friend comes with me and as we near the end of the tunnel, we notice that it’s snowing at this end too, but something’s not right.  As I exit and look at the snowflakes I notice they’re not real… they’re plastic.  I decide I don’t want to stay there, and so we go back through the tunnel. When we exit back to where we were before, we stop at the edge of the tunnel and I notice the snowflakes have gotten larger.  In fact, as I stand there, the snowflakes keep getting larger and larger so that I even see the patterns of each one.  They’re each unique and very beautiful.    Beyond where I stand, I see other people in the distance also admiring the snowflakes.  That’s the dream.

I thought this was a beautiful dream, and I immediately got a sense of what Joella’s psyche was trying to tell her.  First, I had to ask Joella some questions:

1)     Has she recently experienced a setback, one which might have caused deep wounds and even depression?  She admitted she had just gotten out of a very hurtful relationship.
2)    Has she been seeing a therapist?  Again, she admitted she’d been seeing one since the breakup with her boyfriend.
3)    How soon after the event did she begin to see the therapist??  She replied that it took a few months.  For a long time, she couldn’t even bear to think about what had happened to her, because it hurt too much.
4)    Is this the first time she has experienced a romantic relationship like this?  It turns out her previous relationships ended on a similar note.

Her answers confirmed what I sensed about this dream.  The most important element are the snowflakes.  If Joella’s environment had been hot and fiery, I would say to her that she’s in a very emotional state, filled with pain, anger and hatred about something.  The fact that her environment is cold suggests the opposite.  The falling snowflakes suggests her thought patterns.  She is currently in a very cool, calm and rational state of mind.

So why would her psyche send her this dream at all?  The answer is that she is seeking assurance that she has indeed recovered from an event which caused her deep pain.  The friends who are with her are the ones who have supported her through this process and those who have experienced similar events.  The “friend” who goes into the tunnel with her is someone who has consciously chosen to traverse through the dark shadows of the soul with her in order to help her find clarity.

There are few people who will immediately enter the tunnel in her dream, because it means re-living all the ugly facts of the breakup.  When we are in pain, we generate a lot of self-recrimination.  We ask ourselves, “Am I such a horrible person that I deserve to be treated this way?”  “What’s wrong with me?”  “Am I so stupid that I could love a man who would abuse me?”

It takes courage to enter that dark tunnel and confront the shadows within.  The wonderful thing is that, having chosen to make that journey of the soul, at the end of it, Joella recognizes that the place to where the tunnel leads is “plastic.”  Unlike snowflakes, “plastic” is artificial and man-made.  Ideas of low self-worth and of being “stupid” are “plastic” ideas.  They are not the real “truth.”  They are thoughts which are manufactured by someone who is in a serious state of self-negation.

When Joella takes a snowflake into her mouth, she is agreeing to experience coolness… rationality.   Going through the tunnel is the process of integrating that coolness into her system.  This dream is showing Joella that she has made her way back out of that dark tunnel.  It’s behind her now, and the most beautiful thing is that she now also recognizes her behavior PATTERNS.  Everyday friends and family members can provide therapy, but a certified therapist is trained to help a client see the patterns of repeated bad experiences.  Not only was Joella courageous, she was smart.  She knew she needed help and she got it. 
  
Her psyche was sending her a message, “Look at you, girl!  You’ve been through a dark journey and now your mind is so cool and clear you can even see the beautiful patterns of your life.”

Some of you might disagree, but, to me, life is about experience.  It’s a journey over bridges and under tunnels, through deserts and snowstorms, but if at the end of your journey you can appreciate the beautiful patterns which affect the very air you breathe, you’ve fulfilled your divine purpose.


Happy snowflakes to each and every one of you!  

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