Imagine you are traveling towards a beautiful location in the mountains, one that you have never been to, but that you know will nurture your soul; feeding your being with the fresh air of the forests, the clear water of splashing streams, the warmth of sunshine and the open hearted majesty of nature. This is a place you have dreamed of going, dreamed of being, and now you are headed there.
Holding this dream in your Soul, imagine that in the moment you are driving a rough back road. You have little attention to spare for your destination at the end of the road, needing to focus here and now on the space directly in front of you to safely navigate ruts, stones, and potholes. If you only dream of the distant paradise in the mountains, you may miss a turn, wind up in a ditch, or simply spend the day gazing at the peaks without moving towards them.
In life we need a balance of both the larger picture, the destination in the distance, and the immediate situation, today’s navigation. Working on a picture puzzle you put it together piece by piece, but it helps to have the whole picture in mind. We need to focus on the next step, or even the step we are walking right now, not the 99th step. However, if we have not allowed ourselves to dream our destination we may be walking in the wrong direction entirely.
I have worked hard to trust Spirit to guide me, creating a flow of steps that will take me where I need to be. I have felt my role is not to figure out where that place is, or what that future picture looks like, but to pay attention to polishing the day to day, to working my inner landscape and nurturing my being and presence in the world. Spirit will work with you to bring this sort of flow, but having dreamt the dream is also important.
Driving a mountain road, I need to know where I am headed, and I need to pay close attention to the road right in front of me. Teaching, holding space in a ceremony, or in a session with a client, I need to be aware of my internal states as well as the energy of the room, of my client, or other people present.
Attention tends to focus one place at a time, this is the way it operates. But you can learn to be aware of both the Spiritual and the human, this current step and the dream that calls to you. Make time and space for both, be aware of the inner and also the outer, the whole picture and the individual pieces. Your Soul’s dream helps you to orient in the day to day. It gives Spirit a target to resonate with, to support you by bringing in pieces that will fit, next steps that serve your destination.
So this spring I am giving myself permission to sit with Spirit and look at larger pictures. What are my dreams? Where would I like to be at the end of the road? Allowing that vision to clarify, it will be easier to know what steps serve me in getting there, which opportunities are mine and which are someone else’s. I still have to drive the road, take the steps, and pay attention to my inner world; but having the dream allows Spirit and my Soul to guide and assist my human self. Having the dream I can pause when I need to to look up at it and breath in the inspiration and joy that it contains.
(© 2/2015)
