Clearing out the Cobwebs

A good friend recently wrote me about a dream she had had that was of particular concern to her. She dreamt that her apartment was filthy, disgusting - and in a complete state of disorder. Things were rotting in corners and she had an infestation of spiders - hatching spider eggs on the kitchen counter. And a cockroach - the ultimate sign of filth.

We both agreed that this was likely a message from her subconscious letting her know that she needed to do a little spring cleaning of her thoughts and notions about how the world works.

Because in dream time any housing represents your mind and in turn, your thoughts, your mental processes (I wouldn't go so far as to say emotions, because there wasn't the presence of water). So clearly, there were a few "rotting" ideas in her head, some stale energy and a lot of garbage that she needed to get rid of.

We also explored what her "spiders" were. What were the "pests" in her head - perhaps ongoing or constantly "hatching" negative thoughts or ideas? Through discussion, my friend realized that it was likely caused by the emergence of a new relationship and how it wasn't exactly what she thought it would be like.. that these thought pests might be her old expectations or notions infesting her current acceptance of reality.

But what I found most interesting was the notion of needing a "spring cleaning" of the brain. Once a year, or maybe more if you're really good, you go through your junk or your garage or your living space and you clean out the old - either donate old clothes or recycle that huge pile of newspapers from the last year. But how often do we do the same with regard to our thought patterns?

How often do we sit with ourselves and say - what's old? what's not working anymore?

This is maybe something worth doing twice a year... because god knows we all gather a lot of thought "junk" every day - notions about what we should look like, how much we should earn, what our perfect man/woman looks like, acts like, etc. And sometimes these things sit inside for so long that they end up rotting, cluttering our brain and ultimately infesting our reality.

I think I'm due for a spring cleaning too... who's going to join me?

Stop!

Had a terrible sleep last night but a good thing came of it. I was in the middle of a horrifying, gruesome scene - bad things were about to happen... Like in a Saw kind of way... And I was somehow forced to watch it unfold. Until...

I became conscious of the fact that I was dreaming. This is not unusual for me. But most of the time what happens is that I'm compelled to finish watching the movie - it's the train wreck you can't help but NEED to see. And I usually stick it out - despite the fact that afterwards I always wish I hadn't.

But this time was different.

I saw the scene derail into the dark and macabre direction it was wont to go - and I caught myself in the dream. It was almost as if I asked myself why I was dreaming this. Then I just said "stop". And it stopped. And my inner screen went blank and I fell into a deep sleep.

I know all about lucid dreaming, but I have to say that I've never ventured down that path... But there is a certain appeal to controlling one's own dreams. Far too often I feel like a trapped passenger on a plane bound for hell - and as much as I don't want to go there, I don't have a choice. My attention, my brain, my subconscious has all been hijacked. And I'm forced to watch the in-flight movie.

I don't know what I believe about the source of nightmares either. My schooling forces me to examine nightmares as my subconscious' attempt to reconcile my shadow self with my light self... But a very spiritual woman and medium once explained to me that it was more than that.

She said that most of us vibrate at a very low level. Just a step up from that is the level occupied by souls on the other side who are (and I quote) "scum of the earth" spirits who are the worst of the worst, incarnate as very bad people and do very bad things. They can't touch you physically or harm you - but when you dream - if when you dream you raise your vibration just a little - they can muck with your dreams. They can implant visuals, scenarios - horrible, horrible images and scenes.

She said that I suffer from nightmares because I'm vibrating at a slightly higher level - and they can reach me.

Interesting thought. Not sure what I believe. But whatever the source - three cheers to stopping it in its tracks. Hopefully tonight will be a better sleep. Sigh.