They say we can get guidance from our dreams. That deep within us lie the answers we seek, and sometimes they manifest in our dreams. Sometimes I wake feeling energized or pleased by a dream. Other times I wake feeling unsettled. Interestingly, when I wake up feeling energized or pleased, I don’t spend a lot of time wondering why. I happily take that positive energy into my day. I’m content with feeling positive.
On the other hand, when I wake up feeling unsettled, I go straight into analyzing mode. “I think the dream might have been trying to tell me this. Or maybe it was telling me that. Which is it?” I might search the internet for dream interpretation sites and then poke around until I find the one that gives me the answer I want to believe.
The same can be said for messages I receive while meditating or solid advice offered by a friend. When it feels good, I’m sure it’s meant to be. I don’t question it. I jump right in. When it feels unsettling, though, I start to think things through. “Could that message be right? Should I follow that advice, even though it doesn’t feel right?”
I’m not sure how successful I really am, but I know that when I feel successful is when I avoid projects, programs, or people who make me feel unsettled. And by unsettled, I don’t mean challenged, I mean joyless. When I feel good about what I’m doing, when it feels “right,” I typically fare better. I don’t procrastinate, I don’t make excuses, I don’t make compromises, I just move forward. That’s not to say those things always work out, but I’m almost never sorry I tried. That’s the interesting part. As long as it felt right, whether it succeeded or failed, whether I completed it or not, I typically retain some pride in and affection for the effort. That is rarely the case when I undertake something just because I think I should or because someone advised me to do so.
I used to think it was naïve or starry-eyed to trust my gut over the advice of experts (even those who interpret dreams or signs or offer tried-and-true advice). But I’ve come to realize what we know goes far deeper than what we or anyone else thinks. If it feels right, it is right. That’s not to say their advice will never work. Maybe in time, it will feel right, and then we can do it.
I’m still paying attention to my dreams, but rather than trying to figure out exactly what they mean, I’m feeling into them. If the dream made me feel unsettled, can I acknowledge that my inner being is feeling unsettled? Can I stay open to where that feeling manifests in my day? Can I trust that whether I fully grasp the mindful interpretation of the dream, what really matters is the feeling it invoked, because that’s my intuition telling me something does or does not feel right?
At least that is what this non-expert’s gut is telling her.
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