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7 Lessons from Dreams and Nightmares to Help in Difficult Times

by Tzivia Gover Good Morning. Or good afternoon, or good evening. Whatever time of day it is when you are reading this, I would like to help you wake up, and stay awake, by using your dreams. For many of us, these past couple of years have been like a series of disturbing dreams (nightmares of … Continued
Tzivia Gover

Tzivia Gover

3 Min Read

by Tzivia Gover

Good Morning.

Or good afternoon, or good evening. Whatever time of day it is when you are reading this, I would like to help you wake up, and stay awake, by using your dreams.

For many of us, these past couple of years have been like a series of disturbing dreams (nightmares of gun violence, inhumane treatment of immigrants and others based on religion, race, or ethnicity, threats to women’s dignity, reproductive rights and safety, rights of transgender people, and a race to dismantle environmental protections … ).

So many times I’ve wanted to wake myself up and out of these realities and tell myself that everything’s fine, it was “only a dream.” At other times, I have felt tempted to just sleep through it all: turn off the news and retreat into 19th Century poetry or binge-worthy TV, and hope someone else can stand up to the injustices, stop the insanity, and figure a way out of this.

But I know better. As a professional dreamworker who helps others find the healing messages in their dreams, including the scariest ones, I know a thing or two (or three or four … ) about gaining courage and wisdom from nightmare scenarios, whether experienced asleep or awake.

Here are some of the things that I’ve learned from being an aware, awake, and active dreamer about how dreams can help us in difficult times:

  1. First and foremost, active dreamers don’t run away from the monsters in our nightmares, we turn and face them instead.
  2. We dreamers know that when we face a nightmare, and let ourselves receive its messages, we become more than we ever dreamed we could be thanks to it.
  3. As dreamers we know there is healing wisdom in even the most disturbing dream.
  4. Facing nighttime dreams consciously teaches to stay awake and aware in all aspects of our lives.
  5. As dreamers we know how to access guidance from our best selves–that part of each one of us that transcends the ordinary and connects us to the extraordinary.
  6. Our dreams teach us that internal energetic shifts manifest loving change in the outside world. Activism can be quiet and invisible, and can take root one heart at a time.
  7. As dreamers we know that if we leave our dreams on the pillow, nothing changes. But, inspired and awakened by our dreams, we can take action in the waking world, guided by the spirit of love and compassion and in the service of health, wholeness and healing—both personally and collectively.

Each of these skills and awarenesses can serve us as we face the nightmarish effects of global climate change, human rights issues, uncertain financial trends, and political unrest and uncertainty. Inspired by the lessons dreams teach, we can become agents of hope and compassion–in spite of the enormity of the problems we face.

These lessons have become more relevant than ever for me in the past couple of years. I share them in the hopes that they might serve you well in the days and years to come, too.

Here’s to waking up together!

PS Please consider joining 350 Dreamers, my Facebook Group where over 1,000 dreamers from around the world dream together for healing in the face of climate change. I look forward to dreaming with you!