Carrie Link

TEACHING "THE CITY" A THING OR TWO

They say New York is the city that never sleeps. While that appears to be true, there is definitely some serious sleep taking place in room 804 of my lovely Manhattan hotel. I'm on a one-woman campaign to turn the tide. I take my sleep seriously, and do some of my best work in an unconscious state. It is there that I am with "my people" from the other realms. I derive clarity, receive helpful messages, and am at the very least, well-entertained.

Some tell me they don't dream. We know that if that were true, they'd be psychotic. That is the real bummer of sleep deprivation, the loss of that dream state of sleep. Wanna make someone go nutty cuckoo, wake them throughout the night for months on end. If you've ever been a new mother, you know what I'm talking about. Torture with a pretty name, post-partum.

So, we've established that we all dream (those of us still with one breath left between us and the funny farm). What happens is we are not remembering our dreams. The trick is to grab whatever ghost remains before your monkey mind starts doing its thing. In that moment before sleep turns to "What I have to do today," take ahold of that tiger's tail, and give it a swing. If all you can grab is a couple of tiger hairs, start with that.

Then, consider that Carl Jung was right, we are all aspects of our dreams. Re-run your dream, better yet, say it outloud or write it down. If you have a patient friend/lover/roommate, tell them. After each word, phrase or sentence, say, "Part of me." You'll freak yourself out, I'm warning you, so go easy.

Let's walk through the scary places of my mind together...

I am a child (part of me) returning (part of me) to my aunt's house (part of me). All I want to do is put together a familiar puzzle (part of me). Everyone else (part of me) wants me to do what they want (part of me) but I won't rest (part of me) until I get the jigsaw (part of me) completed (part of me).

That's just a snippet from one of many dreams I've had recently. Some nights I am the only person on the planet that can fly (part of me). Nobody else is impressed (part of me).That is both my favorite and most frustrating dream. Other times I'm being chased (part of me) by bad men (part of me).

When you have a particularly troubling dream, it can be quite a challenge to see yourself as your own perpetrator. Whatever parts of the dream bring you great excitement or fear, spend extra time on. Wherever there is a lot of energy, there is great wisdom/lessons contained.

Today we return to The City of Roses, Portland, Oregon. We leave behind the city so nice they named it twice. We leave behind the city of so many broken dreams, and we leave behind the idea that it's up to someone else to make our dreams come true.