Dreamland

Dreamland is the original cyberspace, our own built-in spiritual virtual reality.

Our dreams take us into other worlds, alternative realities that help us make sense of day-to-day life.

Dreaming is a connection to our unconscious, to our selves.

It is to be treasured.

Isn't it extraordinary that an activity which takes up so much of our lives is so often relegated into the realms of unimportance.

We are based on dreams, they are our centre.

Listen to them.

"Dreams are like stars....you may never touch them, but if you follow them they will lead you to your destiny."
~~ Anonymous


Top photo taken in Wisconsin, USA in August 2010. It was early in the morning and we had gone to the pier to watch the Tall ships arrive. As you could imagine we saw very little.


A pottery sculpture by my multitalented friend Dianne - December 2007

Full Circle

After a long, long time, many years of soul searching, study and self-discovery I believe I have finally 'got it' and now understand the difference between the deepest agony and misery of the human condition and the greatest joy!

I 'know', from my own experience, that the difference is simply between feeling separate, isolated, lonely, lost.....and feeling 'at-one', whole, home.

I think many people live with a kind of homesickness; a sweet nostalgia which they can't quite put their finger on as if they were once in a place that they can't quite remember but desperately, somehow, want to get back to.

I believe that at our deepest level (our core, Being, essence, soul, DNA) we inherently know that we are one with each other and with all things.

The trouble is in our mental-minds. We have a deeply rooted idea that we are separate, a deeply engrained belief. This causes a split between what we think and what we intuitively know; a distance between our heads and our hearts.

From day to day we live from our heads, our thoughts.....and this causes all our problems, all our misery. We're going against our deepest instincts!

It is said that while in the womb (and also as very young children) we are in a natural state of one-ness, love, union, innocence, bliss. Then after a while, gradually as we grow up in the world, we begin to realise that "I am this and you are that", "I am here and you are there", "I am me and you are you". We start to feel separate, we become 'self-conscious', we become afraid.

We go on and on accumulating knowledge, identity, conditioning and this sense of 'Me' gets re-enforced over and over again. We develop an "Ego".

Psychologists reckon that this is essential for survival at this stage of our lives. However, although necessary, too much "ego" can eventually become a heavy burden.

As adults, we feel isolated, lonely, small, restricted and incomplete.
Trapped in this prison of a mind-made-ME, we long to expand, to grow, to melt, to merge with someone, something.....anything.

We ache to be back in that place that we once knew. This has all happened because we have forgotten Who We Truly Are. Our light has become hidden under the bushel of fear, a false self, a mask, a defence, and/or an idea.

THE CURE IS LOVE.

Love is the essence of who we are and it is our way out of this mess.

Love and fear are opposites. Fear was the problem, love is the solution. Fear means separation, love means union.

Love is freedom. Love heals us, makes us whole again.

So it seems that our lives are a journey from knowing, through forgetting, to (hopefully) remembering again. We start out open and free and end up open and free.

Somewhere in the middle we pass through a narrow tunnel. This tunnel is our identification with our small-self, "ME", a conditioned-ego, our cocoon.


"Life at any time can become difficult: life at any time can become easy. It all depends upon how one adjusts oneself to life."
~~ Morarji Desai


This sculpture called "Presence" was made by Steinunn Thorarinsdottir from Iceland for Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi, November 2008. His statement about the piece was "Look and See"

Perception and Reality

Most of us go through life with the belief system that our happiness or unhappiness is largely determined by the events in our environment and reactions of other people to us.

Frequently we feel that our happiness is dependent on good or bad luck for which we bear little responsibility.

We forget to instruct our minds to change our perceptions of the world and everything in it. We forget that peace of mind is an internal matter.

The temptation to react with anger, depression or excitement exists because of interpretations we make of the external stimuli in our environment. Such interpretations are necessarily based on incomplete perception.

When we dwell on past events or anticipate future happenings, we are living in the realm of fantasy. Whatever is real in our lives can only be experienced NOW.

We block the possibility of fresh and novel experience in our lives when we attempt to relive in the present our memories of episodes from the past, whether painful or pleasurable.

We are, therefore, in a continual state of conflict about the actual happenings of the present and are unable to directly experience the opportunities for happiness which are all about us.

From time to time I see a fragmented world where nothing seems to make much sense.

The bits and pieces of my daily life reflect the chaos I see within.

In my mind are thoughts that can hurt me or help me. I am constantly choosing the contents of my mind, since no one else can make this choice for me.

TODAY, I welcome a new perception of myself and the world.


When I am with Joseph each week, I have the privilege of viewing the world through his 3 year old eyes.....

Postscript:

Nina, a very wise and thought provoking blogger who spreads so much sunshine and happiness around the blogosphere wrote this very insightful comment I want to share.

"To look at life through the eyes of a 3 year old follows your post well. Everything is new and exciting. Colors, shapes, sounds, the world is a playground filled with the Joyful Happiness of new and exciting "things".

To choose to look at life through the proverbial rose colored glasses is not necessarily a bad thing. As a matter of fact, focusing on what's good and pleasing around us brings internal joy and happiness. We fully Love life with its rollercoaster ride if we view it as a wonderful ride of learning.

The sun rises. The reality is the earth chases around the sun playing hide and seek every day. The perception is a new beginning, a new start, a new opportunity each and every day... Kind of brings meaning to "sunshine and happiness"... (say isn't that in a song?) I hadn't read your post until today but kindred spirits we are my friend. Love and Light, Nina P".