Finding the Gold
Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack, in everything
That’s how the light gets in.
– Leonard Cohen, Anthem
Our dreams are much more than random images of our imagination.
When we begin to examine our dreams, we can often find the hidden golden nuggets, and bits of wisdom our psyche is offering up.
Often our dreams, especially the challenging ones, come to get our attention because something important is needing to be recognized. They can come in the form of disturbing scenarios such as, finding yourself at school, totally unprepared for a test, to terrifying nightmares of being chased, trapped or attacked. Or they can come in the form of very vivid, personal encounters with animals, teachers or guides to name just a few.
It’s as if our dreams purposefully turn up the volume to get us to notice them. When we have the courage to stop and actually take a look at what they may be trying to say, we find there was something we had been neglecting to see that has a real life connection and consequence in our lives.
Our dreams don’t just come to tell us what we already know, they come with creative solutions and point the way forward.
For example, on first glance in a difficult dream, we might resort to our typical modes of action, either trying to run away from the offending figure or wake ourselves up to escape the dream altogether. But because these very potent dreams usually contain the very medicine we need, we can turn to face them and take a different approach to enact some sort of change in our lives. This new found insight is what will help us to transform into even better versions of ourselves on our path to wholeness.
The golden gift only comes when we are willing to examine these parts of ourselves and our dreams with compassion, curiosity and understanding.
I am reminded of the Japanese art of Kintsugi, the art of repairing broken pottery by mending the broken parts with gold, also know as “golden repair”. As a concept, Kintsugi emphasizes the cracks and imperfections rather than disguising them signifying how we can embrace our flaws. The result is a piece of art that is both beautiful, unique and even stronger, a celebration of the imperfections that make it one of a kind. This art form has become a powerful metaphor for healing, resilience, and personal growth, and it also has a lot to teach us about dream work.
In many ways, our dreams contain the broken fragments of our subconscious and are filled with the little cracks, imperfections, wounds and life experiences we have forgotten, tried to hide or ignore. Working with our dreams can help us welcome all the pieces of our lived experience and transform them into a stronger and more beautiful whole.
By bringing these cast off and forgotten parts to the surface and listening to what they have to say, we can see them as guides, the very medicine we need to turn what we once perceived as a weakness into the strength we needed to heal and grow on our path of becoming.
By exploring our dreams, we learn to see ourselves more clearly, accept ourselves for who we are and embrace our own imperfections. We can then, find the gold of our dreams and use it for powerful transformations.
Dream work then is a wonderful tool to heal the wounds and traumas of our past, transforming them into sources of strength, resilience and beauty.
All warmth,
~Kris