“Walk with me by the river. Stay with me in the freezing wind – stand still, listen. Select each scene and angle with care, until the core of you is so cold that there is no space for creativity.”
~ Photography in Winter, Maria Lehtman
Do you dream? Do you see nightmares? Do you fly, travel – by water, by car, running, walking -? Do you chase the light? Get lost amongst the crowds, or vast empty spaces, labyrinths? If you see water, do you dive, float, surf, hop into a submarine, or travel in a bubble?
This and much more is part of a dreamer’s life. I love photography because it allows me to focus and control the moment, if not the scene. For a brief hour, I am defining my dream scene. Much of my dreaming happens in the water. I travel under or on the surface, by boat, ships, swimming, floating or whatever works as a vessel. Water is an element of the subconscious, feelings, emotions, memories of timeless space.
No matter the dreams, they never stopped me from loving water in my waking life. Anything from small, bubbling streams to powerful ocean waves. Water is a magical element, soothing and frightening at the same time. It paves its way through any element. Nothing stands on its way, not for long. Water is part of us, sustaining life, part of everything living – therefore it connects everything living. The dreaming world, our subconscious, works in a similar manner. It is an unseen bond between all ecosystems. Dreams allow us to travel in time and timelessness.
In a single dream, I have been able to see my last year’s evolution in seconds. The dream walked me through two paths: one where I made the decisions I made, and another path, had I chosen to ignore my intuition a year ago. I became a different person because of my actions and decisions – in a positive way. I had paved a way to a much higher level of consciousness that would have been lost or gained at a significantly slower pace without my actions.
In a single moment, I understood why my life had taken the course it had. And why I had agreed to the trials, no matter how emotionally taxing they were. Like water, my experience had carved out qualities in me that I did not realize even existed.
How do you work with your predictive dream elements like water?
Dreams are not like water under the bridge
“In a dream I was struggling to keep my balance in my little ice platform. The shore was so close, but no one was helping me to get back to the mainland. Gradually I managed to maneuver the little ice float near the frozen bank. A few men finally reached out to help me. I climbed up to the solid, snowy ground.”
~ Dream the Dream, Maria Lehtman
Based on the dream, I knew two things:
1.) I was in danger of getting a cold. The clue was that I was standing directly on ice. Snow and ice snow in my dreams always represent emotional and physical burdens – especially the risk of getting sick or more typically, getting a cold.
2.) The risk of getting a cold was moderate because I was fully clothed in the dream and finally managed to get on shore without getting wet. In my waking life I could start to take precautions just to ensure I minimized the risk by taking more vitamins, drinking ginger-lemon tee, sleeping sufficiently and not exposing myself to draft or cold (air conditioning or outdoors)
Another example of health warnings in my dreams is the condition and location of water. If I see water flowing indoors, and it is murky, I know there are internal issues within my body. Typically health risks are then related to e.g., indigestion or inflammations that need another type of care than the risk of getting a cold. I start to pay more attention to my diet (e.g., avoiding sugar), the amount of water I need to drink during the day, and taking a bit more baking soda mixed in water (yes, my cheap and secret weapon!).
Pay attention to water elements around you and in your dreams. Do not fear the water but learn to embrace it. Try to think of the larger context. What was the water like? Water’s clarity, temperature, texture, depth, texture, motion…everything can be a clue. Once you understand the form of your water element, you also understand your emotional state.
Healing dreams may seem scary, the beings in the water – large or small – odd and out of place. Let them be your guides. With repetition, you start to see patterns, trends, and even predictions of where your health and feelings are headed. When you understand the warning signs, you can act in your waking life to prevent or, at least, limit the impact.
Photography and poems are tools for understanding my dream world. I use social media tools, like Instagram, for brainstorming. I take one of my images and write down the first poem or thought that comes to mind. The surfacing ideas connect directly with my subconsciousness and the issues I am currently dealing with. I also become aware of the layers of my current dream world. It works on several levels of mind and matter:
- daily issues I personal level
- ecosystems I collective level
- cosmos
- consciousness
- time and dimensions
A single event can e.g., represent a personal event, and something happening out in the world or space. I may see a great wave approaching the shore, threatening me. It typically means that I am, or I am going to be, in an emotionally challenging situation. However, the ‘when’ is important – a significant natural disaster dream typically occurs when an actual event is taking place. In a dream, I may see exactly where the wave is, and soon find out reading the news that a hurricane or a tsunami hit that coastline. It is quite common that people share dreams collectively and share positive or negative events affecting ecosystems. The dream analogy works on different levels.
Our dreams truly are like water – a constant flow of colliding and flowing energies and worlds.
Be careful what you water your dreams with. Water them with worry and fear and you will produce weeds that choke the life from your dream. Water them with optimism and solutions and you will cultivate success. Always be on the lookout for ways to turn a problem into an opportunity for success. Always be on the lookout for ways to nurture your dream.
~ Lao Tzu
