Last night I had a dream that I was giving an overweight person that I know a giant hug. She was struggling with overeating and felt at the end of her rope with what to do about it. I felt so much understanding and compassion for her. I lovingly reassured her that I knew who she was on the inside and that her challenges with food were not really about the food. They were about something else.
When I awoke from the dream, I knew that it wasn’t about this person that I know. It was about me. I had a weird day with food yesterday, which hasn’t happened to me in a while. Many of you know that I struggled with eating disorders for years in my late teens and 20s. It was a major rite of passage for me, the daily reminder that I needed to keep evolving and spiritually growing in order to heal. I fully expect that food and body image will always be an indicator light for me. Am I present? Am I directly caring for my emotions rather than dissociating? Am I listening to my Higher Self and making life choices guided by my intuition? Am I in my power and authenticity?
This dream was an indicator that emotions were up for me and I needed to pause. It was also a blessing of how far I’ve come in my relationship to myself. In the dream, I was a loving and attentive figure rather than the shameful and self-critical persona that I used to be.
In our current Spiritually Human MeetUp series, Dreams, Symbols, and the Subconscious, we are exploring dreams in a small group setting to learn to take advantage of the wisdom that emerges each night from our subconscious. We’ve had two gatherings so far, and it’s been powerful to witness the depth that attendees are willing to offer. Dreams are so vulnerable!! They often reveal our greatest fears, aspirations, and intimate soul journeys. I was honestly uncertain whether we’d find enough people that would want to come discover this level of depth in a group of strangers.
I’m so honored to share that not only are people opening up in stunning ways together, but there are more people that want to join than I’m currently able to accommodate. With ten people in the last gathering, we had 14 on a wait list. What I take from this is that people really want to be deeply and vulnerably seen in community. This is particularly important right now during the pandemic since we all feel more isolated, but I feel it’s always a human desire if we have the courage to admit it.
I feel such gratitude and honor to host the beautiful people in our dream series. I adore leading the Spiritually Human community and feel so inspired by the souls that I meet.
In fact, I certainly brought more attention to my own dream from last night than I would have without the dream circle. What emotions are up for me you ask? Well, I do know what they are, but I’ll save that for a future blog. For now, I simply want to celebrate the power of dreams and community for assisting us to use our night time journeys to help us pause and explore what we really need at that moment.
I know that I’m going to keep practicing self-love, giving real presence to what emotions are rising for me right now, rather than turning towards old coping mechanisms. I’ll also look forward to the next gathering of Dreams, Symbols, and the Subconscious on Wednesday, December 2.
More information on the series and Spiritually Human MeetUp available here>>
Much love,
Kelley Neumann