When my 19 year old daughter was much younger, she had a lot of questions about her dreams. At some point we wandered onto the topic of repeating dreams. I explained to her that when dreams repeat it’s often to direct our attention to a theme that we’re working on; in effect it’s validation that we’re trying to figure something out.

“It’s like the Universe really wants you to get it,” I told her, “so it keeps playing the same movie over and over until you do. Then it doesn’t have to play that movie anymore.”

She wanted to know more, so I told her about my childhood recurring dream. I think I’ve written about this already but what the hell: it was me at a young age, being chased by a bear. The chase was protracted; I always knew I was in for it when the dream started up. We wound our way through the neighborhood, the bear slowly gaining on me. I just knew that when the damn thing caught up it would eat me and that would be that. If I could . . . just . . . run . . . faster . . .

Inevitably the bear would catch up and it was always because I was trapped on someone’s small, square, fenced-in back porch that may or may not have been my parents’. I turned to face the bear as it was taking off its big furry head, because it was a bear costume, see, and underneath that head was one of the many boys in our neighborhood! A little older than me, a little bigger, and not actually anyone I knew in real life, but right away I thought, hey, that’s my neighbor! I was surprised to find him completely cheerful and friendly; he was laughing. I recall that we were both relieved to be done with the chase. I remember staring at the boy; he was kind of cute, he was older than me and suddenly it was a different experience. I was safe.

I told her, I had that dream for years! Maybe a decade, starting at about 8. I was a timid child, highly empathic, and I was often afraid of other people, new experiences, speaking up for myself and also random bodies of water. In retrospect I felt like my dream was trying to show me that all that irrational fear wasn’t founded on anything real and the life-or-death bits were just stories I had made up in the absence of conscious understanding. It seemed to be telling me that if I’d just face my irrational fears I would find out they were harmless.

I’m still chewing on that dream, although I don’t have it anymore. Because being empathic is something I manage, I still pick up on other people’s energy and emotions, and those flashes of fear still come up. Then I think to myself, oh, right! I’m safe, I’m just in empath mode, nobody’s going to “get” me, let’s go back to the tools.

At the time of our conversation my daughter was maybe 12, and she was having a recurring, dream-like experience in which there was no recognizable action, and for that matter, no dialogue. There was simply a sense of something hanging around her and “a lot of white”. I asked a few questions to help her put the thing into context, but a deeper description eluded us. She told me it wasn’t exactly a dream; rather it would come in just as she was starting to fall asleep. She was able to tell me that the dream was of “something that loves me and wants me to succeed – but it’s kind of a tough love thing.” As we talked she considered that maybe it was energy that was hanging around to help keep her moving forward on the right path.

Naomi doesn’t remember our conversation, or the “dream”. But I do! She’s a big spirit, and she can be impulsive. When she got to high school I thought, oh boy, here we go. This fall, she will return to college in New York City for her sophomore year. But while she’s often tested waters that leave me holding my breath, I’ve noticed she always recognizes her motivations, reconsiders her actions and gets back on track. Over and over she returns to doing the right thing, or the better one for her growth and development, and it makes me wonder about the presence of that “tough love” guide in shaping her decision-making.

If you’re reading this, likely you have a similar level of awareness and interest in the spiritual undercurrent that belies all of our experiences. Each of us has the ability to tap into that current, and interest in accessing it is growing in leaps and bounds. There’s so much information there! We might keep a journal, make art, write down our dreams, take classes or spend time with like-minded friends, and those are just some of the ways we can access that flow. Ultimately, it helps us make better sense of the 3D world by profoundly deepening our experiences and understanding.

Blessings,

Katie

Rt. Rev. Katie Heldman is the Co-Director of Psychic Horizons Center, and wrote this article for the June 12th, 2023 eNews.