Dream and Healing

[CL]

Hi Everyone,  I know I don't write very often but I do read your posts very frequently.  Recently I had a dream which I am working with in my own journey through grief over the loss of my husband of 37 years.  In the dream I see a woman (me, obviously) trying to play a certain tune on the violin.  She's an accomplished violinist and is usually able to listen to a song a few times and then play it through.  But with this particular song she is able to play only about half or 2/3 of it, and then suddenly the song just goes haywire, and the violinist has no clue how to finish the song.  But she truly believes that by listening over and over and over again she'll be able to get it - after all, she's always been able to do this in the past.  But try as she might she just can't quite figure out how to play the final portion of the song.  Then an older woman appears, wise, gentle, kind - and tells the violinist that she must "LISTEN VERY SLOWLY" in order to hear where exactly the tonal quality of a particular note changes, because that is where the tonal quality of the whole rest of the song changes.  Exactly at a certain note, a change of emotional quality sets in, the note undergoes a profound change, and this governs the whole rest of the song.  The song begins with a sense of joyfulness, but at this particular point the tone changes to one of quiet melancholy and deep mystery.  Interestingly enough, both parts of the song are very beautiful, but not the same.

So this is what we're all talking about, isn't it?  The song of our lives will never be the same, and we're trying to learn how to play (out) the rest of the song/life.  The last few weeks I've been at the "haywire" end of the song, feeling terribly discordant, strung out, crying all the time, realizing more and more that I really do have to spend the rest of my life without my beloved.  But the dream brings me some new information and hope.  And this amazing instruction:  to LISTEN very slowly, to how and where the change occurs, and when I have learned to navigate that pivotal note, then I'll (or the dream violinist - which I'm not!) will be able to learn to play the rest of the song - and the parts will all fit together and still sound beautifully tuneful, though certainly different.

So here's to the wise old woman, and may we all be able to "LISTEN VERY SLOWLY".

[Guest]

I wish I could remember dreams with such detail.  I've never been able to.  Even if I'm trying to recollect a dream upon awakening it is fregmented and distorted making little to no sense.  

That was a powerful dream.

[KATPILOT]

That's it. When and if we can calm, then we are able to see. Then we can hear. Our path begins to show itself.

[CL]

Thanks Brad and Katpilot.  Brad, if you're interested in remembering your dreams, here's a couple things you might try.  I've been working with dreams for nearly 40 years and I know their deep value, so it's nice to catch them when we can.  So first of all, setting your intention before sleep can help - simply asking for a dream and also asking for help to remember what comes.  Then whatever does come, that you can remember, just accept that for now and write it down.  Whatever is remembered is where to begin:  one image, an emotional tone, a colour, a person, a place, whatever - because what very often happens is that by writing down what IS remembered, much more of the dream returns to memory.  Sort or like catching a mouse maybe - if you can just get ahold of the tail quickly enough, often we can pull the whole mouse back!  Another idea is to keep a small tape recorder by your bed and when you awake with some dream material, just click on the recorder and talk into it.  What I do personally is keep a pad and pen by my bed and when I awake with the dream I just write it down right then - never turning the light on or getting up.  You can bet it looks like a dog's breakfast the next morning - but at least it's there in black and white and I can then rewrite it if I choose.  Just a couple ideas.  

[kayc]

That was a profound dream, and you did well to interpret it like you did.  I'm curious how you ended up a violinist in your dream, that seems rather random, do you play a violin at all?

[CL]

KayC, I don't play the violin at all, but for me the violin is an instrument which can express a tremendous range of emotional tone, so I think that is at least one of the reasons why it is in the dream.  

[deniz]

Hi CL, what a beautiful dream it sounds like. It is also beautiful to see that making peace with life might be one day possible - for me as for you, for any of us.
Thank you.

 

[CL]

Indeed, Deniz, that is our hope - to find that peace.