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September 2005 - Breaking Old Patterns: Dreaming a New Dream
- Where are you now?
- Old dream vs. new dream
- Seeing things differently
- A personal experience in making changes
- Some tips for making changes in your life
- Resources (links, books, articles, the lighter side)
Breaking
Old Patterns: Dreaming a New Dream
Where are you now?
Are you happy? Really happy in your job? Really happy in your life? Be totally honest.
If the answer is yes, you probably already know what I’m going to say. Most people can’t say they are truly happy in their job. They may be there because it’s easier to stay and go along than to leave or try to change things. Others may be truly miserable. Others stay because they have good friends at work or feel a sense of satisfaction in the work they do that is stronger than the things they don’t like.
Take a moment and write down 10 things that you really appreciate about your job. Take time to feel gratitude for those aspects of your job that support you and your needs. Take time to feel gratitude for the people you care about.
Then, write down 10 or more things you wish were different. If you were in charge, how would you change those things to make them better?
If you take time every day to pay attention and feel gratitude for the things in your life that support you (your job, your family, your friends, your work, your life), you will soon find that your job and your life are going more smoothly. You may occasionally notice those things that are not so great, but they won’t hold you in their grip any more.
This process is called "dreaming a new dream" by the indigenous peoples of the world.
Old dream vs. New dream
The "old dream" is one of fear, worry, anger, hatred, frustration, intolerance, violence, war, destruction, dominance, jealousy, etc.
The "new dream" is one of joy, partnership, trust, creativity, aliveness, happiness, prosperity, peace, acceptance, etc.
By focusing our attention on all that we don’t like, we forget to feel the joy of all that we do like.
Consider that the Earth, nature, the atmosphere, the sun, the moon, the air we breathe, the trees, flowers, birds, plants, water, rocks and so much more all give us physical support and comfort in so many easy that make our life easier. We have food to eat, materials to build shelter, sun to warm us, water to keep us alive, wind to cool us – so many things that we take for granted!
Seeing things differently
Take a few moments now and notice how much of where you are right now was put there by someone else. The building where you work, your home, your car, your computer, the food in your refrigerator, your refrigerator and all appliances, your cell phone, the list is almost endless.
Take a moment to feel gratitude for everyone and everything that had to come together to bring you to the place you are right here, right now. It’s overwhelming the number of people who played a part in that journey starting from the moment you were born.
When you spend more time simply appreciating what IS, you will find more energy and ability to change what isn’t to your liking. Those annoying things become very small compared to what is good about your world.
Take time each day to be still – to pray or meditate and to feel gratitude for all that is wonderful about your life. Your prayer or meditation may be in any form that works for you. It could be a walk in nature, a morning acknowledgement of the sun, time spent looking at the stars, the quiet enjoyment of beautiful flowers, the laugh of a child, lighting a candle, a connection with a friend or a stranger. All of these provide a moment of being present where you are rather than rushing off to something not nearly as joyful.
Being present is immensely powerful in clarifying your mind and helping clear your thoughts of the jumbled chaos most of us live in. Stopping time, even for a few minutes, does wonders for the health of your psyche and your body.
Many people are living lives of quiet desperation, worrying about world events out of their control or worrying about things way out in the future. Or, dwelling on past events that prevent them from feeling the joy of TODAY.
The secret to finding peace and harmony is to simply STOP! Stop worrying, stop rushing, stop thinking about the future, stop the anger at someone else, stop thinking about the past. Simply BE here now.
Stop and be still. Listen to the sounds of nature. Listen to the sounds of the city; listen to the birds; listen to the wind; listen to the sound of a stream. Listen to your inner voice that tells you everything will be OK.
If you would like to change things in your life, take time to appreciate all that has brought you to this moment. Write down a list of what has happened before, say thanks for all of it and do a ceremony of burning your list. This is symbolic of letting it all go so that you have the space and energy to go forward in a new way.
Write out how you want your life or your job to be. Feel the excitement and joy as you feel the experience of that new life – that new dream.
Starting today, every day do some small step toward fulfilling your new dream. Before long, you will realize that dream has come to fruition.
Then, one day, the cycle will repeat and it will be time for a new dream.
Addendum: A
personal experience in making changes
This article — originally intended for our August newsletter — was written in Santa Fe, New Mexico on July 25, 2005 sitting next to a mountain stream at the Big Tesuque area, which is part of the Santa Fe National Forest. I had just finished a workshop called "Praying with Power" with José Stevens and wanted to spend some quiet time reflecting on what we learned and what I wanted to change in my life.
Among the many things we learned in the workshop were:
- That a clear intention is very powerful
- To pay attention to our intuition and to listen for what it can teach us
- To be willing to see things shift in our life when we set our intention for changes
- To be willing to break our old habit patterns by making conscious choices
- To be grateful for everything that has gone before and everything that is happening now.
A few days after returning home from the workshop, I had some family come to visit. While they were here, I slept in my guest room – and realized that I was taking a conscious step to shift my old habit patterns to make way for new things I want. I also rearranged much of my house to make it "baby-safe." Again, making a conscious choice to change some things as part of my intention.
The morning after they arrived, my computer hard drive failed suddenly. The computer technicians were not able to retrieve anything from it. Interestingly enough, I had noticed an odd noise a few weeks before and I had thought it was time to get a new larger hard drive. With the day-to-day demands of a busy life, I did not listen to my intuition on that one and the result was quite a few days trying to restore files from backup tapes after the computer came back to me. The tapes encountered some errors and so I have only partially restored the files; many documents and files have been forever lost. So, I am having an opportunity to start over with my computer.
It’s a very big lesson for me in what happens when you do not listen to intuition! I’ve had a few other almost as dramatic lessons about not listening to my intuition within the past month so it has certainly gotten my attention.
A few days after the new larger hard drive was installed, I heard that odd sound again. It turns out that the sound had nothing to do with the hard drive failing and it was easily repaired. So, I was reminded again that my original intuition about needing a new hard drive was very accurate.
I am immensely grateful that my life is shifting in new ways that will support the intention to make changes that I set in motion during my workshop in Santa Fe. Besides the computer challenges, several other physical things have broken in these last few weeks, again offering wonderful opportunities for me to change my old habit patterns and move my intention for changes forward.
Some tips for making changes in your life
- Be clear about what you want and set your intention to make changes. Write down how you want your life to be in the form of affirmations. Be sure to write/say it in present tense – "I AM now <what you want to achieve>." FEEL how it feels when you achieve that.
- Take conscious steps toward getting what you want, even if the steps are small at first.
- Notice that things in your life begin to shift. Be very grateful for any changes you notice, even if the changes seem to be negative (as in my example). We often cannot know what many different unseen things have to work together to get us where we want to be.
- Spend time in nature and be grateful for the great power that supports us every day.
- Pray or meditate in your own personal way.
- Listen to your intuition and follow where it guides you. Be courageous enough to do this in spite of people who may be skeptical or give you other advice.
- Know that you will be supported toward achieving your heart’s desires.
May the Great Spirit bless you in your journey.
Internet Resources
- American Red Cross - donations for Katrina assistance http://www.redcross.or.
- Alternate donation site: Red Cross donations
- Salvation Army - http://www.salvationarmyusa.org
- Feed the Children - http://www.feedthechildren.org
- Many US news media, corporations and local charities are also collecting donations for the Katrina relief effort.
- CNN - List of people who are safe http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2005/hurricanes/list/index.html
- Earthlink's Hurricane Help to connect people http://katrina.earthlink.net/
Books
- Disclosure: We get a small
commission for purchases made via links to Amazon.
- The Hidden Message in Water, Masaru Emoto. Beyond Words Publishing, 2004. ISBN: 1582701148 ("Emoto theorizes that since water has the ability to receive a wide range of frequencies, it can also reflect the universe in this manner. He found that water from clear springs and water exposed to loving words shows brilliant, complex, and colorful snowflake patterns, while polluted water and water exposed to negative thoughts forms incomplete, asymmetrical patterns with dull colors. Emoto believes that since people are 70 percent water, and the Earth is 70 percent water, we can heal our planet and ourselves by consciously expressing love and goodwill.")
- Compass Of The Soul: 52 Ways Intuition Can Guide You To The Life Of Your Dreams, Lynn Robinson. Andrews McMeel Publishing, 2003. ISBN: 0740733370
- Practical Intuition: How to Harness the Power of Your Instinct and Make It Work For You, Laura Day. Broadway Books, New York,1996. ISBN 0-7679-0034-0
- Practical Intuition for Success, Laura Day. HarperCollins, 1999. ISBN: 0060930225
Articles
Related newsletter article:
July 1998 - Developing and Using Intuition
- C.S. Lewis quotes http://www.tc.umn.edu/~burc0050/quotes_lewis.html
- Earth is my home http://www.nacce.org/2004/home.html
- Sing ... Dance ... Climb http://www.appleseeds.org/sing-dance-climb.htm
- What's Consciousness Got to Do With It? http://www.spiritofmaat.com/archive/mar2/editor.htm
- Dream Reflections - Dreaming Women http://www.paradise-found.net/articles/a12.html
- Late for School
http://www.chickensoup.com/stories/woman/Late_for_School.html - The ABCD of newness http://www.fukkad.com/poems/newness.shtml
- Medicine for the Earth: Imagine .. http://www.shamanismcanada.com/2004/09/medicine-for-earth-imagine.html
- It Is None of My Business What Other People Think of Me http://www.wisdomiswithin.com/may.htm
- Affirmations and Readiness http://www.crystalinks.com/affirmreadiness.html
- Making changes to make affirmations work http://copywriter.typepad.com/copywriter/2004/12/making_changes_.html
- Affirmations of Commitment to Change http://www.coping.org/weightmgt/chap1II.htm
- Affirmation alone are not enough http://www.alivewithlove.com/wiseyou/affirmations.html
- The Top 10 Tips to Creating Powerful Positive Self-Talk http://www.topten.org/content/tt.BA184.htm
- Affirmations Revisited http://www.rainbowcrystal.com/news/affirm.html
- Affirmations: How And Why They Work To Help You Change http://www.affirmations.homestead.com
- Affirmation and Meditations http://x.bwwla.com/index.php?id=59
The Lighter Side
- You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream. .. C.S. Lewis
- There are those who look at things the way they are and ask why ... I dream of things that never were and ask why not? .. Robert F. Kennedy
- Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world. .. Harriet Tubman
- When our memories outweigh our dreams, we have grown old. .. Bill Clinton
- When you were born, you cried and the world rejoiced. Live your life so that when you die, the world cries and you rejoice. .. Cherokee Expression
- Years wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul. .. Douglas MacArthur
- Profession Jokes: Philosophers http://www.workjoke.com/projoke70.htm
- Creative Answering Machine Messages: http://www.anvari.org/shortjoke/Creative_Answering_Machine_Messages/68.html
- I AM There - poem by James Dillet Freeman
About our resource links: We do not endorse or agree with all the beliefs in these links. We do keep an open mind about different viewpoints and respect the ability of our readers to decide for themselves what is useful.
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