Living in dreamtime means consciously co-creating your reality with the universe, versus falling victim to a reality created by others that you feel powerless to change.
In Courageous Dreaming: How Shamans Dream The World into Being, Alberto Villoldo says:
“Whether we realize it or not, we are all dreaming the world into being. What we are engaging in is not the sleeping dream we’re familiar with, but the waking dream we craft with our eyes open. When we’re unaware that we all share the power to co-create reality with the help of the universe, that power slips away from us and our dream becomes a nightmare.”
Villoldo, a medical anthropologists and psychologist, is well known for his study of the spiritual practices of the Amazon and Andes. He invites us to find dreamtime in our own lives. Let’s begin!
Dreamtime in the Amazon
Jai follows the full moon path to the fires’ glow. He takes his seat by fellow elders with a love-filled heart and a mind quiet and open to the unknown. Soft focused eyes see the orange red light of flame, embers and smoke swirling upwards toward the moon in the cool night air.
Though not a word is spoken the elders (Earthkeepers) dream together of their grandchildren children’s well being as they feel one with the fire, smoke, moon, stars, and cool night air.
The elders’ dream of their grandchildren children’s world is now their intention. Their intention requires respect and care for each other and the environment. It informs their everyday thoughts, feelings, and actions.
Unlike the business plan, it’s not a vision to be accomplished in the future with an action plan including tasks and timeline for completion, it is lived here and now.
When in dreamtime you consciously co-create reality with the universe. The Earthkeepers taught Villoldo that you can only access the universal power of dreamtime by raising your consciousness.
When more conscious (aware) of yourself and environment, you know you are a part of a greater more intelligent whole, as a drop of water is to a divine ocean. This connection to the infinite (or universal intelligence) empowers dreamtime.
“Dreaming reality is not only an ability but a duty, one all humans must perform with grace so that our grandchildren will inherit a world where they can live in peace and abundance,” says Villoldo.
Choosing Dreamtime
Dreamtime is a collective consciousness of an indigenous culture very different from our own. These words can only point to it.
But what is culture but the collective minds of its people? Each of us can choose to live our dream… to not live your dream is to live a nightmare.
Few of us would choose to live a nightmare if we knew how to create and live our dream. Yet, the grip of culture and habitual ways of thinking and perceiving serve as mighty traps.
Breaking out of these traps requires intention, courage, discipline, and love.
Dreamtime Intention
Dreaming is a journey of self-discovery and growth. Intent moves dream into action.
Begin your dream by imagining yourself achieving your greatest goal. Your most lofty goal might be to become a great healer, a celebrated artist, or to own a grand estate with all the trappings that go with it, or some other goal that sparks your passion.
Now, clarify your dream by asking yourself what it is without the “ego attachment.” What is your dream without expectation of what others will think, say, or reward?
In the example above instead of becoming a great healer, it may be you want to heal yourself and be a resource to help others do the same, or you want to express yourself fully through art, or you may want to respect and love yourself as well as your family and friends.
In this way your dream or true self’s desire becomes an affirmation and intention that guides you. It manifests in all that you do.
Dreamtime Courage
We often think of courage as the ability to face physical danger. Yet, it may take even greater courage to face the unsettling, fear-provoking nature of change.
We tend to define ourselves based on our culture and early experiences that taught us certain ways of thinking and behaving that go on “automatic.” We may not even be consciously aware that they drive our behavior. Unchallenged, they become our story.
“During one healing ceremony, the shaman explained to me, that like everyone, I can either have what I want or the reasons why I can’t. ‘You are too enamored of your story,’ the old man said. ‘Until you dare to dream a different dream, all you will have is the nightmare,” reports Villoldo.
The Earthkeepers speak of using hummingbird courage. These tiny little birds defy the fact that they “shouldn’t” be able to fly based on their weight and shape.
Not only do they fly, every year they make a seemingly impossible journey from the northern US and Canada to South America and back.
Much like the hummingbird that relies on instinct and its true nature, you too can set out on the journey to discover your true self and purpose in life.
You are not your fears, or your worries, or damaged goods. Even if you have severe problems due to trauma or the expression of faulty genes, you can rediscover your pure self. You can live your dream.
Listen deeply to the quiet voice within, to your own wisdom. If you hunger for more in your life and freedom from troubling worries and thoughts… freedom from habitual patterns that no longer serve you… freedom from the nightmare… begin your journey.
You may find it helpful to try new ways of expressing yourself through expressive writing, story telling, Haiku, dance, and art. Dr. Koop resources may help you find your way too.
Dreamtime Discipline
Mastering anything new requires practice…discipline. Studies show that when making change its best to start small, use methods you enjoy, and create rituals that hold sacred the experience.
Respect your own way and timing without self-criticism or judgment.
Discipline is your commitment to yourself. It holds in place your intention and commitment to your dream.
Dreamtime Love and Gratitude
“Gratitude, the feeling that we’re blessed, helps us stop being enslaved to our to-do lists and remember why we came here: to love, to grow, to discover what we can do to participate in the unfolding work of art called creation,” informs Volloldo.
Too often, we miss opportunities to feel gratitude and love because we don’t recognize our blessings until they are gone. For instance, you may recall how grateful you were for the blessing of breathing freely after recovering from a bad head cold.
Look for at least one thing to love or be grateful for each day.
You and I may not find dreamtime the same way the aboriginals and the Earthkeepers do, but we can find it in our own way.
It is our responsibility to live fully our unique expression of life. It is our choice to live the nightmare or live our dream with courage by finding dreamtime power.
