Last night, I had a dream about a dream. Let that sink in. I was dreaming that I was telling someone (a crocodile expert) about a dream that I had (about crocodiles), except that in my dream (the last night one), the crocodile dream was an actual event.
Let me backpedal and share the original dream.
The original dream, which is recurring for me, is that I’m being driven to my new home in the Daintree by my ex-mother-in-law (this event did occur, but my ex-father-in-law was driving in real life).
As we drove, Louise pointed out all the crocodiles in the river we were driving by. (For some reason, the river was right by the road, which is not the case in real life).
Now, Daintree crocs are saltwater crocs, and they are deadly. Every beach has signs warning people of crocodiles, and at least every other year, there’s a death. In fact, a tourist was taken by a crocodile on one of my local beaches when I lived there.
I digress. I saw all the crocodiles and shuddered (in the original dream). So imagine my surprise when, a week later, I was booked by my in-laws on a river float tour. (Note: this tour does not exist except in my messed-up subconscious.)
The dream then turns deadly as I’m suddenly floating down the Daintree River, swept past scores of deadly saltwater crocodiles. By some miracle, I made it out alive.
I hadn’t thought about this dream in years until last night when I met a crocodile expert in my latest dream and told him the story, asking how I survived.
Stay focused; there’s meaning coming out of all this dream mess.
I read a dream book last year, and one of the points that interested me the most was that we should never ignore recurring dreams.
Dreams are important. Period. Our dreams are our subconscious, working to make meaning of our inner world. It’s thought that 95% of our make-up, the part of us that drives our behaviour and manifests our reality is subconscious. 95%!!!
Given that, I always appreciate any insights into my subconscious. It’s why I pay attention to my dreams, my triggers and the life I’m living. These things have come about because of what I subconsciously believe about myself and the world.
I want to repeat that last sentence.
My dreams, my triggers and the life I’m living have come about because of what I subconsciously believe about myself and the world.
I’ll loop back to that in a second. It’s a biggie.
I just want to circle back to the dream.
Dream dictionaries do a decent job of shining light on common dream themes.
Crocodiles, for example, are said to represent danger or to alert you to hazards that lie beneath the surface.
Floating down a river can symbolise the passage of life from birth to death.
My own interpretation of the original dream is that I am allowing life to happen to me, and there is danger in that choice.
I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately – in my conscious mind. In fact, I’ve nearly written emails about this topic countless times, but I’ve never found the right words.
You see, I believe that if I’m not where I want to be in life, it’s because of a story or belief about myself or the world that lies in my subconscious.
It works the opposite way, too; beliefs aren’t always disempowering. If I’ve created magic in my life, it’s also because of a story or belief about myself or the world that lies in my subconscious.
Basically, I believe that I’ve created my life. I’ve attracted people, opportunities and situations into my life, as if magnetised, based on my subconscious beliefs.
Let me give you an example.
For ten years, I ran successful businesses doing, for the most part, work that I was passionate about. I earned great money, loved what I did and spent a lot of time in flow states of creating. (Especially as a photographer.)
If I look subjectively at the result, the life I created, I can imagine my beliefs about the world that would have resulted in that reality.
Success is possible for me. I can do what I love and also make money. Following my passions is all that I need to do. I’m worthy of good things.
Deciding to walk away from Phhnix after I fell pregnant with William threw a giant spanner in the works. When I was not in business, not making money and not doing anything I was passionate about, my reality was very different. What must I have thought (subconsciously) about the world then?
I can’t have it all – family and business. I need to work harder to remain successful. I need to choose things that make money over things that make me happy. It’s time to grow up and stop following my passions. I can’t be a mum and have what I want. I’m not worthy of success.
Very contradictory.
It’s why I look at stories, beliefs and my subconscious as multi-layered. I can blast through some beliefs and create a new reality for myself, but others lie beneath the surface.
Humans are both so simple and so complex! Here’s what I’ve learned.
We ALL have disempowering beliefs about ourselves and how the world works. If we didn’t, we would all live in complete harmony and abundance. We would all be living in heaven on earth. We would all pass our days being completely present and absorbed in doing only what we are most passionate about. We would love and be loved, fully express ourselves and achieve complete acceptance. We would be the creators of our lives.
Since this is not the case for anyone I know, I can only surmise that we all have at least some disempowering beliefs about the world and ourselves.
And the coolest thing about that knowledge is that we can choose to do something about it. Beliefs are just stories. They are make-believe.
(And these beliefs/ stories can form from the most innocent places. More on that another day).
You can change any part of your life you’re unhappy with.
That journey starts with gaining clarity over your beliefs, followed by choosing to THINK and ACT in a way that contradicts the belief.
Your thoughts become your reality.
Awareness is the first step if you want to know how the f*** to do that. (And the reason why my Awareness Journal is having such an impact on my life. There are still four copies left for anyone interested. Refamiliarise yourself with it here.)
Alternatively, ask yourself this:
If I accept that I am responsible for creating my life, what must I believe about myself to have created THIS life?
Because if you don’t make the choice and don’t consciously create your life, you’ll just be floating down a river teaming with crocodiles, letting life pass you by.
**Originally published to my email database on the 16th of January 2024**
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