Sharing Our Dreams

Sharing Our Dreams

"But I, being poor, have only my dreams:

I have spread my dreams under your feet;

Tread softly because you tread on my dreams."

__ W. B. Yeats, "Had I the Heaven's Embroidered Cloths"

In what circumstances is it safe to share our hopes and dreams? Something so personal cannot always have meaning or relevance to another. Like someone

else's holiday photos, our dreams may bore or alienate. With a soul-friend, however - a friend with whom we can reveal our soul - we can share not only our night-dreams but also our daydreams, the deep desires we wish to fulfill. Our soul-friend can be trusted not to laugh, mock, or abuse and can act as a witness of the heart's desires.

We can also share our dreams through the work that we do, through the creative endeavors of our hands and hearts, with other creative dreamers. Though we live in a society that has forgotten how dreams can be shared in order to heal the community, there are still many who yearn to meet and dream together and whose collective dreaming can bring wonder and joy to the world.

Those night-dreams that arrive in often overwhelming or frightening power often need incubation in a journal, where their complex metaphors can be scanned for significance. The dreams that will give hope or insight can be selectively shared with those whom we meed: the confused, the doubtful, the fearful, the undecided. Not all dreams are ours to own. Sometimes their message is intended for greater sharing, so that the dream may be manifest in our world.

"Share one of your dreams, your deepest desires, with a soul-friend."

[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]