In the dream world, we create our world symbolically. Our dream symbols are as varied and individualistic as we are. An airplane may signal your desire to change direction or get out of town. A prison may indicate feeling trapped in a tough situation…the list goes on and on. Dreams allow you to test probable outcomes that you’ll experience in waking reality and are a wonderful tool for analyzing thoughts, emotions and beliefs. But what if you had some of that same symbolic awareness in your waking life? You do.
Through our conditioning, we don’t see waking-life events and objects the same way we do our dream creations. Our waking life is full of the same kind of symbolic clues that we find in our dreams but we view them differently. We don’t realize we created those events and objects in the first place and now find ourselves in the position of reacting to them. This process is so seamless, so practiced, that we find it difficult to spot the very visible signposts we need to change our lives or continue doing what we do best.
So many symbols, so little time
Because we create everything in our lives whether we know it or not, it’s tough to know what symbols we should pay attention to. For most of us, it’s the self-labeled “negative” aspects that we experience that cause us to sit up and pay attention to what we are creating. So-called negative events don’t feel right and therefore get our attention in a more direct way. Recently I had a big reminder of this. Or, more appropriately, I had a lot of small reminders.
If you’ve never seen textile moths, be thankful. I’m not taking about standard Miller moths—the kind most people associate flying around light bulbs in the summer. Textile moths are very small, about a quarter inch, and are not attracted to light like others. They are extremely destructive and are the moths that prefer to dine on wool and animal-based textiles. If you’ve ever had a sweater eaten in the closet, it’s the result of these little creatures.
My own personal symbolism
A year ago, I discovered an infestation of textile moths in some family heirlooms in the closet. I was devastated. In just a few months time, they had eaten through many of my family’s treasured wool rugs and threatened to destroy more. We reacted quickly and salvaged what we could. I went on a house-cleaning terror and vowed that they wouldn’t harm anything again. At the time, I used the experience to remind myself of the benefits of the destruction, realizing they were helping me take action on some family issues I was working on.
Since then, I occasionally see a lone moth flying around at night. I check the traps I set out and double check anything valuable. So you can imagine my dismay last weekend when I moved a box in my office and found a nest of the little buggers infesting a chair. Sure enough, there were dead moths in some of the traps and I worked fast to mitigate the problem as soon as I could.
While I was cleaning everything in the house—again—I had time to think about the personal symbolism of the moths. Since they hadn’t destroyed anything this go-around, I was able to see them in a different light. In reality, they are small, annoying little creatures that prefer to stay hidden from sight. They start out small in number and quickly multiply if the conditions are right for their survival and growth. Left unchecked, they can unknowingly cause lots of damage and heartache.
Understanding your symbols
I realized that the moths were symbolic of my beliefs—beliefs that needed to be brought into the open, investigated and then changed or discarded. I had ignored the little glimpses I received here and there over the past year and was now facing an opportunity to address those beliefs before they cause any destruction in my life. At this point, the moths (and my beliefs) were in the process of changing from a nuisance to a destructive force and I needed to be awake enough, alert enough, and courageous enough to do something about them.
Now comes the fun part in identifying the actual beliefs I need and want to change. They are there waiting to be discovered. Like shining a flashlight into a dim room to find the moths, it takes the light of consciousness shining at exactly the right angle to illuminate hidden beliefs. For me, part of that process involves looking at things like the symbolism of the room I found them in (my office), where I found them nesting (my father’s chair) and what I fear will happen if they go unchecked.
Interestingly, once I became aware of the personal symbolism of the moths, they then also began to appear in my dreams. The exciting part for me was dreaming that I quickly and easily eliminated the moths. Upon waking, I realized that the same would be true in waking life and that with conscious creation, I can change my beliefs just as easily.
Discovering your own daily symbolism is an extremely personal process. It takes commitment and focus to realize when something is vying for your attention and then taking the time to decipher the clues. In the conscious creation model, nothing is left to chance; you create events in your life for very specific, personal reasons. Uncovering those reasons gives you the opportunity and the flexibility to change them and honor your spirit in the process.
Are you letting others see the real you? We’re constantly presented with messages to conform: wear this and you’ll be popular; buy this and you’ll have friends; act this way and you’ll be rich! The messages are everywhere, from television to social media to our friends and family. And as we slowly give those voices credence, we lose a bit of ourselves in the process. When we allow ourselves to be covered up–physically and mentally–with everyone else’s ideals and standards, our own uniqueness starts to fade.
honoryourspirit 