The Floating Spirit

After handwashing the pan used for cooking my breakfast, I turned from the sink and hung it on its peg on the wall. As I walked away, a flicker of light caught my eye. A bubble! The size of a toddler's fingertip, it floated six inches in front of me and almost as far above my head. Fluidly and languidly, it bounced on every movement of the air. I played with that air. Gently waving my hand above it, under it, in front of it, behind it, the bubble moved liquidly on an invisible river. Not only my flitting hands moved the tiny rainbow shimmer, but also my breath and, of course, every movement of my body.

As I paused in the midst of my delight, I thought, how like the currents of my life were the dances of this bubble! Every movement it made was influenced by every movement of the air around which in turn was influenced by the movement of all in its environment. Connected to all. A fantastic floating spirit.

It was a good thing that no one was in the kitchen to see me as I stood in fascination with mouth agape and eyes alight. My entire being was electric with thoughts, ideas, feelings, images, dreams. Every atom focused on that teeny rainbow flicker. My only wish was to have a way to record all that was happening within me as I observed what was fleetingly happening.

Some of the thoughts and images, though brief and random, have remained with me. The first was simply awe. How often do we relax into the opportunity to feel awe?There are moments when I allow awe to sweep over me: a beautiful sunrise over the mountains on my drive to work; the first sweep of Spring flower blossoms; the delight of discovery shining in a child's eyes. Yet those are often only moments in the midst of moving on to do something else. Even so, I hope to always breathe a quick "thank you" for the nudge that awakens me to noticing it.

What was the last time you felt the sweep of awe? What do you recall of that moment? How often do you feel awe? Can you recall the sensations in your body? the responses in your mind? the focus of your soul?

Dancing with Gumby

I woke one recent morning from a dream of dancing. The beat of the music was captivating, the dance floor full, the light softly glowing. The band was on a step-up stage not very far in front of me. As I looked across at my dance partner, I saw a rubbery and smooth movement from almost prone on the floor to full standing in front of me. My partner was also kind of green. I started to giggle as I realized that I was dancing with Gumby.

My giggling probably woke me up. Really? Dancing with Gumby? What does that mean? I felt happy ~ there was a bubbling sensation that remained even after the giggles stopped.

My daughter played with Gumby and Pokey at one of our favorite breakfast places when she was a toddler. I knew, and still know, very little about the characters. So I was surprised to find Gumby could dance so well and was my dance partner.

As I was curious about this fun dream, I decided to re-enter it at a later time. My goal was to find the meaning..... or one meaning. Sometimes there are many. When I did the re-entry, I discovered that more of those on the dance floor were either characters of some sort or in costume. I couldn't make out the specifics of the costumes so I did not find out what other characters may have been there. What I eventually noticed was that I was also 'in costume' ~ I wore a tulle skirt that floated around me like my own miniature cloud. Underneath the skirt, I wore light blue leggings or tights. I also wore a woven jacket of some sort.

After observing all of this, my mind asked my dream self why I was dressed as I was.
Dream Self: Because it's comfy. Besides the skirt floats when I dance.
Mind: Why are we here?
Dream Self: We were invited, silly! Don't you remember?
Mind: No. Tell me more.
Dream Self: Things are changing. There is a great celebration happening. It's time to dance. It's time to be with others who are like us.
Mind: Who are these others?
Dream Self: Others with gifts. Others expressing their creative, deeper selves. Others practicing being heroic by being seen. We're here to support each other.
Mind: That sounds good. Is it just one time? or can we return here?
Dream Self: We can return here whenever we need or want to. It's the place where we remember our creativity. That's why it's important.
Then my Dream Self danced away from me. I knew our conversation was done. For the moment.

I like that I was dancing with Gumby. I enjoyed hearing that one meaning of the dream was that it was a safe place to practice creativity, to allow room for the less staid side of me to flow. I hope to return there again in the future!

Have you had dreams with characters in them? from TV shows or movies or books? How did you feel in the dream? How did you feel when you woke up? Have you ever attempted to re-enter a dream? What did you find out? What would be your interpretation of the character/s in your dream/s?