Gateway Dreaming

I’ve been doing dreamwork since 1997 (crazy, I know!) but when Denise first offered her wonderful course Gateway Dreaming in 2010, I knew I wanted to be there. Denise said, “Oh, Patti, you don’t need this course”, but I knew this was wrong and it was possibly the ONLY time Denise has ever been wrong! I’ve been a Gateway Dreaming Mentor ever since. This course is for anyone who wants to explore their dreams, for themselves or to help others do the same.                      

For your consideration, three thought patterns that may be getting in your way: Gateway Dreaming can help you work with dreams and run dream groups even though you feel like an impostor, you think you don’t know enough, and you think you’re a “nothing special” dreamer! I offer the following with “gold nuggets”:                                     

1. I Am An IMPOSTOR

When you think of leading a group but every time you first hear a dream you think that you have no idea what that means, do not despair; you are in great company. Many seasoned dream workers have these thoughts too. The Gateway Dreaming course teaches that you do not have to “interpret” dreams for the dreamer. You need to create a safe space where the dream details are safe to share, emotions and life details are held in confidence, and where the sacred can reside.

Gold Nugget: You will NEVER know all there is to know.
This is liberating and sometimes takes the form of “act as if,” which helps you get past the kicking and screaming of your personality, but mostly it frees you. It allows you to relax, knowing you really do know enough and what you don’t know, you know how to find out. What you DO need to know, however, is how to create a safe container for the mystery of your client’s dreams to unfold. To listen to a dream and help the dreamer draw on their own experience and wisdom, is golden!     

2. I’m a “Nothing Special” Dreamer

This negative self-talk sounds something like this: “I only have ordinary dreams. I don’t have precognitive dreams with information about my future, or anybody’s future for that matter. I’ve never been able to have lucid dreams, nor have I ever astral traveled (that I’m aware of). I have no shamanic skills in Underworld Navigation….”What does your self-talk sound like?         

Gold Nugget: There are extraordinary gold nuggets in every so-called “ordinary” dream.
Every “ordinary” dream fragment contains the whole of who we are and even the so-called average dreams contain everything we need to know, reflecting concerns of body, mind, emotions and spirit in order to grow. As a dream worker, you do NOT have to be a Dreaming Wonder so much as a curious and passionate lover of dreams. In dream groups, curiosity does NOT kill the cat, and in fact, is a quality to admire. Be curious.                        

3. Letting Go- Surrendering-Even When You’re Good at Holding On

Plans are good, yet letting go of the need to be perfect in the execution of your plan is even better. Do you lean towards the need for perfection? Do you get upset when your plans are thwarted? When my dream groups were new, I would plan and plan but at some point, I had to stop and listen to the group, taking the group’s pulse and listening to what they wanted and needed. In this way, often in spite of my best-laid plans for the group, I learned to surrender the need to control through my meticulously prepared lesson plans. Gateway Dreaming lets dreams lead the way.                

Gold Nugget: Plan and plan, then let go of the need for your plans to unfold perfectly. Expectations can become premature resentments.
This applies to the details of organizing a group, as well as the details of group facilitation. Who attends, how often, the structure of the group may be altered according to the needs and personality of the group and all this matters, but letting go, makes room for the unexpected.

Gateway Dreaming is for all dreamers, who are willing to pass through the gateway of dreams and surrender to the truth of their soul.