Yesterday I went to therapy and it was one of those rare times where the session and my spiritual beliefs came together perfectly. (Yes, I go to therapy. Remember, I wrote about it before?) I have started having a recurring nightmare involving me getting caught up in a tidal wave. In all of the dreams I can see the wave coming and it is huge! I’m talking several stories high!
Scary stuff right??
I had the first of these dreams a while ago. Then I had two more dreams within the last two weeks. These dreams are really killing the serene feeling I usually get when I think of a day at the beach.
When I thought about these dreams I focused in on how I thought they represented how overwhelmed and in over my head I feel at times. How often I feel like I’m drowning in the pressures of life.
The therapist helped me to see the dreams differently. She pointed out that the dreams are actually improving. The first time I had the dream I ended up in the water. The last two times I did not. As a matter of fact, in the 2nd to last dream I actually made it to safety. In the last dream I had just realized I was going to make it out of danger when I woke up. She also found it very interesting that one of my aunts named Faith was in the dream. She said that often when we dream our subconscious self is trying to tell us something.
She asked me what did I think it meant that in the latter dreams I was safe or knew that I would be safe and how I thought faith came into play. When she asked me about the dreams in that context it made perfect sense. Regardless of the different worries and anxieties I may experience, I am still very certain that in the end everything will work out. My spiritual beliefs allow me to have a certain amount of optimism that in the end I will be ok. I know that God loves me, He hears all of my prayers, and He will always be with me.
My Faith is what reminds me that no matter how deep the trouble waters may be and how overwhelmed and in over my head I may feel, it is only temporary. Everything will be ok in the end. The lesson for me to learn is how to not get so caught up in the stresses of the moment that I forget that my faith has already dictated that I will be ok. That God has made me smart enough, strong enough, brave enough, intuitive enough, and every other enough to get through difficulties and come out on the brighter side of life. I must keep the big picture in mind even when the current situation is overwhelming.
How do you focus on long term outcomes when short term issues are stressing you out? Do you believe that overall you will have a good life? How does your spiritual beliefs factor in to how you deal with every day stresses?
Wow! I believe that God (or the Universe or whatever it is that you believe in) speaks to us through our dreams. The best thing you did when you had these reoccurring dreams is to listen to your gut and your heart and let the message sink in. It's so wonderful that you can find comfort in dreams that at first seemed very scary, but now you know (like deep down in your gut) that everything will be okay because God directly told you so – how cool! 🙂 Loved this post and thanks for sharing your story. Sometimes I have dreams like this too, but mostly it's about other people – very close friends that I have a strong connection too…and usually I'm dreaming about something causing them anxiety in their life and through the dreams I can provide them comfort and let them know all is going to be okay! Hope that doesn't sound strange lol!