From a Shamanic point of view, what you call reality is really just a Dreaming. You have likely heard this before, possibly from me, but what does that really mean? If you have done much reading on dreamwork, you know that, more often than not, dreams are a way for the mind to process our lives. So this Dreaming is a way for you to process your internal struggles and experience. Your external experience of the world will always be a reflection of what’s going on internally for you. Your internal process or struggle will affect your actions, and will also be mirrored back at you by the world.

On one level, yes, you view everything through your filters, and being in a negative space will cause you to see the negatives around you; this is one reason gratitude lists are so powerful – they shift your perspective and, therefore, your experience. On an entirely different level, however, the world is going to reflect back at you what you are working on. So if you struggle with self-worth, which may show up in your actions as not prioritizing self-care, it may also get mirrored back at you as your money flow slowing down, or getting a lot of push back about your prices, or getting passed over for a raise.

If you are struggling with time, which is a combination of lack of faith in the Universe (to be a perfectly functioning machine) and the illusion of lack (which is actually the illusion of the absence of the Divine), your internal messaging is going to be one of “I don’t have enough time.” This is going to manifest outwardly as anxiety and control issues. And it will be mirrored back at you by constantly being thwarted – traffic jams, long lines, and general delays that are out of your control. To change your relationship with time, act as if (and keep repeating to yourself the affirmation that) you have all the time in the world. Exercise your willpower and allow the Universe to prove itself to you. “Ok, Universe,” you might say, “I’m going to allow for the idea that I might really have all the time in the world. I am going to trust that I will arrive at this next engagement at exactly the right time.” Understand that what you might think is the right time is not, in fact, the right time. The right time may be incredibly better than what your earthly, limited self could have imagined.

I was reading the newsletter from a business coach I quite like, and I realized I have been allowing illusions about time and self worth to take me out of my routine of a day of rest. As an aside, a day of rest has deep spiritual and traditional roots. If you take a day off of busying and external “have tos”, you create more space in your life, you restrict the ego (thereby allowing more space for the Divine), you refocus your priorities, and you give yourself better access to gratitude. By getting out of a Day of Rest, I devalued Spirit and I devalued myself. My health and well-being (emotional and mental, as well as physical) suffered, and it was being reflected in my finances.

Second aside – Since money is nothing more than a representation of an exchange of energy, it’s a great metric for how energy is flowing in your life. Allow it to be a metric of your flow, rather than a goal, and you will have a much better relationship with it.

So the solution to all the issues I have been experiencing (pretty much all of my challenges currently are wrapped up in this) is to re-establish a Day of Rest. I’m going to have to carve it out, because I have allowed other things to take over my schedule, instead of my exercising discipline and scheduling myself more mindfully and with trust.

Where are the issues in your life? What are you struggling with, internally and externally? What information has the Universe been putting in front of you again and again? Where are your current patterns and frustrations?

Reach out, if you want help. I’ll be seeing clients in person in Atwater Village on Monday afternoons, and via video on Tuesdays. I may be available on other days, and possibly even other locations, but those are your two best options.