My word for 2021 is shift. Like everyone I know, I’ve learned a lot, since this time last year. One of the biggest things I’ve learned is that change and uncertainty just are. Since I’m not in control of much more than which yoga pants, Zoom-appropriate top, and slippers I’ll wear each day, I needed to figure out how I could deal with all the change and uncertainty. That’s where shifting comes in.
For me, shifts involve acceptance and adjustment. I know I don’t have much control, but I have unlimited choices. I can shift.
Some of my recent shifts have been pretty significant. Some have been tiny. Some haven’t happened, yet. And I’m sure I’ll make a lot of shifts I can’t even imagine.
I dream a lot while I sleep. Not always, but often my dreams are lucid. For years, I had a recurring lucid dream that centered around my trying to drive across a bridge that had a very wide opening in the middle of it. So, each time I approached the bridge, I’d have to back up, rev my car engine, hoping I could make it across the gap in the bridge. I never crashed, but I never made it across the bridge, either. I haven’t had that dream in years, that I can remember.
In recent years, I’ve had a recurring lucid dream that’s centered around my traveling, always with different people I know. When it’s time for me to show my passport, I realize I don’t have it. And there’s no time to get it before our plane leaves. I feel devastated. I’m always relieved when I realize it’s a dream and usually move on to some other dream segment.
That dream returned this week. I was traveling with my dad to Norway. I don’t need a dream analyst to help me figure out why. What would have been Dad’s 100th birthday was this week and Norway was his favorite place he ever visited.
So, we get to the point to show our passports and I, of course, can’t find mine. This is where the shift happened. Dad rubbed my shoulder, telling me it would all be OK. I realized I was dreaming and wake up for who knows how long. For the first time ever, I return to the same time and place in the dream, when I go back to sleep. Dad’s showing me where I’d stashed my passport in my backpack. He gently held my face, like he did when I was a little girl. We boarded the plane to Norway. And it was all OK.
This is the first time I’ve made a subconscious shift. I’m sure grateFULL for it though.
I wonder if I’ll ever have that ‘lost passport’ dream again. I wonder what kind of bridge I crossed while awake, to stop having that ‘bridge crossing’ dream. I wonder what my next recurring lucid dream will center around. And I wonder if you’ve ever experienced a shift like this?
Lisa’s Cheap Therapy blog 
What a blessing to have such a clear and beautiful dream! My current shift is about being I. The process of realizing a long held goal to renovate my home interior-floors, kitchen and fresh paint, along with some lighting and fireplace improvements. Of course, getting there means packing almost everything I own to get it out of the way. A humbling experience (oh! The overbuying!) an archaeological experience (oh the family history and the many past avatars of myself!) a cleansing (carloads of donations of books, clothing and household stuff) a treasure hunt – would you look at that! It is exhausting, shaming, inspiring, and it requires many, many decisions every day. I feel so fortunate to have this opportunity to clean up and pare down before I leave a mountain of “stuff” to my kids completely unedited. I feel times winged chariot driving down on all my thousands of project ideas. I feel as if there will be a continual stream of shifts to make just within my own home. I hope one day to return to time with space for “passport” insights, beyond this flood of decisions.
Wow, Penny! It sounds like you’re not only in the midst of some huge shifts, but preparing for even more. I send you all that is good and look forward to your sharing even more of these shifts with us. Thanks!