Knowing the Way.

It’s difficult for people to believe in past lives.  The concept of reincarnation would have to be proven scientifically for the people-of-today to actually commit to it.   I think that many open-minded individuals think that it’s possible and will even admit: “It makes sense.”  Yet, rare are those who actually live their personal story considering what is outside their present day box. 

For years I remember telling my elders and teachers that I couldn’t wrap my mind around something that I wasn’t sure of.  It took years to figure out that my issue wasn’t in my inability to prove that past lives exists; but actually rather in attempting to “wrap my mind around it.”  In fact all it took in the end was for me to trust the process of remembering.

Every day I get at least one email from a dreamer who wants to know why he or she can’t remember his or her dreams.  After I’ve gone through the list of potential reasons why someone may not be remembering their dreams (shift in sleeping patterns, excess stress, difficulty with digestion or healing from illness etc…) I often tell people that often changes in patterns are due to changes in attitudes or perspective.  I explain how something so simple as focusing always on an end result rather than the journey itself could have an impact on memory.  

Rather than always looking for the final outcome start exploring the different details; which bring you there.  You'll be surprised at how much you can shift reality just by shifting perspective. 

Memories are first created or encoded; second, they are stored; and finally, they are retrieved.  One day, EC (teacher / elder) and I were landscaping together. She had this beautiful Butterfly bush (as she called it), and she cared for it daily.  Every time we’d focus on the bush – she would remember phenomenal stories from a distant past, or from her childhood and family life.  It’s as if she stored her most precious memories in the bush.  In time I learnt that her name was Amagas (Butterfly in her language) and that her whole life story revolved around Butterflies and the bushes; which attract them.  Indeed she had woven through this reality her whole personal story.

There are themes or details in life; which basically represent us and our attitudes, path and purpose.  It's by nurturing these themes and details that we create an encoding and storing system that is literally full proof for an expanding consciousness.

Scientifically, the concept of encoding memories relates to stimuli (senses and emotions).  We tend to remember things that are remarkable whereas details often escape us.  Where this may be true for most it isn’t true for everyone. For example, my grandfather loved fishing.  He could describe every sunset or sunrise from different angles and rivers. 

He was an amazing storyteller and he often said: “I can hear the story unfold as I watch the details fall into place.” 

For him encoding memory came from his passion of sharing it.  He was someone who prepared the story in advance so to speak… His love of people and his talent in performance fine-tuned his ability to remember.

Feeding passions and empowering emotions helps the memory process.  Rather than always focusing on the negative and giving energy to complaining we should intentionally develop depth in our lives. We'd be surprised by its power of manifestation. 

When I started learning about dreaming, my teacher quite literally told me to sense, feel and experience the dream.  Be part of it rather than just witness it like someone who is looking to be entertained.  If I wanted to remember my dreams I had to learn to encode them; store them; and retrieve them.  In fact, most people tend to believe that this process comes naturally.  Most individuals wouldn’t know the first thing on how to become pro-active in the process of remembering. 

Where we may think we "receive dreams" from the Dream Time, we may also want to consider the fact that we are also pro-Creator of them.  By adopting healthy and sacred attitudes and behaviours we contribute to the kind of dreams we'd like to receive.  If anything dreaming helped me to understand that I need to be a participant in my life if I don't want to constantly be burden with impositions.

Life has changed so much in the last 100 years that we are just starting to realize how much of these changes are affecting human nature.   Think about it:  We approach everything as if it’s a computer, a television or a screen.  We have a difficult time listening to our life partners, friends or even our children because they aren’t captivating like the actors on TV.  We now have expectations towards what we’d like to hear…  

With an epidemic of dementia amongst elders we have become conscious of the fact that even memories are being affected by the changes in humanity.  Is it easier to believe in technology than it is to believe in the soul and its travels through time?  

Ironically, a computer doesn’t doubt its memory of its origins…

The way I see it, memories are still stored away waiting to be retrieved and until we've stopped doing that there's hope for the Sacred Circle.  I don't like the idea of walking a straight line and never getting anywhere.  I'm a strong believer that life / dreams / memories knot at some point and become circles.  I've lived enough Sacred Circles to understand how precious they are:  They illuminate, they bring forth consciousness, and meaning to every breath we've taken through life times.  It makes no sense to me to be inconsistent.  If I believe in memory, in dreams, in life -- then, I need to be living it from every different angle, in every little detail and expand to see every perspective. 

It's really not about having opinions.  It's about knowing the way!