I was a visitor in a new land. This land that I was in was actually quite old. It was tropical and there was no materialism at least not in the way that we normally experience. There was no television, no expensive items, no cars, no planes, just the people and the land and the a struggle to survive in a way that I was not used to. I can still see the trees and the edge of the land that was being met by water that was vast and choppy and seemed impossible to cross. I found it quite interesting, the vast difference between it and our world. I was talking to a friend of mine who also found himself there, but he was no longer a visitor like me. He was living there on a more permenant basis, even though he was from where I was from. He seemed to not have a means of returning to the land where we are from which is this world where we are now. I was explaining the differences that I noticed between this land and the one that we are in. It seemed that he could not quite understand where I was coming from.
I told my friend that time was much different in this new old place than where we come from. It seemed to have a much longer lasting quality. I did not know if I liked the lack of conveniences that I had become used to, but I knew that I did like the difference in the quality of the time, and the peace of the region. My friend missed the conveniences too and was not sure if he agreed with the rest of my comments. He seemed to feel that too much time and energy were spent on survival and the rest of the time was spent on in many ways, just being bored. He said he would have rather been back to our world back here where we came from. And I must say I understood exactly what he meant. I did not want to struggle the way we were struggling, and did not want to miss out on many of the conveniences that I have in this life I live. I also felt as though if I was back in my old life I would appreciate my wonderful life and make the most of it with my family and friends along with the conviences, technologies, etc. I would never take it for granted and be more focused on my growth and mission in life. And then I woke up back here.
I decided that I needed to talk to my guru Mr. Ambrister. He made his transition about ten years ago, and at times I will see him in meditation or dream. These are cherished times that I appreciate and hold on to. They remind me just how deep this life is. Today was one of those mornings that I had the need to see him and know that he is still with me. So when it was time to meditate, prior to repeating my mantra, I talked to Mr. Ambrister in my mind, just like he was in the room.
Within moments he was there with me, not in the room, we were at his house and then other places. I could see him as I sat there with my eyes closed. It was like I was in a dream and awake at the same time. The next thing I knew I was in a conversation with his teacher Dr. Thind, who was giving me some advice. Part of what I got from the conversation is that we are beyond time and space. You would think that I totally got that if I was talking to him, considering that he passed when I was about 2 years old, but what he was saying was so deep that I was just barely grasping it. Shortly after that, I was with my teacher again, talking with him, first as I knew him as Mr. Ambrister, and then as he is now in a whole new situation. I was with him there too in this new life and knew the role I was to play there with him. It was pretty cool to see.
Here’s the thing. I had a lot of things on my mind that I was quite concerned about before the meditation. I had concerns both in my personal and business life that I must admit were beginning to get the best of me. When I found myself with my teacher and his teacher, I did not get any direct answers as to what to do about any of my problems. At least not that I can remember. But after being there and knowing once again that I am beyond time and space and that I have a special part to play in this life, all my problems seemed like nothing, and quite easy to move beyond.
Peace and Blessings
Craig
English: Wayne County Community College Fort St Detroit MI (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Question: I am starting to realize that our dreams tell us a lot and can guide us. My problem is that
Good Dreams (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
lately I don’t remember my dreams as much. Do you have any suggestions?
Craig: That is a trip. I was planning on that being the subject of my next post. I will take this as a sign to post this question and answer right away. This question used to come up quite a bit when I was teaching meditation classes at Wayne County Community College.
My suggestion is first to keep a note pad next to your bed. When you wake up in the morning, don’t let your feet hit the floor. Try to remember your dream first. Write down anything you remember, even if it is only a portion of the dream. If you don’t remember any of the dream at all, then write down how you felt either in the dream or when you first woke up. This must all happen as soon as you wake up. Do this daily. When students would try this, to their surprise they would remember their dreams and come back the next week talking about their dreams.
Questioner: That makes perfect sense.
Craig: Yea, the idea is to not start your day until you pay attention to your dream. That’s why I say don’t let your feet hit the floor until you take the steps I described. Once you get up and start thinking about what you have to do and get into the grove of this waking dream (your daily life) it is too easy to forget about what you experienced while your were asleep.
Question: I had a dream in which I found myself walking outside of my friend’s house and getting shot. I didn’t just get shot. I got shot a whole bunch of times. What do you think this means?
Craig: Are you still hanging out with that rough crowd here and there?
Questioner: Yea actually I was with them at the time and whenever I have dreams like this, I am always with them.
Craig’s answer: You are being shown a future possibility. The future is not carved out in stone, it often depends on if we go in this direction or that direction as to which future time space event you will find yourself in during this waking experience. You were being shown what will happen if you continue to hang out with that group.
Since you have been meditating you have been being spiritually cleaned up. Your higher self and God within, is working on you, trying to get you to take heed and move in a different direction. You have come a long way already, but now it is time to make the tough choices and move further. Your life depends on it. Do not take this lightly. When your higher self speaks and gives such information in dream, pay attention.
Remember this is only a future possibility, if you shy away from this group, you will not have this experience. You will move into an entirely different future with much more pleasant outcomes.
Dynamic tranquility: the Buddha in contemplation. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
This morning a good friend and meditation student of mine called me to ask “what is the thought for today? He said He can’t get to the internet today to read the blog, but he felt like he needed to hear today’s thought. It was quite early and I had not even begun to think or write, so I just said what was on my mind. My answer was “do what you have to do to experience good karma.”
I told him if you meditate regularly, think about God the Universe and your lessons. If you go through life asking questions, sincerely trying to grow, you will have good karma. You will find yourself getting answers and guidance everywhere you go. Even when you sleep at night you will find yourself having dreams in which you will learn information that would normally take years to digest, just from seeing a quick vision in a dream. It may be something as simple as seeing someone walking down the street and as they are walking you are feeling what they feel, thinking what they think and then you wake up. But when you awaken you feel like you have all this incredible knowledge about them, you, life, your relation to everyone and everything, and how you are going to move through your life. You also will know that everything you need in life will magically show up as you need it. When this happens you are experiencing the good karma. It is no accident, it comes on account of your focus.
Craig
Dream About Me (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
I had a dream of sorts the other morning. I guess you could call it a day-dream because I was awake, and then suddenly I had this dream. I was even awake during the dream and thinking about what it meant as I was having it.
In the dream I saw someone who had made their transition. As I was watching I was being told that he should be dressed well because sometimes the soul will get up and function right after passing and will be clothed as he was clothed in life. Then I saw him living out a similar life in a different dimension. I was reminded of how my teacher Mr. Ambritster would say “where you go in the hereafter, depends on what you go hereafter.”
For some time afterwards, this was all I could think about. I did not think about it in the same sense of the dream alone. I thought about how that happens right here right now. However you want to be in the future, you need to be that way right now. You want to be a writer, be one now. You want to be a preacher, be one now, and improve accordingly. Wherever you want to be you should be functioning in that arena in some way, on whatever level you can start on right now and you will automatically be there in the future. This is karma 101. What you put out comes back, 10 fold, 20 fold or 100 fold, depending on how much you move into to that place, now, and the now’s to come.
Craig
Image via Wikipedia
Craig: Not too long ago I did a post titled Miracle Yes or No. Your comment caught my attention and for some time I’ve been meaning to ask you to elaborate. You said you had just recently exorcised a reoccurring dream after admitting something to yourself and God that you previously were not willing to face. I wondered if you minded elaborating on the experience.
Mark: Sure, I had this reoccurring dream off and on for almost 20 years. In the dream, a witch was chasing me. I was literally running trying to get away. Every time I had the dream the witch would get closer to catching me. I felt like the witch was the devil coming for me. Finally the witch caught me, put in a boiling pot and was cooking me. I felt like I knew why it was happening, but I guess I never wanted to admit why. I felt that it had to do with some dirt, something I am not proud of that I did years ago when I was much younger. Eventually I talked to a friend, who is a very spiritual person, and my friend suggested that maybe I needed to ask God for forgiveness. I decided to do just that. I asked God for forgiveness and even forgave myself. I had the dream one more time. This time when the witch caught me and put me in the pot, it turned into meadow filled with beautiful flowers, and I knew I was forgiven. I never had the dream again.
Craig: That’s interesting. So you had been living with this nightmare plaguing you for years?
Mark: Yeah, and in the back of my head I knew what it was about, but on some level I didn’t, because I did not want to face what I had done.
Craig: This points to something I have felt for some time. I believe that these dreams we have are no accident and that they are connected to a lesson. Once we get the lesson we can move to a higher ground, both in our dreams and in our waking life. It sounds like your lesson was that you had to face up and repent. It also sounds like a part of you, and God, was not going to leave you alone until it you did ask for forgiveness.
In addition I noticed that you must have considered getting past the dream, and the dream becoming positive, a miracle. Is this the case?
Mark: Yes. You have to remember that I was dealing with this nightmare for about 20 years, and as soon as I faced up and repented, it changed. It felt like a miracle. It was not just the changing of the dream and me no longer having the dream that I consider to be a miracle. It was also God putting it on my mind for me to make the change that I considered to be a miracle also.
Craig: I agree. I also believe that this says, that on some level we actually play a part as to whether we experience a miracle or not, depending on how we approach our situations and whether we choose to bring in and trust God, or a higher power, in the midst of our situation or dilemma.
Mark: I agree. Maybe in some way we help bring about the miracles when they come. As a matter of fact, I think this is very significant. Miracles don’t just have to come about by accident. We can actually help them come about, and get from point A to Z, by doing our due diligence.
Craig: Thank you Mark. I really enjoyed this. I think it is important for us to see how everyday people like you and me can move past difficult situations into positive ones and even be active participants towards experiencing miracles in our own lives.
Mark: Thank you for having me. I agree, we have to focus on the positive and put in our work to receive our miracles. I look forward to reading this when it comes out.
Image via Wikipedia
Last night, into this morning, I was beginning to slip. I was getting down and loosing my enthusiasm. I was not excited about life. This happens from time to time, and for me it is an agonizing thing. I am the type of person who always has to be excited with something I am looking forward to. I must have a quest or adventure. For me, it also helps if I can see part of the mystery of The Universe along the way. Along with my adventure. I need to feel my connection and oneness with the Universe. A few hours or a day of not having this will tear me apart. As I said. I was beginning to slip. I went to bed early, feeling like something was missing.
This morning I awakened to my 5-year-old son Jordan coming in the room. As I walked him back to his room he told me “I had a dream it was my sister’s birthday.” I asked him which sister, because he has two, Mylan and Taylor. He said “my sister Taylor.” I was surprised. This was the first time Jordan has shared a dream with me that was not a rare nightmare, him being 5 and all. I proceeded to ask him a question or two, but all I got was it was her birthday and she had a party.
I walked away thinking, once again, that “here lately everybody seems to be telling me about their dreams. Now, even people in my life who don’t know that I interpret dreams are talking to me about them.” Then I began to think about my book I am writing on dreams. My next thought was “what time is it? I really want to go back to bed.” I looked at the clock. It was 5:40 A.M. Then I went to the bathroom. I thought “man would it be cool if I got a miracle and the time changed to 4:40 giving me another hour before my early morning reflection time.” Then I thought “that would be a super miracle, to happen again.” When I went into the other room it was 5:43. No super miracle for me. Now I was debating once again “do I go back to sleep or get up, meditate, write and reflect?” I chose to sleep until 6:30 and still have 30 minutes of free time before getting Jordan ready for school. When I laid down, all I could think about was Jordan’s dream. “Why did he tell me about it?” It felt like it was meant to be for a reason. There was not much to interpret. Then a thought hit me “what if it was not about interpreting his dream for him? What if it was about how it related to me getting up and writing more in my book about dreams? What if his dream came into my world, my waking dream, as a sign for me? What if it came in my life to remind me that” “this is what you are supposed to be doing Dad? It’s already past 5:30.” As I thought about all of this, my life felt very dreamlike and connected. I opened up my manuscript to another book I am working on that I open up randomly every morning to get my message for the day. It was relating a story about how my sister’s cat woke me up at the exact time I needed years ago. I elaborated on the story and then thought “this is the same thing that happened with Jordan this morning. I didn’t need an alarm clock to get me up. My 5-year-old son came and got me, practically saying “Dad it’s time to get up. You know I had a dream last night. Aren’t you supposed to be writing about such things at this moment?” As I thought about all of this, I felt so alive. I knew it was because I was doing what I was supposed to be doing, meditating, writing and reflecting first thing in the morning. I was back in my place. Later this morning, I was reminded about the principal message in the movie Hugo, which I happened to see yesterday. That message is, we must do what we are meant to do with our lives. If I try to stop even for half a day, I feel like I am dying. Think about it. What gives you life?
Thank you for reading
Craig Kimbrough