Dream Angel of the Holidays 
By Lynn Seiser 

 

Everyone dreams. In fact, we all dream about every 90 minutes around the clock. Yes, those daydreams count as dreams too. They only seem less real because they do not have our full attention. At night, in sleep, we are not distracted by our normal focus of conscious awareness. The night dreams get our total undivided attention. Dreams are not limited by rules of logic. They can be very creative, entertaining, frightening, and insightful. Many cultures view the dreamtime just as real as our waking awareness. All forms of psychotherapy take dreams into account in one way or another. Usually we lose the dream content shortly after we wake up. But what if we didn’t? 

Remember Charles Dicken’s “A Christmas Carol?” Scrooge sure knew how to dream. He also knew how to learn from them. I wonder if he’d be willing to teach us? The first dream Ole Scrooge had was during the day. It was during these daydreams that he began to get an awareness of what his present state was like. He looked around and others were getting ready for the holidays, but he wasn’t. They were happy, but he wasn’t. They were with friends and family, but he wasn’t. Yes, this daydream was more of a day-mare. Scrooge, like most of us, wasn’t aware of these daydreams. He, and we, didn’t know he was being given a message from the Dream Angels. He, and we, just go on in the same old way, getting the same old results. The ones we don’t want. 

This first dream was of his present state of awareness. But, he didn’t know it. To Ole Scrooge, it was just another day of suffering and pain. He didn’t know that too was a dream he would be given the opportunity to wake up from. 

He slept through the one that would warn him of the next two. Most of us never listen to warnings either. Ever wonder how we know things are going to happen, but we don’t accept that we know until everything goes wrong? Why don’t we listen to the Dream Angel of Warning that whispers quietly to us? 

The next Dream Angel came during the night. This Dream Angel would show him his past. He was brought face to face with all the pain and suffering in his own life. He had used his past as an excuse for locking himself away. He was trying to protect his heart and keep himself safe. In reality, the excuses of his past became his own prison. They now perpetuated the pain and suffering he was trying hard to avoid. Showing him his life was no surprise, after all he had already lived through it. 

The Dream Angel of the Future had an easy job to figure out. If you take a line directly from your past and through your present, it will always let you know what direction you are heading and where you will probably end up. A painful past through a painful present will tend to equal a painful future. This is not only true for yourself, but also for everyone else around you. As much as Scrooge and we would like it to be true, we do not live alone. We live in a common-unity of time and space. The Dream Angel of the Future had to be surprised when Ole Scrooge began to really see and feel the pains of others. As Scrooge’s awareness grew, so did his compassion. He begged the Dream Angel for advice. Was there something he could do? With that, the Dream Angel disappears and Scrooge is alone again. Scrooge already knew what he needed to do and so do we. 

The nice thing about dreamtime is that it knows no restrictions of normal waking time. Scrooge discovered it was the same night. He was back in the present, in the here and now. But, he was not the same Scrooge. Somehow he managed to bring back with him the compassion he experienced. Was this just the old Scrooge still dreaming that he was different? Or, was the old Scrooge the dream, an illusion used to hide the pain? Either way, there was a new awareness of compassion. The Dream Angels had done their job well. Scrooge took this opportunity to change the present and to share the joy of the holidays and every day with those who shared the journey with him. Surprisingly, he found people to be warm and welcoming. Perhaps they had always seen his pain and suffering too.

 If the Dream Angels showed you your past and present, what future would it point towards? Is that the future you want? If so, my deep compliments. If not, you have my empathy and deep compassion. Please wake up from your dreamtime and begin to walk in a different direction. Walk towards the light of letting love in and letting love out. We are never as alone as we often feel. 

Thanks for listening, for the opportunity to be of service, and for sharing the Dream Angels of the Holiday. From me and mine, to you and yours, have a safe, healthy, and happy Holiday Season.

 Lynn Seiser, Ph.D., is an internationally respected psychotherapist in Seal Beach, CA with more than twenty years of direct clinical experience in recovery counseling for offenders and victims of violence, trauma and abuse. He is known for his work in “holistic” recovery from addictions with an emphasis on “healthy relationships”. Lynn is a consultant, speaker and writer and may be contacted at (562) 799-1371. You may check out his website at members@aol.com/SeiserL/index.html .


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