Sleep on it!

We've all heard it, maybe we have even said it, "Let me sleep on that." Well, medical science is finally on board with what we have known intuitively for most of our lives. We problem solve during sleep. Whether sleep just frees up our minds to concentrate or we receive guidance from the Divine or our higher self, this works. Here are some tips to get the most out of your problem solving dreams:

1. Write the  problem down, be brief, just a sentence or key word or two. Place this by your bed.

2. After you are in bed and ready to go to sleep, review the problem.Try to "see" the problem before you.

3.This is the important part. Tell yourself that you will dream about the problem and, YOU WILL REMEMBER what you dream       or any intuitions that come to you.

4. Keep a pen and paper by the bed. This is good to do all the time. You never know when something brilliant will come to         you at night. Don't want to miss that! 

5. When you wake, BEFORE you get out of bed*, think about any dreams or pieces of dreams you remember. Don't force this,      as that tends to push things away. Write down what you remember, even if it makes no sense to you now. You may have        an "aha" moment later in the day.

6. Don't get discouraged. It may take a few days if you are not used to remembering your dreams. You may even get insight        later in the day.

* If like me, you need to get up in the night for any reason, follow the tips in #5. You will think you you will remember it for    when you get up  in the morning. You wont!

Animal Lightworkers

I knew when I got up this morning that I was going to talk about the four-legged and the winged lightworkers of which we are surrounded. I got busy doing other stuff ( you know how time-consuming other stuff can be) and am just now sitting down to write. I am glad that I had to wait because it gave me the opportunity to read the blog (www.zenpastry.blogspot.com) of a very talented friend of mine. We were on the same wave length. You see, my friend is an awesome pastry chef and she just lost her job because her boss shut down his business to, sort of, retire. She is busting her butt off looking and applying for jobs. (If you are out there looking for a job, I am sure you sympathize.) You know how it can get you down. Her saving grace is her Puppy that makes her go outside and play with nature and her Kitty that curls up in her arms when she is on the computer searching. They both have taken to sleeping with her at night. Our pets just seem to know when we need comfort. They are, also, very good at knowing when we need protecting, and I am not just talking about keeping out the burglar or scaring away the mugger. I have a cat named Diesel. We rescued him from a no kill shelter. They had about given up on adopting him because he had two strikes against him. He was a black cat and he was six years old. But he was our first cat and we figured he could teach us how to be cat people, so home he came with us. As you can imagine, it took awhile for him to find his bearings. He is a beautiful, but somewhat aloof cat, certainly more regal that affectionate. As a healer, I sometimes find myself having to deal with the "darker" aspects of living. And sometimes, I don't protect or clear myself well enough when I am working. That leaves me open to what negativity is floating around. I have found that when this happens, I most often have to confront and deal with it in the "dreamtime". Now Diesel rarely sleeps with us, but when I am having one of those nights, I always wake up to him sleeping smack dab as close to me as he can get, literally guarding my back. As soon as sees that I am awake and alright, he gets up, stretches, and looks at me as if to say,"My job here is done". I think of him as my guardian and he has proven it time and time again.
My teacher is a horsewoman. Her horses are more than friends and companions, they are like her children. When she lost Cowboy during the winter, she was devastated. She did not know what she would do without him. She has since found out that he has come back to her in the form of a Spirit Guardian and Guide, continuing to comfort and help her as he did in life. What a gift!
So, pay a little more attention to the care you get from your pet when you are feeling down and out. I think you will see what I am talking about. Maybe your dog isn't Lassie, but how good is it to have your own Lightworker just dying to get in your lap. Bright Blessings!