Strawberry Dreams

One night, I had a dream of wandering through an old, abandoned house, reminiscent of my teenage years. The house, neglected and empty, whispered stories of its past inhabitants. A chair, worn smooth from countless sitters, sat in a corner, while delicate cobwebs draped the walls like lace. As I wandered through its dim-lit rooms, with faded paint and clutter everywhere, I noticed beautiful details—the intricate patterns etched in the hardwood floors. I wondered, "How did I not see the potential in this place before? This could be transformed into something special.”

As I entered another cobweb-covered room, the fading light illuminated the space. I noticed an old buffet against the far wall. My eyes were drawn to a plate of strawberries nestled under a glass dome, ripe and unspoiled, as if preserved through the decades. Their surreal presence atop the buffet captivated me. I marveled at how they remained untouched and preserved, patiently waiting to be discovered. And then I awoke.

As I lay in bed, I wondered about the strawberries and the message they held for me. Ripe strawberries often symbolize the fruit of our talents and goals, just waiting to be picked. Within our hearts and souls, we hold a multitude of gifts and talents, patiently awaiting our discovery. Our potential and gifts may be neglected or forgotten, but they are never lost. They sit quietly within us, urging us to seek them out and rediscover their presence. In dreams, the subconscious whispers truths we might overlook in waking life, guiding us to the hidden treasures within ourselves. And once discovered we must make the effort to lift the “dome off the strawberries” to fully partake in the journey and embrace the blessings they have to offer.

Our dreams are windows to our inner landscape, bringing symbolic messages from our subconscious mind. Recent scientific findings suggest that our conscious mind uses only 5% of our brain, while the other 95% is driven by the subconscious. The subconscious tracks around 11 million bits of information per second, gathering vast amounts of data throughout the day, while the conscious mind processes about 40 bits per second. When we sleep, the subconscious mind analyzes this data. We constantly ask ourselves questions and seek answers throughout the day. Oftentimes, the answers are right in front of us, but we fail to notice them. Dream images can be the subconscious mind’s way of bringing some of this information to the attention of the conscious mind. When you wake up from a dream thinking, "What a crazy dream, what was that all about?" realize that your subconscious mind may be trying to tell you something.

I have found answers to many of my questions by exploring the symbolism in my dreams. You can look up the meanings of symbols from your dreams and see which explanations resonate with you. If you dream about an animal, such as a buffalo, try searching for "meaning of buffalo totem" – totems are well-recognized symbolic meanings for different animals, birds, and insects. Totems are based on the physical and behavioral characteristics of the animal, which can explain the presence of the animal in our dream and provide wisdom to answer our questions.

Remember, the subconscious mind takes in much more information than the conscious mind, the language it uses to communicate is mainly in symbols. These symbolic messages offer a simple way to convey what would otherwise be too much information for the conscious mind to process at once. This symbolism encourages you to quiet your mind, move into your heart center, and contemplate the meaning being presented to you. This allows you to use your intuition rather than your analytical mind to understand the answers you seek.

Happy dreaming, Valerie

Copyright 2024 Restoring Light, all rights reserved

Artwork by Valerie Greguire all rights reserved