Shoe Dreams on My Dream Quest Path

A Report on a Dream Quest

By L.S. King

Shoes. Not only do they permeate my closet, but they make random appearances in my dreams. The refrains of distant clichés haunt me. If the shoe fits, wear it. Waiting for the other shoe to drop. Walk a mile in my shoes.

It is not just one type of shoe. Canvas shoes, heels, hiking boots and point ballet slippers have been begun to appear in my dreams.

One might think the focus of my dream quest was all about my dilemma of which kind of hiking boot I should buy for a recent backpacking trip.

Should I go with a cloth-based shoe that dries fast or a Gore-Tex lined boot that keeps the feet dry?  But this was never really a dilemma.

I knew I wanted the latter, even if the shoe salesman did not want to sell me a pair.

The focus of my dream quest, on which I embarked using Henry Reed's Dream Solutions dream quest guidebook, was a little deeper than the qualms of my shoe issues.

It originated with my trying to find ways to accept my roles in the past to help me be the person I know I can be –worldly, kind, and honest. For many years, my life has been lived somewhat out of balance with the duality of yin and yang.

Though I have done many good things, I also have my share of truly awful deeds. The latter has continued to bring guilt and remorse, which may hinder me, because rather than dealing with it all, I just let it fester.

It was not until the past few years that I began to realize I could be a person dedicated to kindness and helping others. However, at times, there is a rift when the balance seems to sway towards a more self-centered version of myself.

Throughout the experience of dream interpretation, the focus became more refined. When I began, my focus was more centered upon releasing and dealing with my past, but I think that was actually secondary.

The true focus of the dream quest was to find a healthy balance of the ideal and the human me. After the first week, the focus changed so that rather than releasing the past, I needed to examine my internal sense of security, including how I dealt with it before, and use that as a guide to improve my self-confidence, honesty, and warmth toward others.

The third week advanced this focus even more by guiding me to look at the past as a learning experience. I could use it to help me not make the same mistakes again, lettting emotion make all my decisions; otherwise the guilt and bad choices might continue.

Balance comes from tempering the heart with the mind. It was not until the forth week that I realized the focus of my quest was truly about balancing my heart and mind and considering both to make decisions that would increase my self-esteem and positive feelings about myself.

As the understanding of the focus of my dream quest evolved, my best guess solutions to helping me resolve my issues of balance shifted as well. My first best guess solution involved being aware of situations that had any resemblance to those in my past and recalling the outcome. What was my role, and was I happy in my behavior?

If I was not, what was it that I could do better in this new opportunity? This also precipitated my looking at what motivated me in the past and seeing where it all led me, as well as considering those others who were involved.

I would then either need to explore the release process of either accepting responsibility or forgiving others or myself. During the week that I put this into practice, I found what I thought were extraneous situations in my life, but turned out to be lessons for improvement.

What helped was to put myself in other people's shoes to gain some perspective as to their motivations. There was much relief in this. It was as if a new level of compassion opened up within me.

As my quest focus changed to deal with my insecurities, my best guess answer was modified to consider this. My second best guess solution centered on paying attention to specific instances when insecurity roared its ugly head or might become a problem.

By looking at the past and how I behaved according to the insecurities, I would use that as a guide for how to handle myself rather than creating new conflicts. This included standing up for myself without being confrontational, so I would not feel stepped on and aggravate myself more.

This resulted in a much more peaceful outlook, but also provided challenges to not acting on emotion alone. By practicing seeing through other people's eyes, I was reminded that very often, many things were not personal and in fact reflected more on them than on me.

The third week again saw a bit of a shift in the direction of my best guess. Where before I had been working on consciously conjuring up the past to learn from it and to see it from other people's perspectives, my third week best guess revolved around letting what I had learned become more intuitive, letting my instincts guide me as well.

Rather than being very conscious of the thought processes, I paid more attention to what my heart was telling me. It was time to begin to merge heart and mind, but I retained the idea of being more conscious about the affects of my actions upon others.

I actually got a fortune cookie reading that said, “your actions have great affect on others.” This seemed like a sign that I was on the right path, but this was a little harder than it appeared. I tempered surface comments and thoughts on anyone or thing that showed a bit of confrontation and remained true to myself.

At times it felt like the universe was testing me to make sure I got it right (which is a bit frustrating). It became my goal to remain loyal to myself and be cautious of any negative actions that might create more loss of self-esteem.

With this, people around me became more peaceful as well. They have their venting moments and that is that. I do not take it personally nor do I exacerbate it.

By applying these best guest answers to waking consciousness, a cycle was created with my dream quest focus. The guesses enhanced and refined the quest, making both stronger and helping me to understand the issues and potential solutions.

Being a good person who is kind and honest does not mean shutting out the other parts of my personality. To have true balance, suppression of one part, or denial of it, creates more problems and dissatisfaction. Suppression creates a sterile feeling.

It is as though I am just learning how to balance myself so that my uniqueness and humanity are a part of my life, but do not rule it.

Rather the balance considers my ideals and works towards them rather than away from them. I can still be artistic, but I can I also be kind and honest and help others.

There were several dreams that were very influential during my dream quest, most very vivified and long. What I did discover is that there were several recurring ideas and symbols throughout many of them.

These included a museum where I used to work or elements of it, people I had issues with throughout my life, and trying on and buying shoes. I shall recall one in particular that seemed most clear and concise.

I am back visiting the museum, though it is in another location, and the Volunteer Council is having their annual yard sale. I am not familiar with anyone who is working there and they are not that friendly. I look at a box of navy blue shoes and try them on. They fit, but I put them back and look at other things.

Then I decide to buy them, so I pick up the box that I think were the navy shoes and pay for them. When I go to put them on, there are three shoes in the box, and one says 7.5. I think that they will not fit and take them back.

My first step was to decipher the various symbols in the dream by picking out the nouns and action verbs of the dream. From there I made a list of what all of these symbols mean to me.

The Museum represents a place of security and knowledge. Visiting means being in someone else's domain. Location is a specific spot.

Familiar means known. Volunteer Council is an elite group. The annual yard sale represents a frustrating event that means more work for me.

The box of navy blue shoes is a container of objects that increase comfort, but not something I would feel comfortable wearing. To buy is to possess. Pay is cost. Size 7.5 means something potentially too small.

To think is what goes through my mind. Take them back is to return to the past. Working is the way things operate. To look is to observe. Trying them on means seeing if something operates for me.

Using these concepts, I translated my dream using symbol replacement. I am back in a domain that represents the secure and knowledgeable side of myself. It is a specific spot within and is a special grouping that causes me frustration and extra inner work.

No one knows how I operate within and that I am not as warm as I could be in some instances. I would not normally look at this part of myself unless I had to, and I see how it operates within me.

Though I am ready, before dealing with this I observe other things. I own up to these concepts and I choose to deal with them together as a concept that is within me. These ideas have cost me, and when I put them to practice, there is more to deal with; what I have considered may not be enough. I think about this more and prepare to look again at the past.

In refining this, here is the interpretation. I am working with another part of myself, an older part that houses my knowledge and security. This is the specific area I need to focus on, because it is the one that causes me the most frustration, and it is the hardest area to work on.

No one else can help me with this, and I need to be warmer to others and myself. I need to look at this specific area and concentrate on it without interruption. I need to deal with both issues of finding security and knowledge of myself before they cost me more.

By putting into practice what I learn about myself, I will need to allow this to grow, so that I can grow. I need to continue by looking at my past.

Then I looked at the specific symbol of the Volunteer Council because it seemed to be the one symbol that was in discord. After having an imaginary conversation with it, it helped me understand some of my actions in the past and how they were experienced by others.

The Volunteer Council felt that I acted passive-aggressively towards them rather than actually being diplomatic. My motives for certain actions were not always helpful to the organization. I needed to remove myself and my sensitivity and not take everything so personally.

As a solution, this symbol suggested that it would have been helpful for me to have created a personal plan involving my purpose while I was there. I should have set an intent and ideal, and focused on achieving them rather than just letting my feelings dictate my actions.

This is advice that can help me direct my life in a way that will be more meaningful and productive, and increase my self-esteem in the future. Knowing my motives and my motivations is crucial in making the changes I need to make.

I also looked at potential reasons why I might not want to follow this advice or continue to develop more solutions to fulfilling my dream quest. It means a lot more self-work and some times it is easier to go with the flow.

I have to appraise myself honestly, and I might not like the appraisal. Positive action and responsibility for being a truly better person, and maintaining a standard of excellence are part of it as well.

If I do not correct this, I remain in status quo with excuses and mediocrity. Ignorance is bliss because I can tell myself anything that puts me in a positive light.

That step lead to my having to ask myself if I would be willing to let go of the benefits of remaining in comfortable stasis, and the answer is a most definite ”yes.” I can let go of the above benefits by seeing a greater advantage in achieving a solution.

I will feel better and will be kinder, standing up for myself more so there will be fewer psyche problems. It will help eliminate future potential issues.

This particular dream interpretation sums it all up. I need to consider my actions from the past and present and how they affect others. Though the past may be uncomfortable, I need to keep trying what my thoughts and heart tell me, When these concepts do not fit, I need to put them back and look at something else.

In studying this process, I learned more about me and less about shoes. The shoes and my dealings with them have helped me understand that I do need to live a bit more in the clichés. I do need to walk in other people's shoes to understand their perspective.

If the shoe fits, I need to wear it and own up to my roles in both the past and the present in order to continue to evolve into the person I want to become. With waiting for the other shoe to drop, rather than doing this, I will need to keep both feet on the ground and remain balanced.