I had a very powerful dream a couple months ago—the kind of dream that keeps on giving!
I was walking on my favorite part of the trail near the wetlands where all the red-winged blackbirds nest in the cattails. In the dream I look over to my right and a red-winged blackbird looks at me. We make eye contact just like you would with a dog or cat. It feels amazing. The bird flies over and sits on my left shoulder. We are totally connected, the bird and me. My sister is about ten feel ahead of me on the trail and I ask her to take a picture of the bird and me as it sits on my shoulder. She points the camera at me and then says, “Step slightly to the right; turn your head a little that way.” She keeps telling me to do tiny little things so the picture will be perfect in her mind. The bird flies away before she takes a picture. I become very angry. I slam a dinner plate onto the gravel trail and it breaks into many pieces.
In this dream, the black bird represents my voice, my creativity. Birds are very much symbolic of my Essence and creativity. If you’ve read my memoir you know this. My sister represents ‘perfectionism’. She represents the controlling authority that demands I fit into her guidelines of what a good picture would be.
The perfectionist is a form of the internalized authoritarian voice. It’s an archetype of the shadow aspect of our collective consciousness. Recently, I’ve had many clients discover their own authoritarian, perfectionist part. This authoritarian conditioned pattern can be strong and really debilitating if not brought to light and seen for what it is.
It will always tell you that whatever you are creating is not quite good enough yet.
It will tell you your ideas are crazy or that your ideas aren’t intellectual enough.
It becomes strongest when you step into your own power and your own full Essence expression, such as when you get in touch with a really strong desire and take action on a life-long dream.
It tries to stop you from Standing Behind Your Voice.
Why do we have such a part in our collective psyche? Because it keeps us safe. All of your conditioned, wounded ego parts are designed for survival.
It’s time to move beyond this human condition. The most powerful way to do this is to align with your Essence through self-love, awareness, spiritual consciousness and expressing your Voice.
Your voice is the expression of Essence.
The conditioned protections, such as the perfectionist, have been in place for decades and don’t relinquish control easily.
The first step in shaking up the perfectionist is to DESIRE to express and align with your Essence.
The second step is to SLOW DOWN so that you can feel and see within all that arises in your consciousness.
If your voice has been hiding—and it’s safe to hide, by the way, it’s just not life giving—then get in touch with your heart’s desire to express. It’s what you are here for. There’s no better time to do this than summer! If you want to take a deep dive and really commit to finding and expressing your Voice, check out my program HERE.
