You see, in the astral, things largely follow our thoughts and feelings - and if you think you feel deeply now, wait until you get into the astral! The film "The Lovely Bones" gives some idea of what this can be like, with you going places that you think of, and what you perceive about you being affected, for want of a better word, by your feelings. Mind you, that film is actually set in the lower astral: the level of astral that many people go to is more pleasant. Would you like your experience to be pleasant?
Then deal with your problems in the here and now.
If you want to know how you are going with that, then pay attention to your dreams - but NOT from a "dream interpretation" point of view.
I have long thought dream interpretation is overblown: yes, it has a place, but for the more spiritually evolved/mature, who should have - by definition, in a sense - increased self awareness, getting messages about problems is less necessary. For those people, what is more likely to be happening is that "dreams" are distorted memories of astral travelling. I use those dreams as a measure of what is happening for me in the astral, and an indication of what I am probably going to graduate to when I leave the school of Earth, and go to the University of the astral. Am I busy? Am I feeling like I am coping reasonably well with problems? Am I able to use lucid dreaming?
One of the six yogas of Naropa is about going beyond lucid dreaming: I cannot claim to be familiar with that technique, but the principle I work with is active direction of my astral experience, in the same way that I take responsibility for what happens to me in the physical.
Ah -had you thought that principle might disappear? Nooooo
This idea, of seeing how I am going in astral - particularly with regard to direction of my astral life, is one of the two main checks I use for how my life is going. (The other is how long it takes after I do something wrong - notice I didn't write "if" I do anything wrong! - before that karma comes back to me. Can be a little weird for people who try to be unpleasant to me to have me say "Oh bless you!" - which is out of relief that my error has returned to me quickly :) )
As a final point, I am currently working on a practice called tonglem, which I am finding extremely beneficial. For more information on that in the interim, please see (I particularly like the comment that this breaks down fear of pain) and here.
Love, light, hugs and blessings
Gnwmythr
(pronounced "new-MYTH-ear")
Tags: astral, astral travel, dreams, daily life, life lessons,
First published: Wodansdagr, 20th July, 2011
Last edited: Wednesday, 20th July, 2011
