Flowers in the Dark by Sister Dang Nghiem

Author:Sister Dang Nghiem [Nghiem, Sister Dang]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Parallax Press
Published: 2021-01-26T00:00:00+00:00

In this essay, we can see Kennedy’s growth in confidence, stability of mind, and hope for the future. Not only has he healed from his childhood wounds, he has as he puts it, “The greatest happiness that this evolution brings is that it never ceases.” Not long ago, Kennedy told me that he is about to graduate from college and is doing very well in life.

Our Unconscious Mind and Our Ability to Focus

The stable atmosphere of the monastery was healing for this deeply traumatized teen boy, just as it had been for me. The basic promise of the path we are exploring with the Five Strengths is that mindfulness leads to concentration, which then gives rise to insights that liberate us from suffering. Concentration as a strength allows us to look deeply into the roots of our consciousness and resolve the suffering buried there. However, many of us with a history of trauma have difficulties with focus and concentration. We get overtaken by negative thoughts in waking life and nightmares when we are asleep. We do not have real rest.

The place where our concentration is most deeply affected is in our store consciousness. Many people report having intense dreams when they are on meditation retreats. Dreams are reflections from our subconscious, which can help us sort, understand, and integrate certain experiences in everyday life, as well as in the past. They are a vision from our subconscious, to help us integrate certain experiences. They can change our relationship with our trauma at the deepest level. The daytime energy of mindfulness manifests in the night, infusing our dreams with awareness, enabling right views, right thinking, and right actions, even when we are asleep. The nighttime energy of healing in turn empowers us in our waking life.

By looking at our dreams, we can access areas that are closed off in our conscious or waking mind and effect changes at the deepest levels. We will find we will sleep better, wake more refreshed, and be better able to focus and utilize our mind for what we wish instead of being carried away by negative thoughts.

Past traumas may cause us to have recurring dreams, with some variations but the same horrifying content. These dreams are telling, reflecting the working of our store consciousness. Unresolved issues, even if they do not manifest in our daily life, will manifest at some point in our dreams. Nightmares and disturbing dreams allow us a view into the depth of our mind, and we can focus on healing them in our daily life, instead of being oblivious to our own suffering and wasting energy on frivolous activities. When there’s healing, it also reflects in our dreams, like my dreams about my uncle. He transformed from being an aggressor to a victim and then into a teacher. In my dreams now, I am not just the victim anymore, or simply reacting to the situation blindly, running when someone chases after me. My dreams are radically changed.

In my dreams, I actually find myself making an assessment of the situation, just as I would in waking life.

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