Dreams, Symbolism and the Practice of Non-Attachment...

I rarely remember the details of my sleep-time dreams, but when I do they tend to leave an indelible impression on me. I intuitively know they're significant and symbolic of something my subconscious is chewing on and processing through.  I recently had a dream that stayed with me. In the dream, I'm still living with my now ex-husband in a downstairs apartment of a 3 level building, much like the apartment we lived in for the first 10 years of our marriage. Our apartment was on fire. It became a huge blaze instantly, though we were somehow able to be in there, amidst the fire.

I went to our upstairs neighbors several times to warn them of the fire, and that they should get out of the building. They were having a dinner party and ignored my warnings, shrugging off any concern. Going back down to our apartment, I looked around to find flames were now almost everywhere. The walls, furniture items, curtains, pillows, etc. were all covered in flames. When I noticed that the fire had not quite gotten a hold of everything just yet, I thought I had a chance to get some of our things out. However, every time I went to rescue something I cared about, that thing was suddenly fully engulfed in flames and I would drop it from my hands or step away from the item for fear of being burned.

I eventually succeeded in getting one item all the way outside, to the front yard. Once it was "safely" out there I noticed that it was also now on fire, and lost to me.

As I began to unravel the significance of this dream, the most important element seemed to be that any attachments I had, needed to be burned away and released completely. I had to work on letting go of everything that was still pulling on me from that 30 year relationship that had ended just 2 years prior.

Attachments never seem to serve our highest good, yet it's a challenging practice to be in non-attachment. Even when I think I've succeeded in staying out of attachment with a person, place, thing, etc. I inevitably discover that I am still attached on some level.

Life is a practice. There is no destination, just a practice, and the idea is that we commit to doing our best every day.