Do you daydream?

Try just letting your mind wander a little bit.

You might think of something that's been on your mind. Or you might think of something that just happened- or that might happen. Or you might think of something that you plan to do. All of these are fine.

Now pick one thing and think about it a little bit longer. If you just stay with it, you might begin to notice some more detail about it. Say, if you were thinking about having lunch later, it might occur to you that's Friday, and that would be a great day for a Burger, with fries. And the burger might have little Sesame seeds on it. And you might wonder if it's Olivia's shift today or Emmas at your favorite burger joint. And then you remember that it couldn't be Emma's, because she went back to Oakland for the summer to stay with her parents for a while.

This is dreaming.

Dreaming is not particularly encouraged for the most part. There are a few people who do it professionally, like writers. They will come up with a part of a story, and then they will just stay with the story, and the story will unfold, much like your dinner unfolded into the story about Emma from the diner. Writers often talk about how the characters will take on a life of their own. All they do, they say, is stay with them, and write it down.

Now, if you like, dream of something that happened from your childhood. Maybe it was something nice, like your mother holding you, or a birthday. Maybe it wasn't so nice, like getting whacked over the head with a stuffed animal by a little sibling, and they just won't stop. Anything will do. Did you remember something?

Now go in there...

... and change it. Make it better.

Your little sibling wasn't whacking you over the head with the stuffed animal. They were just showing it to you.

How does that feel?

Probably, you will feel better.

You will also find, while this was a small change, it is permanent.

You will feel less triggered by situations where you might have felt similarly than this.

This is shamanism.

There are endless varieties, but still, it's always the same.

We let our mind pick something up. We experience the dream. And then we change it. Improve it. Make it better.

This is healing. Dreaming to heal. That's what shamanism is. The rest is details.