With this mindfulness practice unfolding I have made an important breakthrough. The 30-day “time” frame (of posting inspired insights) has been an important container, which I am compassionately experiencing as flexible enough to hold consecutive experiences yet not limited by my perception of 24-hour time. With this understanding of time “containment” also comes a metaphorical awareness of the span of my lifetime.

In this post I am exploring the phrase I’ve heard Thich Naht Hanh share, “by looking deeply we see the cosmos”. This phrase came back to me because of two triggers—a Jungian lecture I attended last night, and my subsequent dream. The lecture was about the process of integrating the soul with one’s ego, or developed character, through deepening the relationship with—listening to—the body. In this lecture, Teresa of Avila’s Interior Castle was referenced, along with various spiritual practices of looking deeply such as Sufi dancing, Haitian voodoo, and contemplative movement. The reference to Teresa’s Interior Castle helped me instantly see the connection within the dream I had early this morning.

Do you ever dream that the people with you are simply versions of you? Aware that the characters (or enchanters?) at your side are your own person-i-fications, you become more motivated to pay attention!

In my dream I emerge from a lower level of this mossy, sprawling stone estate (through a hatchway of sorts) into an expansive, sunny interior courtyard. With my thin, vibrant, white/blond haired lady of the house “self”, I cross a short distance to a small cornflower blue painted wooden porch. I am impressed with her estate, yet the only thing she finds true joy from is the window she built that opens onto the porch from the dark dining room we have walked into.

I have many analytical interpretations of this, along with the other “me” characters in the dream (including Johnny Depp), but the point of sharing this dream is that the process of looking deeply does in fact reveal the entire cosmos. The woman’s one small window, which looks into the inner courtyard, is what each of us is building with our mindfulness practices!

To see the interior castle, the infinite kingdom within, is the rich reward for struggling to find both meaning within each of our experiences and joy within each of our relationships, each moment of each day. The practice of mindful breathing, speaking, listening, eating, drinking, living, is the practice of learning how to see.