Hi Reader,

You survived my Sleep Paralysis course launch and didn't unsubscribe... Thanks for still reading !

Here's some dreamy goodness for you this weekend:

If you suffer from doomscrolling, try this on:

As you may know, it's difficult to be mystically inclined and engaged in world politics without fritzing out or spiritually bypassing completely. It's a tough balance and I have not figured this out at all.

In fact, in 2017, I became addicted to my smartphone which was constantly serving me up terrible news and the latest outrage de jour. This got so bad that I gave myself tendonitis of the thumb -- also known as iPhone thumb -- because of the repetitive scrolling action.

Rather than stop this destructive behavior, I just switched my doomscrolling hand and proceeded to give myself tendonitis in my other hand too.

Yeah.

So now I find myself overwhelmed once again, as friends are losing their scientific grants and their park service work and their cultural resource and museum jobs too. My trans friends are literally leaving the country and just about every gay academic I know is looking into it as well.

(I'm just being honest, y'all, I can't partition my life anymore. Dreamwork and spiritual work are necessarily grounded in social justice for me. Always has been, I'm just louder about that now. If you want positive vibes only, I invite you to unsubscribe below).

Doomscrolling is Day Dreaming

Here's the truth:

When you find yourself doomscrolling absentmindedly in the middle of the day, when you're just flick flick flick and don't even know what you are looking for, put the phone down and say "Siri/Alexa/Wiretap, set a timer for five minutes."

Then I encourage you to just zone out for five minutes, look out the window, or at the ceiling, or just close your eyes.

Because most of the time, when we are doomscrolling, we are in a circadian low and we are daydreaming without realizing it. And then we're filling our heads with someone else's dreams while we space out.

Don't do that.

Just space out.

For some people, the sweet spot for taking a break from hard or stressful work is to do a repetitive task while day dreaming.

Maybe get up from your desk and fold some clothes or do the dishes.

Daydreaming isn't the same thing as mind wandering btw -- it's got a slight focus to it. Researchers from the University of Florida suggest to give yourself a prompt like "think about something enjoyable," and then let it rip, go where it takes you.

Lots of creative breakthroughs come through daydreaming, but today I'm suggesting you do this just for the spaciousness. It's like washing your brain.

And if you put your phone down and discover you're actually exhausted, just close your eyes. You may even fall asleep into a micro-nap.

Five minutes later, you'll get that notification and you can continue on your merry way.

The Art of Cronkiting

Another thing I'm doing differently now is limiting my consumption of online media.

Specifically, I am limiting the times I check news and social media to twice a day. Okay three times tops.

My spouse and I call this Cronkiting.

Named after Walter Cronkite of course, who used to read the news on TV at dinner time everyday until the eighties.

I was a wee lad then, back in "the nineteen hundreds" as my teenager says, but I remember his voice well.

To gamify this a little more, I gave myself the stretch goal to not opening news and social media until I was in the kitchen and the coffee is brewing.

Sometimes I even manage to write down my dreams before I crack into the news. This prevents me from waking up and filling my head full of dread and anxiety first thing and lets me slowly awaken to my own creativity and agency rather than someone's else outrage.

So that's what I'm doing anyways.

Today, I have had only 2 Cronkites. I'm proud. One day at a time!

Free talk the future of Online Dreamwork

If you want to see online dreamwork modeled by a pro, my colleague Dr. Sparrow is facilitating FiveStar Method (FSM) dreamwork on Saturday March 8 at 11AM Pacific / 2PM Eastern / 7PM UK.

During his introduction, he will also share regarding the premise and focus of a soon-to-be published collaborative paper (with me, Ryan Hurd) titled, A Proposal for Asynchronous Therapeutic Dreamwork. This paper looks at the premise that effective dreamwork is uniquely capable of allowing us to do meaningful dreamwork in online settings in a back-and-forth style.

This call is free for all members of Sparrow's DreamStar Community -- and membership is free too at the basic level.

RSVPs are encouraged and appreciated, but optional. If you don't want to sign up for the community, you can just respond to this e-mail and I'll send you the zoom link as my special guest.

Check out the DreamStar community here

Archaeology of Consciousness is building

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A couple months ago, I announced a new newsletter on Substack that focuses on archaeology, dreams and liminality. The response has been downright electric, and I've already got 900 subscribers over there. Want to join me? I'm moving pretty slow, writing an essay once a month or so, and it's sent to your inbox.

My substack is free although my plan is to introduce some optional ways to support the project later down the road. I am essentially writing a memoir in public about archaeology, dreams, sacred sites and other weird ways that material culture intersects with the Imaginal. It's less practical than this space, but with more story telling and deep dives into my personal archives.

​Subscribe to Archaeology of Consciousness -- maybe we can hit 1000 subscribers this weekend?

May you have a peaceful weekend my friends!

Ryan

PS Now's a great time to join the Dream Portal membership. So much goodness going on.