By Kent Taylor
For several years now, I’ve taken my dreams to therapy each month. It is part of my self-care. In one dream, I remember sitting down to a meal around a large table surrounded by friends and joy and warmth. For some reason, however, I thought I needed to take a picture of the moment so I exited the building, walking several blocks to the car to retrieve a camera. The remainder of the dream was filled with an unending search to return to the meal, never finding my way back to the celebration. Perhaps you’ve had dreams like this?
My analyst asked me, “Why did you leave? You had this great moment in front of you with all this intimacy and connection, and you left to get your camera. Why did you leave?” I hate it when she asks such questions! Yet, the dream became a way of reflecting on the difference between observing something and actually experiencing it; about keeping distance or moving closer; about intimacy; about opening more deeply to what we feel, smell, see, hear, and touch.
In many ways, RMOWP is a community of people drawn together by a mutual love of nature and the ongoing dance between observation and experience. Each year we gather to celebrate what we’ve discovered, what has touched us, moved us. We learn from each other. We laugh. We share conversations around tables. We spend a few days near the earth to see what we might create through pixel and pen. Sometimes we even dream a little.
Looking forward to seeing you in Sierra Vista, friends.