Megan Mary: Welcome everybody. Today I have Rasheda Kamaria Williams, and she is a mentor turned social entrepreneur and founder of Empowered Flower Girl. Thank you for being here, Rasheda.
Rasheda Williams: Thank you for having me. I'm really excited, slightly anxious, and nervous, and all of the above.
Megan Mary: Yes, me, too. So that's okay. It's it's totally natural. So today Rasheda has so graciously shared a dream of hers for us all to here in a dream session. And this is a recurring dream. So I want to talk just very briefly about recurring dreams. Because whenever we have a dream theme that reoccurs, even if it's slightly varies normally, that is because there is some message that is not coming through. So whenever we have the same kind of thing but happening, we see patterns which is one of the great benefits of having a dream journal is, if we start to see those patterns, then we can unearth really what is happening beneath the surface there. And there is something else that we can learn from that dream. So it's very, very beneficial. And what I'm gonna walk you through today is what I call the Dream Mirror method. And so what it does is it looks at your memory of the dream which you have provided me with, and then it looks at the mood that you experienced during that dream, and that will deep dive into the how that dream mirrors aspects of your waking life and the metaphors that are present in the dream and what those might represent. So I'm going to ask a lot of different questions just to get your juices flowing and get that. Get that whole theory kind of evolving. So we're going to dive in and see where it takes us. And it's going to be. It's going to be a journey.
Rasheda Williams: I'm ready
Megan Mary: I always ask everybody to give their dream a title, and that is one of the thematic ways that we can get at a quick snapshot of the essence. So your dream title was airplanes that don't take off. which is, which is great, because, you know, one of my first questions is going to be, what's the point of an airplane if it doesn't take off?
Rasheda Williams: I agree.
Megan Mary: Yes. So this, you know, this plot already kind of gives us some a little bit of rumination. We can start thinking a little bit about the purpose of an airplane, the metaphor of an airplane. What an airplane does, the expectation and purpose of that. And then, if it's not performing its purpose, what that might mean. Okay, so on this day you had a dream that you were on an airplane. It was an Egyptian air flight. and you say it's wild because the airplane was large enough to have a theater inside. So an enormous, enormous airplane.
Rasheda Williams: Yes
Megan Mary: You were attending a Commencement ceremony for your Alma Mater and former employer, Wayne State University. You sat in a seat near the back, but couldn't see the stage, because the seats were too high and you had to adjust yourself and the seat to see. Now, you say you've had this recurring dream before about airplanes traveling to a foreign places. You've actually never been in each dream. In each dream, the taxi, the airplane, taxis through cities, streets, and highways. but you don't actually feel the plane ascending. But you arrive at the destination miraculously, which is good, which is interesting. So when we look at the mood. Before this particular dream you had, you had some concerns about a situation that you were facing with with a former employer, and overall some anxiety that you've had about some clients that you've been working with.
So then I asked you about prominent colors and numbers, and you said you remember seeing the color red and seeing sand and that there may have been pyramids in the background. Okay. Now, the other part of the dream, and we're just going to go over it all, and then we'll go back in this dream. There were people you knew, so part of the mirror step is, were there any people? And did you know those people, or did they represent someone that you know of But you don't know personally. you said that, for example, at the commencement the former president, Alan Gilmore, had dropped his wireless mic. You found it and went to return it. As you approached the backstage area you saw a woman who looked like Kid Rock. Then you saw Kid Rock with a baby reaching to give her a hug. Oh, okay. So we're gonna go back to the beginning, because there's so many. This is so rich. And I really appreciate you giving me such a detailed account, because there's so much here that we can go into. Okay. So first, we're going to talk about being on the airplane and just how large it is. So talk about what it felt like to be on a plane of that size.
Rasheda Williams: Well, it was quite interesting, because at first I didn't realize I was in an airplane. I thought that I was just in a theater waiting to participate in the commencement exercises. And the weird thing is with a lot of my dreams. I realize that I'm dreaming at a certain point. It's not right away, but I'll think to myself, hmm! I should be working right now. Why am I not working so it was for my Alma Mater, and I used to actually work for my Alma Mater for 6 years, and I was thinking to myself, well I'm here as an attendee. I'm not actually working. This is kind of odd what's going on. Then I realized, Oh, I'm dreaming. And then then it wasn't until I shifted and moved to a different area, to the theater that I saw rows and and aisles and realized, oh, wait a minute. I'm in the airplane. But how can I be in an airplane with a theater inside?
Megan Mary: So did you actually realize you were dreaming as in it was also a lucid dream.
Rasheda Williams: Yes, a lot of my dreams are lucid.
Megan Mary: And and does this plane dream? Is that plane dream usually recurring as well?
Rasheda Williams: So not necessarily airplanes that have, you know, large theaters or anything like that. But in several of my dreams, I've been in an airplane and wondered like, why are we taxiing through the city. Well, I've been in Chicago. I've been in Detroit. I've been in different cities around the country and around the world where I'm taxiing through the city as opposed to the airplane, actually taking off.
Megan Mary: Okay? And you were attending a commencement ceremony which is a very specific event And what. when you think about a commencement ceremony. What feelings or associations does that bring up for you? What is that event like?
Rasheda Williams:Yeah. So for me, commencements are about excitement, the future. just also kind of venturing into the unknown, but also knowing that all your hard work has paid off, for me when I think about when I graduated, It was sort of a relief as well as a time for me to come, together with my family and friends, to celebrate an achievement. Okay, good.
Megan Mary: What I. The next thing is that you sat in a seat near the back and you couldn't see the stage because the seats were too high. Explain that action, that situation.
Rasheda Williams: Yes, that situation was kind of odd, because at first they were just normal airplane seats, right? Standard airline seats. But then I looked, and they turn into these high, almost throne like seats. I mean, these are very ornate and odd, and they were very high, and I'm trying to look over. And I was asking some other passengers like, Can you all see what? Why, why would they have these large seats like this, and we can't see the stage. And they were looking kind of perplexed as well.
Megan Mary: Okay, and I like that you said that you adjust yourself and the seat because the adjusting yourself is a metaphor for you trying to work with this situation. The situation that you feel is inaccessible to you. That is that you're not able to see clearly that your vision is being blocked, and you almost feel like it's
I like the image of the throne and the ornateness, because it really gives an air to what it is that you're trying to see. So before we go to the people. I think that what's very telling about the setting and the way you described it
is that you have this feeling like, I should be working. Why am I here? Why am I taxing? And when you look at the metaphor of that and that larger, that larger question, it's a very. It's a very profound question, right. What am I doing here? Why am I here literally, and also. Why am I taxiing? Why am I not taking off? And there's this greater metaphor there that I see that has to do with you, feeling like you're going through the motions that you've gotten your ticket and you're on the vehicle. But it's not taking you where you want to be and the setting of the commencement you're looking for that payoff of your hard work. You're longing for that relief and you're a little bit you know, frustrated about how come you can't see it. How come, why did they create it this way that you can't see it. You can't see the stage and you can. So the stage is where that is happening, right where everybody is being congratulated and where everybody is transitioning from their hard work to their to their purpose or their next, their next stage, they're getting the relief. But you're not quite your seat isn't quite positioned right. You're not quite positioned right. And I think that that's a metaphor for a situation in your life where you feel like you're metaphorically taxiing, and or that you're looking on at other people's accomplishments. But you don't feel like you are actually having the clear vision of your of your own accomplishment that you're not getting that pay off.
Rasheda Williams: Yeah, there's some. There's definitely some truth in there. I mean some areas, you know I am definitely grateful that I have been achieving some feats and just being able to achieve some milestones. But there are some areas where I'm like frustrated like. I want to do more to help people I want to, you know, make make a powerful difference, and I feel like I'm stalled in that like, where am I going next?
Megan Mary: Yes, yes, and it doesn't mean that you haven't accomplished things, because, of course, you have. But you know as as anyone you set the bar. You said the next bar. You set the next part, and you're just, you know you. You're pushing yourself, and you know where you want to go, and you don't quite feel like you're there yet, and that's okay. Because if you were headed all done and it all figured out, then why would you still be here? Right? I mean, we all. We all are here for a purpose, and it's a journey. And we're we're trying to make those achievements. We're trying to figure that out now, when you talk about the colors and the symbols. Tell me, what, if I didn't know what sand was? What would you? How would you describe sand?
Rasheda Williams: Well, I would describe sand as I don't know. I would hope that you would know what sugar is. I would say it, it feels and the texture is like sugar, except for it it's neutral color. it. It feels good when you put your toes in it. It may not be as gritty as sugar. I don't know. I love sand, because sand tells me I'm at the beach and even though it's sand, is in the desert as well in this case as on Egyptian airlines, and I probably ended up in Egypt. Don't know how I got there. But I ended up there in the airport seeing the pyramids off in the distance but I yeah, I would describe sand as basically sugars original cousin, I don't know. And how would you describe, what what associations do you have, or what does Egypt make you think of? And the Pyramids. So it makes me think of like a rich history. A history that is kind of mysterious and some people have, you know, fought hard to change it or transform it to be what they think it should be. But I I feel like it is, it's a blueprint, for you know, technology and just humans being able to achieve such, I don't know almost miraculous feats in a way.
Megan Mary: Hmm. okay. So using your your words back. I hear a lot of miraculous, mysterious, rich. and fought hard to transform and change as well as feels good, and reminds you of the beach. And so I almost feel like Egypt in in your metaphor, in your dream language is a metaphor for for your rich contribution, your great feat that you are achieving, and that the sand is the reward that you are looking for from that effort that you're associating that feeling good on the beach, which is your relief, which is your reward for your hard work, like the commencement and that the Pyramids represent the all of the work and inventions, and your blueprint of the feats that you have accomplished and want to accomplish. They're they're so big that they're almost. You're not even sure how you're gonna accomplish it. Kind of like how we don't know how the Pyramids got there, but they are admired right, and they are almost miracles. But they're like you said miraculous feats. And so I think the you take that language and look at the the Egyptian metaphor around that language and apply that mirror that to your waking life, your situations in your life, where you are fighting hard to transform and change. And you're trying to accomplish miraculous feats. And you're hoping for that to be able to see the stage to be part of that commencement where you can feel good and not gritty and relieved at the beach. The way you feel when you've accomplished something, and you can finally let yourself relax.
Rasheda Williams: Right on.
Megan Mary: Okay, The second part, I think, is also very interesting, that in the dream. There are people you knew, and that one example is the former President Alan Gilmour. Now, if you were to describe the former President in 3 adjectives how would you describe him? And I mean behaviorally, personality wise? Not necessarily the way he looks.
Rasheda Williams: Sure. Hmm! What one way I would describe him is very generous, savvy He's a very business, savvy individual, he he! He's a high ranking corporate executive previously at an automotive company and then he just decided to donate his time to serve as president of a a large urban research institution. So I guess, generous and philanthropic, savvy and I would say the third one would be hmm. Oh, no. there's something about his personality. It is felt very warm. I know you. I felt like he was my grandpa.
Megan Mary: That's really good. That's really good. Because that's your subconscious association. That's the metaphor of his appearance in your dream is that feeling, that feeling of warmth and and comfort that you felt with your grandfather. and also the the metaphors of his personality, the generousness, the the business savvy, The philanthropic are very key too nw. The action is that he drops his wireless mic, and you find it and want to return it. So tell me about that. How that plays out.
Rasheda Williams: Sure. Well, I was looking at everyone getting ready, and previously, when I worked for the university part of my job was to help promote the commencement or talk about the students success stories. So oftentimes I would attend the commencement ceremonies and help out whether it was helping escort media through or connecting the media with students. I worked in communications, and I know it myself and the rest of the staff. We would always attend, and it was a fun occasion even for us as staff we were working, but it was also just fun for us to celebrate the students so me being there again, I realized that I was dreaming in some parts, but I was like, I'm here. So I should be helpful. And when I saw him drop his mic, I'm like oh, no, he can't. I can't have him go and embarrass himself on stage, and you know he he'll go to talk, and he doesn't have his mic. You know, I have to help him out. And and so I was like, no one's gonna help. Okay, I guess I have to go. I'll go help him and make sure that he's all set when he goes on stage.
Megan Mary: Okay. that is key what you just said, if no one else is going to help, I'm going to do it and I know the work that you do, and that is very much coming from that place that you feel very much like you have to empower young girls, because if you don't, who will. And when you talk about somebody dropping the mic, it's almost like dropping the ball. The metaphor of someone dropping the ball. Now, interestingly, a mic is a way that you communicate. And so you were concerned that he might be caught in a lurch and you stepped up and said, well, no one else is going to do this. I have to be the one to help him. And also, you know, in doing so, you picked up a symbol of communication. Which is how you're helping. That's what you're doing.
Rasheda Williams: Yeah, yes. So wow! I would have never thought of that detail. So then you find it, and you go to return it, and as you are going there you go backstage which is also a metaphor. Basements and backstage. Okay, So backstage would be behind the scenes, behind the veil, behind the curtain. And so when you go back there, you're kind of going further into yourself, into the the shadow. Okay?
Rasheda Williams: So then you see a woman who looks like him so well, I saw a woman, and she looked like Kid Rock. You're right. Yeah. Yeah. So the woman. Yeah, the woman that she looks like Kid Rock. And I thought that was odd, because hmm.
Megan Mary: so describe kid Rock and 3 adjectives.
Rasheda Williams: Oh, gosh I would say, his appearance or his being?
Megan Mary: his personality. You know the behaviors personally.How you perceive him, what you those 3 things are that you think?
Rasheda Williams: Yeah, well, I'll be. I'll be nice. Oh, I'll say rebellious, engaging, he's from the Detroit area, which is fascinating. That's where I'm from.
Megan Mary:Everyone in your dream can be a reflection of yourself can be an aspect of yourself. So you want to pull out what? Why they're there and what aspect of you that is so. We see a woman that looks like him. But then you see him with a baby and reaching to give the woman that looks like him a hug. So explain that situation.
Rasheda Williams: Yeah, it? Well, when I saw that, then I realized, Oh, my goodness, that must be his mother. Even though in real life Kid Rock's mother looks nothing like this lady. The lady in my dream looked more like Kid Rock than his mother. But yeah, I was thinking, wow, this is, this is quite fascinating. That kid rock's mother, I didn't realize she worked for the Board of governors for the university.
Megan Mary: So I think so. You see, tell me about the baby, too, because a baby, go ahead. Yeah. Tell me about the baby.
Rasheda Williams: Well I just saw him with a baby, and I thought to myself again, It's me going from the dream to trying to find logic in this, or trying to figure things out. I'm like, I don't recall Kid Rock having a baby this young. So I was trying to put it together like, who is this kid I'm like, maybe it's his grandkid. I don't know but that was interesting trying to piece that together in the dream.
Megan Mary:And how old was this baby. Do you think?
Rasheda Williams: It had to have been a toddler? Maybe one.
Megan Mary: Okay. So many times when we talk about a baby baby sometimes that can be like a a burgeoning creativity that can be like a a new project, a new thing, because it's a toddler. It's not just birthed right. It's not It's kind of walking, maybe but still not completely on its own. So we look at the representation and the metaphor of the baby. Also the mother and the son so, or the person that looks like, you know, the other one hugging, hugging. So when you saw them hugging how did you feel, what emotions happened at that.
Rasheda Williams: Well, you know, kind of I put aside my opinions and I thought all of that sweet, you know, despite despite our differences you know just some controversial things that he's done, and I was like, well, you know, that's nice
Megan Mary: So that's good. So that is sort of the that is a representation of the heart leading.
Rasheda Williams: Hmm!
Megan Mary: Because you can look above those things, and you're not getting lost in the lower vibrations of opinions and disagreements. And you're actually acknowledging and witnessing an exchange of emotion and exchange of love. And you're acknowledging it. So something that I want to pull out of that. There's 2 things. But one thing is that this is a person that is, from where you're from. So there's another. Another layer of how that is part of you. Now the 3 words that you use to describe him. Rebellious, engaging, about the situation that you're frustrated about with your clients.
Okay, you may need to embody some of the elements that he represents in order to resolve some of the issues with your clients. because you're having some invoicing issues you indicated. And you're frustrated about that. And you may need to actually change the way that you're approaching that situation. Combine the 2 things. So take the way that you metaphorically view his personality, and also how what you witnessed him did. So. Those are 2 very different things.
Rasheda Williams: Ya
Megan Mary: and they need to come together in an understanding in a holistic understanding. Now, when I look at I like to integrate color theory. And Robert Hoss has a great color theory that I like to use. And when we look at some of the exploratory questions that come around the color of red. some of them really resonate with the mood that you went to sleep in. So one of them is, I am feeling anxious. One is I need to get out and enjoy myself. And one is, I need to be more assertive.
And so those are all emotional themes that can can help to trigger your associations with the dream, and I see all 3 of those very powerfully represented in the dream. You're anxious about when the President drops his mic, you feel like there's gonna be an embarrassment here. Something bad's gonna happen. It's on my watch. If I I no one else is going to help, I have to help. You want to get out and enjoy yourself, which is the plane, because the plane is a vehicle for taking you somewhere else. And you. The sand is an association that remind you of being at the beach and getting that relaxation. and you also our experiencing some issues in your waking life with your clients where perhaps You're not being assertive enough and you're not being engaging them enough and being forceful enough to get what is owed you. So that is kind of the the culminating circular representation of all the metaphors.
Rasheda Williams: Wow.
Megan Mary: So now I'm gonna pull you a card, and we're just gonna see what the oracle says about this, because sometimes there is a really interesting message that just kind of elucidates the whole thing. So so we'll see what happens.
Okay. it is traveling lightly. Let me see here. Simplify your life. Okay? And so this is a symbol of a person that is embarking on a journey. But they're only carrying a small bag and they're headed towards the really bright sunlight that's ahead of them. but they're going it a little bit lighter. And I love that. It's a traveling card, because that is the airplane. I mean, that is the symbolism of the recurring airplane dream. And when you think about what an airplane represents, it's it's not only how you get from one place to another, because it could be a car, it could be a bus. It's something that flies in the air. And we look at the elements of, you know, air, earth, fire and water. Air represents our thoughts. And so anytime, you have a symbol that is present in the air. That is something that is flies in the air, a plane, a bird, an airplane. It represents your perspectives on things, your intellectual perspective and comprehension of things and so simplifying you, simplifying your life is really telling you to evaluate your perspective on how you are traveling through these situations and how you can simplify it, how you can possibly embody some of the aspects of the people that were in your dream, because if we go back to the President, vice President, he was generous, savvy, philanthropic.
And so you want to balance the dichotomy of Alan and Kid Rock. They represent 2 different aspects of yourself and you. You have to look at the metaphors of the 2 people's personalities, and what aspects of them you want to embody or need to embody to travel lightly, to continue to pursue what you're doing. But do it even better, so that your airplane actually takes off.
Rasheda Williams: Yes, we gotta get it. Get it up there. Yes, love it. I'm I'm amazed because sometimes when I look at dreams, you know I'm thinking of them one dimensionally at times, and I don't have, of course, the the tools to really dive that deep, or sometimes I'm not even thinking of it. But I do record I do record the dreams often, or I'll post them on social media. And then a year or so later, I go back and look at memories. And like, yeah, I remember that and think how
it played out in my life somewhere.
Megan Mary: Yes, yes, that's why it's so important to record them, and because you lose them so quickly, and they do contain so many little nuggets that you just overlook that you can, that you can explain away as soon as you're awake and just disregard, you know. But part of what you can do when you have this recurring dream. If you, if you really start to reflect on it over the course of the next week, what we discussed and kind of how you see the different elements of the different aspects that we unearthed. So the symbols and the colors and the people and the settings. And you start really reflecting on that and journaling on that, you can transform your inner world, and how you're viewing this perspective so that that dream starts to change, and also because you have the ability to recognize that you're dreaming when you when you're in the lucid dream. you can actually really harness that power, too, and use technique, techniques and tactics that once you're in the dream, say, oh, it's another airplane dream, and you can change it. And you can go into the cockpit and make it take off. And when you do that it's gonna come back around into your waking life. You're gonna really start to see that change. So I encourage you to walk down that path of of the lucid dreaming because you are definitely there and being that you have this recurring dream. It's a perfect opportunity to harness the power of lucid dreaming for your own, for your own confidence and for your own support and self-care.
Rasheda Williams: Yeah, and I love it because it's it's fascinating because I've been all over. I guess I've been all over the world in my dream from Ghana to Singapore to Egypt and places, and I can see so many details, and it's like I'm really there. And sometimes like I said, I don't know how I got there
Megan Mary: Right, and you may be you may be dimensionally traveling. It's entirely possible we can. We don't. We can't prove everything right. It's what you know to be true. And so that's part of that's part of dreamwork. It's kind of opening yourself to those possibilities and not you can't. You can't pigeonhole anything. If you do, you're going to limit your ability to really experience what's happening.
Rasheda Williams: It's been fun
Megan Mary: So I hope this one helpful
Rasheda Williams: Very helpful
Megan Mary: All right, and thank you so much for sharing, and I I really appreciate you what you do as well as being a guest on the show today. So thank you or Rasheda.
Rasheda Williams: Well, thank you very much, and thank you for having me. I really appreciate this. This is definitely going to help me in my work as well as my personal life and purpose./ mission.
Megan Mary: Excelllent, All right. Well, thank you again.
Rasheda Williams: Thanks.
