The shamanic practice of dreaming the world into being—and attempting to find a dream that’s good enough.

If my understanding of parenting is correct, I’m going to think my kids are wretched brats sent here exclusively to torment me.

I’ll then believe that my grandkids are God’s gift to mankind--specifically my husband and me, a reward for not strangling our hellions.

Do I have it right?

***

I’m asking because a few of my teachers keep giving me an assignment.

“Dream the world into being,” they’ve been telling me. “Sit in sacred space and imagine the world you want your grandchildren to inherit.”

“Craft a vision for the future of our planet and species,” they’ve urged. “Hold that vision in your mind’s eye with as much clarity as you can muster. Then pray. Petition the Universe for it to come true.”

“Envision the possible, not the probable,” they’ve suggested. “Don’t focus on a world where your grandchildren can simply still breathe the air and drink the water. Don’t limit yourself to a likely outcome. Dream big. Then bigger. Then bigger.”

“Join the sacred lineage of men and women who have gathered around the fire for millenia to do this,” they’ve prodded. “Become one of the awakened ones, one who co-creates with the Divine. Who holds a sacred vision and helps usher it in.”

“And please, for the love of God, Buddha, Aphrodite or Mastercard--whatever you believe in, do not fall prey to the collective nightmare. The world isn’t happening to us. We’re creating it. Each of us.”

***

One of my teachers has gotten very specific. “We need 10,000 people to do this,” she’s said. “That’s it. If 10,000 of us consistently hold a positive vision for our future, everything shifts. We take a quantum leap forward. Our children and grandchildren inherit a whole new world.”

10,000 seems imminently doable. So doable, in fact, that I think I’d be a scoundrel if I didn’t at least try. A few minutes a day dreaming up a beautiful future for the sake of all of mankind?

Yeah, okay. I guess I can spend four less minutes scrolling through Instagram in order to do that.

***

But here’s where I’ve struggled: If I’m going to think my grandchildren are as wonderful as I’ve been led to believe, what kind of world is good enough for them?

I don’t want to hand them a world that’s moderately better. I don’t want them to go to schools where there are still mass shootings or have my heart break when I hear that little Ainsley cried in the bathroom because bullying still exists.

I don’t want them raised on the toxic poison that we pretend is food.

I don’t want them to have to stay out of the rivers because they’ll grow an extra limb (or worse) swimming in the filthy water that we’ve polluted with nuclear waste.

***

Trying to imagine a world that I believe is good enough for my future grandchildren has taken me to the limits of my creative powers. And that’s saying a lot--I have a vivid imagination.

The only solution I’ve come up with so far is to focus on feeling-states. When I engage in this practice, when I try to dream the world into being, I’ve started imagining the best I’ve ever felt.

When I’ve been so blissful, so grateful, so awed by the beauty of being a human on this planet, that I became love. Radiant, warm, accepting, compassionate love.

When I’ve felt this way, when I’ve been love, I can’t help but do good.

I have no choice but to be kind and gentle. To treat my fellow humans with respect. To honor the planet that feeds and shelters us.

War? Atrocities? Single-use plastic?! Not possible from that state. When a human is love, when they feel as good as I’ve felt at my very best, they can’t cause harm. It’s impossible. They can only do good.

***

So that’s my prayer for now. When my grandchildren roam the Earth, I want every human on the planet to feel as good as I’ve felt at my best.

I want my peak emotional experience to be the floor for my grandchildren’s generation. I want them to experience feelings of bliss, gratitude and awe that I can’t even comprehend. I want them to be love. All day, every day.

Because if this is true, if we hand the world over to a generation that is love, then we can all relax.

People who feel good do good.

With dignity, grace and the highest good for all in mind. They’ll be able to sort out the details better than we ever could.

***

What do we do to usher in this reality? To be able to hand the world over to a generation that is love personified?

We heal.

We resolve our individual and collective traumas. We let go of our hurts. We find peace within our hearts.

If we don’t, we’ll keep passing along hurt.

Hurt people hurt people.

Healed people heal people.

So let’s do right by the future. Let’s choose healing. Let’s choose it today and let’s choose it tomorrow and refuse to settle for less.

***

I’m curious to hear from anyone open to sharing: What world do you want your grandchildren to inherit? What future vision do you want to hold for them?

P.S. In case the Universe is listening (and I assume it always is), I’m just kidding about assuming that Sam and I will think our future kids are wretched brats sent here to torment us. We respectfully request healthy, happy, healed Master Souls of the bodhisattva variety, please and thank you.