Honouring my visions and dreams

Introducing Alma, my Dreamer Voice

May 23, 2025

A feeling of freedom begins to circle me as I close the gate and walk down the gravel path of our lane. A lightness moves through my body and I smile as I'm kissed on the cheek by Autumn’s cool morning. I watch for cars before crossing the street, and then make my way across the restaurant carpark, towards the train station.

My hand searches for the Public Transport Victoria (PTV) card in my pocket and I wonder if there’s enough credit for today’s journey. I’m heading to the State Library to journal with

Ingrid Jones

. I’m looking forward to our time together as much as the opportunity to journal. This is a very different type of journaling to the one I wrote about in Creating a reading journal.

Listen to the podcast interview

Chasing the feeling of freedom

Travelling on public transport and remembering to look out the window, rather than scroll on my phone or listen to a book, provides a pathway into a place of rest for my busy mind.

This feeling of freedom is elusive and offers a dreamlike state that comes with time away from my home and work environment. This is a place where respite and possibility co-exist. This feeling is the reason why I retreat and enjoy the occasional solo adventure.

Introducing Alma

One of my gentler inner voices, Alma, likes to accompany me on drives to the country when I create the space for unstructured thoughts and bask in the warmth of majestic imaginings.

When Alma is with me I feel well rested and there is nothing required of me. Without an agenda, the horizon is filled with possibility. This is sacred time for myself.

If you’re new to my confessions, Alma represents one of my inner voices1 - the Dreamer voice - an imagined character who dwells within my subconscious and represents one of the inner family members I activated as part of the Inner Voices program.

When I talk about my inner voices there are two dimensions to this. It’s the thoughts in my head that represent the different parts of my subconscious, and it’s also a felt sense in my body. This is a physical, bodily awareness of a situation, person, or event, indicating an inner knowing or intuition.

Alma is a seed saver from Oregon who encourages me to reach beyond the mountains and enjoy the clouds. Meeting and expressing this voice has given me clarity on what my true dreams are, not the ego version.

When I create the conditions for Alma to be present, I’m reminded of a strong desire for a simpler life. Less traffic, more country walks and no school related pick ups or drop offs. Because I live in a busy metropolitan area and Alma is a country girl, I feel her presence in the quiet pull I experience most days to step away from the noise and pace of city life. It’s as if she’s gently guiding me toward nature, encouraging me to trade traffic and concrete for open skies and stillness.

Alma loves it when I pause on my morning walk to look up and observe the birds in the trees. On sunny days she nudges me to take my lunch outside, sit in the garden amongst the plants and birds, close my eyes and feel the sun on my face. When I visit Warburton and swim in the Birrarung, it’s Alma who encourages me to sit on a rock and enjoy the treasures offered when being present.

The nourishing company of some

Alma reminds me that while my need for solitude is real and necessary, I also enjoy the company of friends, family, and colleagues. Time spent with these dear ones offers emotional relief - a gentle salve for the ache that comes from longing for a simpler life.

Alma particularly enjoys the sharing of feminine energy, when I surround myself with people who are filled with empathy, intuition, and creativity; virtues the Dreamer voice thrives on. The way we commune with each other creates a protective and soothing bubble that is filled with loving kindness.

It’s when I experience a breathing out of sorts.

Often these conversations are with talented women who’ve grown their families and feel drawn to deepen their impact as community leaders, or perhaps they are re-writing their narratives as they reconsider some of the ~~insidious~~ societal norms they’ve inadvertently been complicit in until now.

Together we are able to share ideas and gently question alternative views with respect and humour. We bathe in the comfort of conversation. This is a place where there is no judgement. Long held or newly discovered dreams and visions are spoken out aloud. Quieter parts of ourselves are aired.

Sometimes, these conversations are with younger women, some of whom may have children of their own, and some who do not. They are keenly aware of the blind spots their elders may have developed while navigating the systems we’ve inherited. Their blend of intelligence and innocence offers essential perspective - bringing clarity, compassion, and depth to the disrupted world we are learning to navigate together.

Amongst us are female prophets, shepherds of God, and those who draw nourishment from eastern philosophies. Everyone is welcome here.

If we were world leaders I’d like to imagine these relationships and conversations would extend into professional conversations that look something like this.

juliazemiro

A post shared by @juliazemiro

Visions and dreams

Alma helps open the channel that unlocks visions and dreams that come from my higher self, my True Voice. When I sit with the freedom and possibility of Alma’s presence, I begin to imagine a different life. Perhaps I’m a Bibliotherapist or a Librarian in a regional town. Maybe I’m renting a remote writer’s cabin for a season, surrounded by tall tress.

In this state of being it is the landscape, my notebook and words from the pages of writers who keep me company. Sometimes my husband is nearby, immersed in his own dreamlike state, tinkering on his own creative projects. We’ll watch the sunset each night as we return from a walk and collect more logs for the fire.

I’ve shared my desire to live on the side of a mountain with my family, and imagine one day it may come true. I’ve also mentioned the reading room at Sunday Reed’s first home at Heidi as a great example of what our library could look like.

I’d love to know. Do you have a Dreamer Voice? What do you ache for more of?