I give some of my new and high-quality gardening tools as prizes to raise money for regeneration, partly because I don’t need them so much. I have more of the same.
WAKING LIFE
I spent some time the day before communicating with someone who has a nursery near our place in the Andes, to see what she has and what’s suitable for Finca Milagros. It was a bit of a process to identify the most suitable plants for the food forest and the general regeneration project1. I absolutely love this process of planning and selecting plants.
I also ordered some Fiskars tools for the Finca. I love those tools. At the same time, I am aware I now have a few duplicates of the most useful ones, which seems both slightly extravagant and also prudent since it’s always good to have a few extra of the most used tools.
In the dream, I gave away some duplicate tools to raise money for regeneration. I am aware that I am spending quite a few of my resources – time, energy, money – for that food forest and regeneration project.
Seeing it like this, it seems that the dream just reflects a few things in my life the day before – the food forest and regeneration focus, the extra tools, and giving a good amount of resources to the project.
IN ME
At the same time, the dream elements and dynamics are also all in me.
I am, metaphorically, converting human-made tools (thoughts) into a more thriving and abundant living system. For me, that’s a good use of thoughts. They are in service of life.
In this case, they are in service of regeneration – of the process of regenerating myself, this particular living bodymind system that’s part of the larger web of life.
Tools (thoughts) are converted to money (energy) which are converted to life (aliveness, richness).
How is that happening? By recognizing thoughts as questions, pointers, and guides. By exploring the Long Journey Home Project, which helps me imagine – and find in my own life – a more deeply regenerative culture and orientation. By guiding me to do Qigong, breath explorations, energy healing, noticing my nature, and so on. By reminding me to connect with my inner grown-up in interactions with my wife. By allowing spontaneous therapeutic tremoring. By engaging in tonglen, ho’o, and other explorations. In each of these ways, thoughts are in service of the regeneration of this living system (this bodymind) that’s part of this larger living system (Earth, Existence).
The dream comes from a quiet sense of abundance, and that’s something I notice right now in my inner life.
NOTES
1) I ended up with a few of each of these: Marañón/Cashew, Higo/Fig, Uva/Grape, Samán/Rain Tree, Mermelada/Native fruit shrub, Cayeno/Hibiscus, Neem, Nogal Cafetero/Lowland Walnut, Chicalá/Yellow Elder, Pomaroso nativo/Native Rose Apple, Guamo Cuper/Ice Cream Bean.
The photo is the view from the big house on our regeneration project in the Andes. It’s a view that’s always, moment to moment, different from how it was and how it will be.
AI View on the Dream
ChatGPT 4o
This dream seems to center on themes of generosity, purpose, and shifting priorities—particularly in the context of your values around regeneration and community.
Here’s a possible interpretation:
1. Giving away new, high-quality gardening tools
Gardening tools symbolize agency, creation, cultivation, and hands-on transformation—especially in your case, given your deep engagement with the land at Milagros. These are instruments of regeneration, healing, and care for the Earth.
Giving them away—even when they are new and high-quality—suggests a maturing relationship with ownership and purpose. You’re not giving from scarcity or sacrifice but from abundance and clarity. The tools are not your identity—they are instruments, and you now see how they can serve broader goals.
2. Prizes to raise money for regeneration
The dream places your personal resources in service of collective transformation. Regeneration here may symbolize both ecological renewal and a cultural or personal healing process. Using your tools as prizes hints at reframing material value toward a deeper, long-term, systemic purpose.
3. “I don’t need them so much… I have more of the same”
This phrase reflects a sense of internal sufficiency. You’re no longer grasping or hoarding—your dream-self recognizes that you already have what you need. There’s an element of trust in continued support or abundance—perhaps an echo of your evolving relationship with ownership, control, and contribution.
In sum:
This dream suggests that you’re in a phase of transition from personal cultivation to collective contribution. You’re aligning your resources with your values and feeling confident enough in your foundation to let go of surplus or status symbols. It’s a dream of quiet empowerment and living your principles more deeply.