On Dreaming...

Dreams are a gateway to deeper understanding and healing.  When you start writing down your dreams, you communicate to your psyche your interest and openness to delving deeper— the more interest and openness you show, the more psyche will provide to you. Through my study of dreaming and exploration of my own dreams for 30+ years I have discovered that dreams have multiple purposes and layers of meaning. 

People and animals we've lost may show up in dreams, and can help us move through the grieving process.  Dreams can be precognitive, predicting future scenarios, including the seemingly mundane. Dreams can give us information about the state of our body and health. Dreams can provide compensation for areas where we are out of balance, and provide us glimpses into unknown parts of ourselves, while showing us in which direction things are moving.  

Consider writing down your dreams, we may feel the desire to distance ourselves from nightmares and scary dreams, however, working with these dreams can help us to resolve conflicts and overcome our fears. There are gifts to be had by approaching this difficult material.

Some things to consider when exploring dreams: What is the emotion in the dream? What meaning do the objects, people, places and scenarios hold for me? What is the conflict or struggle and what is being recommended to deal with it? In what direction is the energy of the dream moving—how does the dream end?  Re-entering a dream using active imagination  (developed by Carl Jung)  and carrying the dream forward and dialoging with dream figures can  help you  to process the dream further. 

When using active imagination to explore nightmares, or when nightmares are intense, recurring, and/or coupled with mental health symptoms,  I recommend working with a therapist.  Working with your dreams in therapy can enhance and deepen your healing experience.