I’ve always been a vivid dreamer– having use of all of my senses & emotions in full color dreams that are so “real” that I now refer to my total experience in physical form as my “awake life” & my “dream life”. Two parts of the whole– equally important to my well-being.
In my childhood & early teens, I relished going to the bookstore where I could wade through multiple dream “dictionaries” & be told the meaning of my imagery by some “expert”, as if a total stranger can define my personal symbolism. Eventually, I found myself saying “No, this doesn’t sound right” more often than not.
Not knowing what else to do, I began keeping a dream journal by the bed so I could record my dreams as soon as I woke up, before the scenes became fuzzy or lost forever. I highly recommend this practice, especially for people who say they don’t dream or they can’t remember their dreams. It’s like anything else you want to get good at, the more you practice, the better you’ll become at recalling this part of your life. Set the intention before you go to sleep & write down anything & everything you remember when you wake up, even if it’s just a sentence or two.
Dreams fall into three categories, judging from my experience & decades of recording dreams.
There are dreams that are obviously inspired by what you did during the day. That category can include people from your life, scenes from a tv show, or themes from a book you read. These are rather basic & easy to identify. For example, I recently had a dream about waiting for people at a theater the same day I purchased tickets to a local production of Peter Pan.
There are other dreams that are full of creative, unusual, or magical elements that cause you to wake up wondering, “Where did that come from? There’s no way my imagination could have made that up!” These dreams are the most important because they speak to the part of you that belongs to the universal consciousness, the part of you that understands ancient imagery & archetypal symbolism. These dreams challenge us to deeply reflect on core values, beliefs, & perception of ourselves in the grand scheme of things. For example, I had a dream that the road I travel daily was lined with larger-than-life statues of unicorns. Nestled in the woods, a gift shop seemed to glow, beckoning me to enter. Inside, I saw all manners of unicorn statues, art, & jewelry. The shop keeper said, “None of these are for you. I have what you need in the back. Wait here.” When she returned, she held a necklace shaped like a woman. When I took it in my hands, the woman was me… with a unicorn horn. That resonates with me & requires reflection to fully understand. For now, I just marvel at how my mind works when I’m asleep & supposedly inactive or resting.
I never found a good teacher or reference book for my personal study of dreams but I don’t need one. The messages are just for me & only I can figure them out.
This entry was posted in A Window on Life and tagged balance, dream, healing, inspiration, life, musings, reflections, self-awareness, sleep, spirit by puresusan. Bookmark the permalink.