Working with Dreams

Dreams have long fascinated me. What actually goes on in our subconscious minds while we sleep? Why do some dreams feel so significant that they are seared into our minds, days, months and even years later? Dreams can feel like a brief encounter with another dimension but because they are specific to each person, they are also like private access to a personal world that no one else can enter or truly understand. They are for the dreamer alone. 

Dreams are made up of symbolic images and narratives that can be used to help us better understand ourselves. But these symbols are unique to each person. There are some universally understood symbols and there are specific symbols that belong to each person. For example, if you were born in one country and emigrated, your home country will have a specific meaning for you as compared to someone else who may not have any connection. 

Many people who begin therapy or Jungian analysis will notice an increase in the frequency and vividness of their dreams as if the subconscious is responding to our therapy. Dreams can be used as a source of self-revelation and can offer insight into any troubling situation we find ourselves in our waking world. 

As a side note, everything I write about in this article pertaining to dreams is strictly my own opinion. Though it may sound as if I am stating them as facts, I am simply saying what I believe is the case since no one can really explain beyond doubts, why we dream, or what they mean. 

Before we get into how to work with dreams, I want to go over the list of some of the common types of dreams I have encountered. 

Ordinary Dreams

These are the nighttime dreams that feels insignificant or is easily forgotten upon waking. For me, these types of dreams are mental and emotional housekeeping dreams. They sweep out the clutter from the day, save anything that might be important to remember for later, clear the hard drive and upload the latest software. These dreams disappear almost as quickly as consciousness dawns on us. Or if they are remembered they hold no emotional weight. They are important physiologically and emotionally, but they don’t seem to linger in our awareness long enough for examination. 

Dreams for Self-Discovery

These dreams are the ones that wake us up in the middle of the night or when morning comes we find a heavy feeling in our stomach that can’t be shook off. We might find the images in the dream continue, long after sleep, to invade our daily waking life. These dreams are incredibly useful for unpacking the internal fears, stressors, sources of depression and anxiety, discovering deeper meaning to many of our issues and they can even offer of solutions and answers to nagging problems. 

Message Dreams

There are some dreams that feel like direct messages. Meaningful connections with loved ones who have passed on, strangers who show up to tell us something important. These kinds of dreams are pretty straight forward and don’t need interpretation. But they speak to the power of dreams and the mystery of what happens while we sleep. 

Prophetic, Futuristic or Mystery Dreams

There are very rare cases where dreams have a prophetic quality to them but many of us do have dreams that feel futuristic or mysteriously unsolved. These too, are not the type of dreams that I typically encourage unpacking and resolving. They are fascinating and worth documenting though. 

Recurring Nightmares or Dreams

It seems that everyone has at least one recurring nightmare or dream. If not an actually recurring dream you may discover a recurrent motif that appears with regularity. Sometimes it’s just the symbol that recurs and in other dreams it could be similar location or a recurring storyline or theme. These types of dreams are very rich and worth the time to explore them. 

How To Work With Your Dreams

1. The first thing to do is begin to notice your dreams with more openness and curiosity. You can choose to record them if they are memorable but pay attention to your dreams if you can. Some people tell me they don’t remember their dreams. That’s okay. If you work at it, you will start to remember them better. It just hasn’t been a job required of your mind. Remember them and write them down if that helps. Track your dreams across time. If you dream about your ex, your child, a parent with any regularity, notice how your dream interactions change across time. 

1. Identify symbols that show up commonly in your dreams. They are your symbols so take the time to uncover what they mean to you specifically. For example, if someone had a dream about a horse, or a dark basement, or a chess board, I might ask the question: what does that image mean to you particularly? Maybe you have always been secretly afraid of horses, or you had a painful memory that occurred in a dark basement, or your grandfather loved to play chess with you before he died. When you ponder this question, you may notice right away if the image is specific to you or just a general image. A general meaning for those three images might be something like this: The horse could represent freedom and mobility, rather than facing a fear. A dark basement could represent things you are currently unaware of and are in the dark about rather than a specific negative experience, and finally chess could mean a strategic game rather than a connection to your grandfather. It really helps to note the meanings of your own symbols and notice their frequency in your dreams. 

1. What part of your life, or situation is the dream referencing? That is good question to ask yourself when thinking of dreams and their meanings. Does it have to do with your love life? A problem at work? A pet project you are starting? A friendship that is going sour? Try to find the area of your life that feels most pressing or on your mind and see if the dream is connected to it in some meaningful ways. 

1. If you were going to give yourself a message, what do you need to hear? Only you can know what your dreams mean. Others can help or offer insight but ultimately it is your dream, and you are the authority. I notice for myself, when I have successfully unpacked the symbols in a dream and understood the relevant message, the dream can be archived, almost forgotten. It loses any emotional weight it might have carried before and feels completely resolved. Try to solve the riddle of your dreams as if they were puzzles and you had to come up with answer to the puzzle. When you find the right answer, it will feel good, and you will feel complete. 

1. One more thing that I find very helpful in working with dreams. Ask yourself how you would like to go into the dream and change it, respond to it, or extend it. Let yourself go into a deep meditative state and follow the dream until you want something different to happen. Let your mind create whatever it wants in that moment. This can be enormously helpful in understanding the overall meaning of your dream. 

It isn’t always easy to unpack and dissect a dream by yourself. It can be immensely helpful if there is a trusted friend or loved one that can listen and give honest clear feedback. But in the event that you don’t have anyone to help you perhaps this list will be of use. In the meantime, pay attention to those dreams, there is more there than you can every imagine.