Have you ever woken with a dream image that you just couldn’t shake?
Ever carried the emotional residue from a dream with you all day long, unsure of how to respond?
Regardless of what you believe about dreams, they impact our day-to-day lives. What if you could learn a handful of quick practices to help you engage with your dreams and gather wisdom for your personal journey? What if, in a few moments a day, you could build a practice of dreamwork that both deepens and enriches your relationship with yourself and your life?
This is what happened for me when I first started the practice of dreamwork, and this is my hope for you as we embark on this 7-day journey of working with dreams.
Every day for seven days, I’ll post a new skill on the blog and share a dream that illustrates how to apply it.
Whether or not you remember your dreams, you can learn and practice these skills by working with dreams you remember from the past, or with imagery that has popped up in waking life or in meditation.
You can share your dreams, and any questions or comments about the skill we are learning, either in the comments on the blog or directly by email at innerlightasheville@gmail.com.
I hope that this 7-day journey will start you on a path strewn with personal treasure. Perhaps the skills you learn here will embolden you to bring your dreams into conversations with friends, or to incorporate them in counseling sessions as part of your personal work.
Let’s start right in on the first skill!
Dreaming Skill #1: Finding Emotional Parallels
When you first wake from a dream, even if the dream itself has escaped your memory, there is often an emotional residue that lingers.
Do you feel sad? Shocked? Angry? Frightened? Upon waking, rest for a moment with your eyes closed and notice any emotions that linger, whether they are attached to dream imagery or not.
If you have a few moments, write out the precise emotional signature of the dream. For example:
”I had a strong feeling of dread, deep in my stomach, and when I woke my heart was pounding as if in fear.”
“In the first part of the dream, I felt confused and bewildered, but then in the next scene I was proud and confident. When I woke I had a feeling of accomplishment.”
Now, look at what you’ve written. Where in your waking life do you experience this combination of emotions? What particular issue, person, or life domain brings up these feelings?
When you discover the part of your waking life that carries the emotional signature of the dream, you will have a clear understanding of what specifically the content of the dream is referring to.
Today’s Dream Practicum
“I don’t remember much about the content of my dream. But when I woke I felt extremely sad, almost as though there was a weight on my heart. Later in the day, I remembered one image from the dream; a girl in a blue dress was running away from me, and I had a feeling of loss. She’s not a real girl that I know, but she was about four years old and it felt like my heart was breaking.”
As this dreamer wrote down the emotional signature of her dream, she realized that the feeling of heartache and loss corresponded to a situation in her waking life in which she had decided to leave school to care for a family member.
As we worked with the imagery of the dream, the dreamer realized that she had started school 4 years ago, and the little girl walking away symbolized, for her, the loss of her dream of completing graduate school.
In our continued work with this dream, the dreamer explored the sense of heartbreak she hadn’t let herself acknowledge for fear of seeming selfish or uncaring about her ailing family member. As she allowed herself to feel these emotions fully, she realized she could be a compassionate caregiver and still take a course or two online.
As of this writing, she has completed her master’s degree. Her willingness to pay attention to the lingering emotions of an unremembered dream set her on a path that led to the fulfillment of a deeply-held but unacknowledged goal.
These dreams are shared with permission, with some identifying features changed to protect confidentiality.
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Set a journal and pen by your bed tonight, and practice the skill of finding emotional parallels upon waking.
And I’d love to hear what you find out! You can comment below with any questions or insights, or feel free to email directly at innerlightasheville@gmail.com.
*A word about safety: If you find yourself battling strong anxiety, grief, or dread in the course of working with a dream, step back from it and call a friend, take a walk, or speak with your counselor. Dream work can get very deep very fast! Do not push yourself to continue unsupported. *
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If this journey inspires you and you’d like to work your dream in person, there are still a few spaces left in our intimate day-long dreamwork retreat this September. You can register below.
