Keeping a dream diary can be an incredibly powerful tool when engaging in therapeutic work. The best time to record a dream is immediately upon awakening from it, when its initial memory and the emotions attached to it are most deeply experienced. I know that the temptation to drift back off to slumber, if you are able to, can oftentimes be too powerful, or necessary, to ignore.
But it is my belief that our dreams are trying to tell us something that perhaps we cannot fully conceptualize during our waking hours. Maybe it’s unresolved trauma that we don’t want to face while awake. As a confidential healer it is my honor to gently, and as safely as possible, explore nightmares of this nature with clients. I will always strive to take trauma work slowly and to allow clients to guide the experience by letting me know if they need to “put on the brakes.” We’ll look for ways to process difficult feelings and construct a narrative that makes sense, that allows for purposeful healing.
Other times dreams seem more neutral or positive. Sometimes they are the epitome of funky and bizarre. Various people from all chapters of our lives populate our dreams, along with colors, images, sounds and sensations. Carl Jung is an excellent resource for those wanting to delve deeper into knowledge regarding universal archetypes and how they might be interpreted within a dream. The technique I like to use, however, is Emotion-focused. I like having clients tell me the narrative of their dream in the first person, active voice with as many details as they can remember.
“I’m walking down a steep set of black colored stairs. I see Bernard from Book Club sitting on a red, plush chair near the foyer. Bernard looks as if he’s 25 years older than his usual middle-aged appearance. He looks ancient. He’s looking up at me and he says ‘I hate you!’”
I encourage a deep exploration of the feelings within the dream. Shock? Fear? Anger? Sadness? Which part of the dream did the emotion begin? Which part was it strongest? How did Bernard’s voice sound when he said he hates you? Tell me more about his age in waking life and in the dream. How are you feeling in your body right now as we discuss this? What do you make of those physical sensations?
My own therapist used a Gestalt therapy method with me. With this technique, each person within one’s dream is interpreted to be a representation of a part of the dream, or of the Self. If Bernard from Book Club is actually a part of you, what does that mean? What can you imagine him to represent? What you think his needs are? That you stop dominating book club discussions in waking life? Or maybe there is a need to an increase in self-awareness? A need to engage with the quieter part of Self? How does Bernard’s ancient appearance relate to your feelings on the aging process? On death?
If this sounds interesting to you, I’d suggest you try it!
