Dreams - What Are They?

Q: I realize this is a very big topic, but what can you say about dreams?  I sometimes have a nightmare that I find disturbing.  I feel helpless, vulnerable, and fearful afterward.  Q.E.

A: Dreams lead us to places in our psyches which we would not be able to reach within the confines of our waking existence.

Nightmares often push us into feelings that we are repressing because they are too painful or threatening.  In our waking lives, we have well-built defenses that prevent us from feeling these feelings.  The nightmares provide safety valves so that we can feel the feelings enough to continue to function in our daily lives.

Is there something that is threatening you, causing you to repress feelings of helplessness, vulnerability, and fear?  There may be a situation that impinges on your sense of well-being in the world, and you are warding off the feelings, which are finding a vent through your dreams.

One key to wholeness is the opening of our sleeping life, our dreams, to our ordinary waking life.  Explore your dreams, write them down.  Pay them attention.  Beginning to recall them will bring greater recall.

A person who had a series of dreams about his brother "Ben" finally took the name literally and plugged in the dreamer's past where "Ben" appeared in a dream - what has "been."  The dreams fell into place and the dreamer was able to grow in the direction they were pointing.

Someone dreamed of a white horse trapped in a basement.  She re-entered the dream several times, in a semi-waking state.  Each time a new feature was evident in the dream - first, a stairway and door at the top.  Soon the horse found its way to the door, which opened.  Quite to the dreamer's surprise, a wide desert landscape appeared outside with a herd of wild mustangs just running by.  Freed, the white horse joined the herd.  The dreamer began to experience a new-found freedom in her life.

Since the topic is far too great to be covered in a column such as this, I will say that I believe paying attention to our dreams, and giving them due value and appreciation, no matter the content, is the beginning to reaping the rewards they are offering us.