When you say you’re a dreamworker or a dreams researcher, as I do, you naturally attract questions from friends, family, or strangers about their dreams. Fortunately, I love hearing others’ dreams so it’s usually a win-win, if I have the time and energy in the moment to listen.
I remember how most of my life I would be eager to tell someone about a realistic, strange, or powerful dream I had the night before, but it was a rare morning when I would have an eager or attentive audience. In fact, still, I’ll get in the car to drive one of my teens somewhere, and mention the words “my dream,” and I can tell from how they brace that I should check in with them first to see if they are in the mood to hear anything about the dream I had.
When people share a dream with me, usually it’s one that has stirred their curiosity or emotions. Often, the dream has elements that make them feel vulnerable; so much so they may not even want to share the dream with a close friend, for fear of the “implications” of the content. Sometimes people don’t share recent dreams with me, but old or recurring ones, nightmares they had over and over as a young adult, or one set inside a familiar place they can’t quite identify.
Dreams can be alluring. Dreams can be seductive. Dreams can be terrifying. Dreams can have us question our sanity. Dreams can propel us toward deep introspection. Dreams can make us feel closer to or more distanced from other people, ourselves, or God.
In order to work your dreams, you don’t require an active dream life. Certainly, if you want to work your dreams on a regular basis, I recommend taking on the practice of active dream recall in the morning. This is something I can help coach you on. The more we remember dreams, the more images and content we have to work with.
For sure, working current dreams can get at current concerns, challenges, or struggles. That said, current dreams sometimes highlight very old challenges, very old wounds. Ongoing dreamwork usually works best with people willing and ready to remember their dreams. But it’s not necessary.
In fact, sometimes there is valuable “content” in as a little as one fragment of a barely remembered dream. One line of conversation between you and another dream character. One naked dip in the cool lake you used to sail in as a kid at summer camp. One lost car in a train station parking lot. One missed encounter with the celebrity rock star whose poster used to hang on your bedroom wall in high school.
If you’re curious about dream work, and whether or not it’s suited to your desires for healing, listening, sharing, personal growth, or spiritual expansion, I’m happy to get on the phone for a short call or exchange a brief set of emails to hear what it is you’re seeking to uncover or explore. I understand that for many dreamwork is a new concept, and you may want to ask some questions, or even share a dream, before getting started. That’s okay.
