I’ve been working with my dreams for some time now, curious about and entranced by them because when I’m seeking an answer to or grappling with an issue in my life, they not only are more vivid, so that I recall them when I awake, they also are more profound. It’s undeniable that they have a message for me if only I can decipher it.

Some scientists and researchers believe that dreams are merely the body’s way of discharging energy or processing and organizing events of the day. If that’s true, then why do we dream about people we’ve never met or encounter things we’ve never experienced? Hmmm.

Our dreams may have more intelligence and purpose than mere energy dissipation or memory organization. If we can accept that the language of our dreams is symbolic and not literal, then dreams may have intricate messages for us that we can decode and from which we can learn. And that’s exciting stuff….

Dr. Carl Jung, the preeminent psychoanalyst, in exhaustively analyzing his own dreams, discovered that “the dream is the small hidden door in the deepest and most intimate sanctum of the soul.” He believed that our dreams seek to “express something that the ego does not know and does not understand” and that by looking more closely at the symbolism of our dreams we can begin to find meaning not just of the dream but for ourselves.

Jung determined that the figures in our dreams are not literal (your husband is not actually your husband in your dream), rather they are symbolic; they stand for an archetypal energy that is trying to get your attention in some way. Oftentimes, it is an energy or aspect of yourself that wants or needs to be acknowledged and integrated. So, let’s say your husband was a bit reckless while a car driving in your dream,  you may want to look at whether you have been reckless recently and if slowing down would bring more balance to the situation. With Jung, a healthy, integrated self is all about finding balance and wholeness. And that’s a good thing, right?

My dreams have allowed me powerful and clarifying insights into aspects of myself that I did not know I needed to acknowledge or accept. When I take the time to record my dreams, decipher their meaning–what the symbols mean to me, not what dream interpreters claim they mean–and come to that “aha” moment where things click, I do feel more whole.

“Only the dreamer can know what a dream means.”– Jeremy Taylor, Dreamwork: Techniques for Discovering the Creative Power in Dreams

There’s so much more to share about understanding our dreams and how these messages that come from our soul can restore us to our true selves. I have a dream that I very much want to share with you, but it can wait for another blog post. Sweet dreams….