A Book Can Help You Get Started
This column is intended as entertainment. But psychologists who work with clients’ dreams say that dreams can hold a tremendous amount of significance; a particularly disturbing or repetitive dream may indicate the need to see a therapist.
Carl Jung, one of the great pioneers of dream work, said, “It is the role of symbols to give a meaning to the life of man.” He insisted that the meaning of any particular dream symbol would most likely differ for each individual, depending on that person’s knowledge and attitudes about the symbol. For instance, the image of a wolf can symbolize an aggressive and destructive force in the dreamer, or be seen as an extremely positive symbol of freedom, intelligence and strength.
Today dream dictionaries are available in bookstores to help you get started interpreting your dream symbols. Remember, if a definition doesn’t feel right to you, don’t hesitate to go inward and ask for your own interpretation and meaning. In this way you will gain knowledge of yourself and how you view your world.
Using the wolf as an example, do you view your own wild and free nature as a positive force in your life or a threat to be conquered or avoided? By working with your own dream symbols in this way, you can learn to recognize the situations and concerns your dreams are addressing.
Everyone has “hang-ups,” fears and inner conflicts. Dreams are a valuable way to access these inner issues and often they give us information and suggestions for solutions.
Keep in mind that you don’t have to have problems or neuroses to gain valuable insight from your dream world. Dreams can give us ideas for creativity, healing and a richer, more satisfying life with personal development and improvement as the goal. When we begin to use the power of dreams in this way, our understanding of ourselves and others broadens and enriches our lives.
Dear Nancy: Fifty years ago I was engaged to be married. Suddenly my fiance terminated our relationship and left the area. When he returned, he wanted to restore our relationship, but I was very close to being married to my present husband. I’ve been happily married and have not thought about my former fiance for years. He may even be deceased. - Germaine
I am in a large room, like a hall. My fiance of long ago is a skeleton talking to me. I cannot remember the words. Then I see him in flesh and blood walking toward me. He sees me with the skeleton, turns around and walks away. I call his name and he comes to me. We embrace and kiss. The kiss feels real.
Dear Germaine: Dreams of this kind are very special and can be interpreted in different ways. I have a feeling it is a “visitation” dream and that your former fiance actually did contact you to heal old wounds, express his love, and to come to some resolution regarding your relationship. Regardless of whether he has passed on or is still living, there truly is no death, just a change of awareness. Your own psyche could have created this dream. At this point in your life, your inner self may be needing to resolve that old relationship.
No matter what we call these experiences - dreams, visitations or visions - the important thing is to honor the experience and know that it is an opportunity for healing.
xxxx