THE ROLE of DREAMS in SELF CARE

Are you a dreamer? We all dream even though we might forget, have a vague recollection of having dreamed something that, try as hard as we might, we are unable to remember. 

Dreams are more than neurons firing in our brain as we sleep. They are messengers with messages customized to our lived circumstances. Dreams can give us insight into a health or financial issue, warn us of an upcoming event, show us something of ourselves that is holding us back from progress or even the progress we have achieved.

Here is one tool to remember your dreams.  Keep a journal and pencil beside your bed within easy reach and write the dream down as soon as possible. Include details like the colours and sounds, the people and words spoken, the environment in which the dream occurred.  Were you on a bus, in an elevator or a house?  How did you feel in the dream? How do you feel as you recall the dream?

Paying attention to details and writing the dream down as soon as we awaken are two aspects of cultivating awareness.  Here comes that dratted word. Discipline. Yes, mining your dreams for the gold contained within requires discipline. The discipline to write the dream down even if it means waking up in the middle of the night to scrawl a few words that will jog your memory in the morning.

The reason for this is to sidestep the dream censor. What is the dream censor? A filter of the mind that sometimes protects us but can also cast doubt on the dream content. Too quickly the dream censor steps in and the dream is wiped away to be forgotten until later when some event, sound or something someone says triggers the memory.

If you have awakened knowing with certainty the dream message and then a few hours later you start to doubt and question so that the content is diluted, this is the dream censor in action. It works in tandem with the mind.

Many times, in attempts to understand dreams we might resort to a dream book with limited success.  Dream books are a start that too often become a crutch. Since the dream is yours, and no one else’s, the symbols and meanings are uniquely yours.

Build a dream dictionary. You may want to put it at the back of your dream journal and add to it over time.

There is nothing “woo-woo” about dreams. If you deeply desire to know your next steps understand and know that dreams require:

·        A different kind of insight and understanding

·        A different kind of awareness

·        A different kind of discipline

·        A different level of accountability

Dreams are an essential part of your self care. They provide insight on things uniquely important to you in ways you can accept, safe - in this case, one positive outcome of the dream censor in action - and customized to your ability to hold the message.

The dream is yours. It originates within you and you own it like no one else.