What have dreams done for you lately?
When I talk with most folks about dreams, it seems that almost everyone has had at least one experience of great meaning and value as a result of a nighttime vision. Certain researchers have even explored the folk notion that about 50% of people, in general, have had dreams of future events that came true and swear by the helpfulness of such occurrences.
In online groups, individual consultations and in person meetings, I see the vast array of benefits of working with dreams on a regular basis.
As you read this, perhaps you can think of an example of a dream that visited you, which offered some key level of information or insight and possibly even forecasted a future event? I’d love to hear about it, if you feel like sharing.
A big part of how I got involved in devoting myself to community work with dreams has had to do with the way dreaming clearly helps uncover hidden pieces of the puzzle towards being-becoming who we truly are. I deeply value how I have benefitted from what the dreams offer me, and the folks I get to adventure with, as they consistently depict wise yet practical messages and embodiments of fulfilled vital paths towards wholeness.
The projective-style dream work model myself, and others use is both self and other-empowering. It operates on the notion that in sitting with and sharing the dreams, we will all see and feel within them what is most true and meaningful for each of us as individuals. Often times, there are many layers of meaning that resonate with several, if not all, of the group participants.
When worked with respectfully, our dreams and visions can be honored as unique forms of authentic inner guidance. In my experience, I’ve seen how dreaming represents a wellspring of deep wisdom that accurately reflects what’s important now and how the dreamer can locate what is most meaningful and pragmatic to waking life at any given time. It helps immensely to have the assistance of others to see what is difficult to see for our selves, however.
Why don’t we talk more about our dreams with each other? Time and again, when witnessing folks who may be new to or familiar with this work, I have the pleasure of seeing how apparently mistaken notions of dreams being meaningless, harmful or nonsensical break down and give way to increased understanding about the vast potential within dreaming experiences. We’ve inherited a lot of ideas about dreams being useless fantasies. And yet, we also often talk of having special, big dreams for our lives. I sense and witness how folks sometimes feel their dreams are too troubling, disgusting or just plain weird to share with others. All the seemingly small and strange dreams along the way are like holographic portions of the larger total vision we carry within, through our own original yet universal quest in this lifetime.
In the kind of work I do, we say, “there is no such thing as a bad dream, only dreams that sometimes take a dramatically negative form in order to grab our attention”. Paradoxically, and quite wonderfully, when I’ve had the privilege of imagining such dreams for myself, and with others, these are the very dreams, which hold the greatest potential for energetic release and power of insight. Our negative views of disturbing dreams hold hostage the very energies asking to be released and acknowledged within them. If only we can work with and share our deeply personal, yet surprisingly pan-human (universally shared) dreaming adventures and honor their imaginative counsel for our lives, we find that it is so.
If the response of the numerous individuals I’ve worked with for many years is any indication, and it ought to be the most reliable signpost of success, all dreams are wildly potent and do offer reliable and immediate gifts supporting the dreamer and the folks sharing the dream.
To find out more or to respond please leave a comment and visit the Dream Work and Sound Healing Page here at Word Press. All Blessings, Travis W
You have expressed the importance of dreams so clearly, Travis! My own dreams and the dreams of those I’ve worked with so often contain immediately useful and meaningful forms of experience–whether they have direct application in our lives, or simply inspire us, challenge us, and open our minds to new possibilities. I can pick almost any dream at random and feel the resonance of its many meanings. Last night, I had a sad and disturbing dream image that didn’t seem immediately relevant:
A sparrow is being viciously attacked by other small birds. I feel terrible about this, and want to make it stop, though the sparrow is probably already too badly injured to survive. A wise person with me simply accepts the situation. We watch with great compassion, but can’t interfere. I have to turn away.
I wrote this just now without knowing what to make of it, but in the process of writing it reminded me so clearly of how I am learning to cope with old feelings of sadness, judgment, anguish–trying to acknowledge these feelings with tenderness and compassion, without trying to interfere and make them go away (which would only cause more suffering). The dream suggests to me how painful this process of acceptance can be, yet the “wise person” (an aspect of myself?) is capable of doing it. The intensity of the dream experience shows me how spiritual practice and growth processes are not abstractions, but authentic challenges that raise painful questions about what I am currently ready to accept and what I’m not. The dream had an impact on me at a level I hadn’t consciously realized.
Being someone who believes wholeheartedly in the value of dreams and dreamwork, I greatly appreciate your ability to write about this in a way that will communicate to those who have not yet experienced their dreams as meaningful. Thank you so much for your work!
Thank You Kirsten – it’s great to get some feedback on the posts and also to hear all that you have shared. I have been working to imagine ways that I can write about this work so that folks who may be new to it can grasp the opportunities of possibility that are available. I experience your writing to be of great value and inspiring in this sense as well!
It’s interesting, too, that these themes seem present for myself and others in waking life, the sadness and the invitation to gain wisdom from grief and sorrow – to be able to be with it…
I can’t help but to notice for myself, also, that the dream of the sparrow being viciously attacked evokes a sense of nature being under attack, and/or of spirits attacking a spirit – birds being long associated with spirit. It seems that on a widened collective level, with the climate changes that’re taking place, that there’s a level of meaning here in my version of the dream snippet about being able to witness nature in its destructive mode, which is not easy for me, and which may hold wisdom for others too…
I appreciate this sharing, deeply, and please know that these gleanings will be passed on, to be sure! 😉
All the Best, Many Thanks, Travis
Wow, Travis. Your insights into the sparrow dream really “click” for me at a deep level–and feel closer to the core than my own first thoughts about the dream. Thank you!
You’re so welcome Kirsten, and Thank You for taking the time to thoughtfully comment, share and inspire! 😉 All Blessings, Travis