In the first section of THE ART OF DREAMING (posted on Virginia’s Voice January 10, 2011), it was established that dreams are a form of communication having a unique language to be individually interpreted. Everyone dreams every night in full color having approximately three dreams per night whether remembered or not. Dreams open a pathway into a deeper understanding of life when the reflected information is unraveled and applied.
My childhood was filled with a very colorful dreamscape. The dreams were rich with details and symbols, none of which I understood. By repressing fears and emotions, nightmares grew into recurring dreams. The only avenue of escape available to me was writing. Jotting down experiences and dreams helped me to memorize and normalize events in my life, but I was too young to actually decipher any of it.
The summer before my senior year of college my parents down sized and relocated. The one box left for me was filled with the testimonies of my life. Enclosed were numerous one year, two year, and even three year diaries. Included were two novels I had written between 7th and 8th grade. Lastly, there were very dark writings from high school.
My father had always discouraged my writing and I knew that my box of collected writings were no longer safe. Building a fire in the burn barrel, my father instructed me to ‘just get rid of the trash’ and so I foolishly burned it all. I mourn taking that action to this day.
Twenty years later, I met a woman working on her thesis entitled, HANDBOOK FOR JOURNALING, Techniques for use in Psychotherapy. The friend offered to let me read her thesis and it was within those pages that I discovered validation for my writing as well as the importance of dream recording. The term “journaling” had yet to become popular and with the arrival of computers spell check quickly redlined the word itself.
In 1988, I purchased the book The Mystical , Magical, Marvelous World of Dreams by Wilda B. Tanner. It easily explained differing types of dreams, the ability to recall dreams, interpret dreams, and recognize dream symbols. It became the bridge between my internal and external worlds and I have been journeying back and forth ever since.
Dreaming will bring both negative and positive aspects of life to the surface. It is capable of releasing sadness, extracting the forgotten, initiating healing, and creating joy. As a valuable tool to integrate parts of the self, dreaming is priceless. It is a mirror reflecting that which may not normally be seen. Dreaming restores a sense of wholeness, brings a sense of magic to life, and turns life into an adventure.
THE ART OF DREAMING III will discuss one of the many dream categories and will contain both dream examples and interpretations for consideration. This discourse will create an awareness and exploration leading to a wonderful journey.
You may say I’m a dreamer,
but I’m not the only one,
I hope someday you will join us,
and the world will live as one.
- John Lennon
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