The Art of Dreaming

 

 

 

"By exploring dream time symbols, we not only

discover our personal issues, but thoughts

from the Universal Collective as well."

 

Virginia Carlson

 

 

There are several dream categories:  nightmare, recurring, precognitive, lucid, visions, and waking dreams.  A nightmare can be created by emotions we repress.  It has no warning and generally no solution within the dream.  A recurring dream presents a definite lesson which will discontinue once it is understood.  A precognitive dream is a catalyst for the body to act or support wishes.  It offers information we normally would not have.  In lucid dreaming, we are aware we are dreaming and we can manipulate or simply be an observer as the dream plays out.  There are some visions that present themselves in dream form.  They can be calming, insightful, and can include deceased friends or relatives, or saints and angels for other realms. Waking dreams are the easiest dreams to work with and yet most people overlook them.  In these dreams, we are awake, aware and observing what unfolds around us.  We learn from the interaction of others or nature. 

 

It is important to define personal dream symbols.  What definition I have for an object or person may be totally different from your associations.  There are some symbols, however, that are vital to unfolding a dream.  For example, after any dream, it is important to note if we were in a vehicle, where we were seated, and what the weather was like outside of the vehicle.  If we were we in a house, were we in the attic, basement, kitchen, etc... Was it our own home,  someone else's or a different building structure all together?  It is also good to be aware if we are indeed our self or if we are someone else.  Are we masculine or feminine and what part are we playing and who is with us? 

 

Dreams contain many elements that our minds can be trained to record.  Being aware of background things in the dream helps with understanding ...  like the weather, illness, death, sex, pregnancy or accidents.  Often times, a person dreams of being pregnant and actually fears this could be a prediction.  Of course it could be, but more than likely it  is an indication that we are going to give birth to a new idea or relationship and we indeed may labor with it. 

 

Developing dream recall is like any other thing we are wanting to master, in that we need to have a procedure and practice.  We need to create a bedtime ritual to eliminate the chaos from our day and prompt ourselves to remember our dream upon waking.  Place a recorder or a journal on the bed stand so we will immediately be reminded to think of our dreams. 

 

If this all sounds like more than what is desired, begin with waking dreams.  Waking dreams are daily life filled with insight.   By training our mind to pay attention to the nuances within a day, we can gather deeper meanings we normally allow to pass by.

 

The Art of Dreaming is important as we need to come to understand our inner landscapes.  Dreaming is simply a language to be learned, to broaden and deepen our life experience.