Pillow Talk

I don’t often remember dreams. Lately, I have been having a reoccurring dream that I cannot shake. I’m a strong believer that such a dream is full of meaning. Although the finite details within the dream are not clearly remembered, the location, company of people and my feelings of utter chaos and vulnerability are clear as day. This dream has been reoccurring for over two weeks now. I've been a student in the past of dream analysis. As a psychology major in college (I changed majors 16 credits shy of a psych degree…ha…so me) I enjoyed a dream analysis class where we kept dream journals all semester. I always wondered how the professor must have had some entertaining evenings reading his students dream journals to say the least. There are many books and materials on the subject. Because my dream was full of chaos and fear, followed by my fight to defend myself in battle after battle, I decided to research such dream-state activity and some of their proposed meanings. Here is a taste of some of the results:

Chaotic states in the dream reveal mostly mental oppression, feelings which cannot be arranged.

Feelings of fear in a dream are associated with unexpressed love, self-doubt. Certain schools of thought see outbursts caused by fear in dreams as a necessary counter measure and need for protection of some kind, on the other hand, as a sign of a historical burden of the past.

One understands by displacement in the depth psychology as an internal defense based on what one feels is unsafe and they do not want to be threatened any more. Displacement is a motivated forgotten.

Because we tend to edge out these fears when we are awake, they strike us in the night dream. If I am afraid to express openly my aggression, I will probably have the dreams in which I am confronted with this aggression.

One must in the woken state evaluate the reason for such feelings of fear and chaos and work through alternative approaches than what is occurring when confronted in the dream with aggression, otherwise the dreams will reoccur. (from several sources)

Needless to say, my counselor has a lot of work ahead with me :-)

I write this to encourage others to not be afraid of being self-aware of even things that are so deep within us that are so easily neglected in the daily routine of life. These things deep inside us are very real and need to be dealt with. Like many, I’m more prone to deal only with the physical needs that are obvious (i.e. weight loss or a much needed hair cut). These are easier to accept and jump to the chance to give it my full attention.

It is the hidden issues of the heart that impact our loved ones and us in potentially negative ways. You, and your loved ones, deserve such health and wholeness in every way.

Sweet dreams friend!