I Am Loyal To My Dreams

I am loyal to my dreams.

Sometimes it is the tiniest fragment. An image. A person. A feeling. A setting. Sometimes it is more. Characters. A plot. Actions. Symbols

I hand-write my dreams. Most often first thing in the morning. I’m now in my eighth dream-journal. The first seven sit on a nearby bookshelf.

I am loyal to my dreams.

They have things to teach. Last night it was a dream of my mother and my father. It was a dream of the long path. My mother in front of me. My father giving me tools to seek that which has disappeared.

I write my dreams. Because so often, they write me.

They give me insights and intuitions. They bring me into relationship with that which is meant to be less linear and less obvious.

The process I use is below, six steps.

1) Write the dream. 
Don’t edit. Just write. Open to whatever is showing up through words. It may be a paragraph. It may be several pages. It may be a fragment of a dream. It may seem silly to write such a short thing.  Just write. Mine are most often 1/2 a page, 10 ish sentences.

2) Highlight key symbols, words, or images from your writing. 
I draw circles around these words and images. I look for what seemed particularly clear in my dream. I don’t ask why. No sense-making yet. Sometimes I choose as few as 2-3. Usually 7-8. Sometimes more.

3) With each symbol, freely associate meaning.
I write 1-3 associations with each symbol I’ve circled. Notes. I usually start with the most obvious. “Towel — for drying.” I often continue to next brief descriptions. “Towel — for cleaning.” It’s here that I often begin to pivot symbol meanings to personal desires. “I have desire for cleaning, for making clear — this personal circumstance, this working circumstance.” Dreams speak from the psyche — from a less protected and less rational place.

4) From this associating, name the general story. 
From my dream last night, “my mom and my dad guide the long path.” There could be several stories here. It’s not about logically claiming the right story. Your intuition gets to declare — close enough. Perhaps it was a transformation dream. A change dream. A seeking dream. A letting go dream. A fear dream. Don’t name what you think it should be. Don’t try to be smart. Go with what arises.

5)  Name a couple of questions, insights, or assignments for your waking life. 
A few key areas of focus that you can carry with you into the day or the next week. I often reframe an association into a question. I don’t force it. It just feels like an invitation. How might I be different today if I remember my parents and the long path? How might I participate in the meeting with more fluidity.

6) Repeat.
Do it again with tomorrows dreams. Or next week if that is when they come. I find that more dreams come when I give them my attention this way. And sometimes, they are weeks apart.

I am loyal to my dreams.

I am loyal to what the psyche has to say.

Because it integrates. Because it welcomes well-being. Because it gives very specific practices and reminders. Because the psyche has always had things to say. Because this kind of listening makes for such informed humaning.

Want some dream conversation, some dream guiding? Let’s connect.