Working with Your Dreams

Dreamwork is a powerful tool for changing your life. In another article on this web site, I discussed how talking about your dreams can often help you to interpret them. Another technique, that of going into a dream, is helpful not only for understanding the meaning of the dream, but also for dealing with the issues presented in the dream.

This technique is best done in a meditative state. In a nutshell, you interview the characters in the dream (including your "dream self") as if you were a reporter, an impartial third party. Recall a scene from the dream, then imagine you're walking into it as if from the sidelines. Holding a microphone in your hand, ask each of the characters (including "yourself") why they did what they did in the dream. Their answers can provide insights into the issues represented by the situations in your dreams and also into your reactions to those situations. For instance, a dream character's mistaken beliefs about something probably represent your own beliefs.

The most important part of this technique is the fact that you can use it to affect change in your life. Talk to the characters and explain to them how their behavior in the dream affects you in negative ways. By talking to them about it, you're actually addressing the part of yourself that holds those beliefs. You can affect change in yourself by "convincing" the characters in your dreams to change their ways; their beliefs, or behavior, or whatever. Work on it until you feel you've changed their minds. Then step out of the scene and replay it in your mind, the way you want it to be. This last step sort of "re-prints" the dream on your psyche, with your new, preferred result.

Going into your dreams is not only a way of understanding the issues presented in your dreams, but also a way of actually doing something about them!