What our dreams reveal about us

We all dream. We may not remember out dreams but we do dream. Many of us are very interested in our dreams- wanting to talk about them, think about them, ask what do they mean? We seem to know that they are important and that they reveal something about us, but we can’t make sense of them. Keeping a dream journal can be a very good way of getting in touch with emotions, insight and intuition. Dreams can show us areas of strength and also areas inside us that need healing. With recurring dreams it is often a sign of some situation/emotion that needs your attention. For many years I repeatedly dreamt about an old boyfriend and getting rejected by him, and I always woke up feeling bad about myself. What I came to understand and look at was that I was rejecting a part of myself, and once I worked on self acceptance those dreams changed- no longer was I rejected in my dreams, and then I stopped having them all together. I had someone tell me a dream that pretty much summed up much of her life. In the dream she was in need of help and went from house to house begging for someone to help her, and no one would. She cried when she told this dream because it was so painful. In real life that is how her life had gone- she felt rejected and unaccepted everywhere, and felt that she couldn’t get anyone to support her, all people did was take advantage of her and then leave her. She may not have consciously known how she kept getting wounded in this way, but her dreams replayed the trauma of it for her.
If you have recurring dreams, take note of them, it will reveal a theme/issue in your life that could use some looking into. A dream journal is a great place to start with working with dreams. When you first wake up from a dream start writing about it- what are the emotions behind it? Who is there, what is happening? Do not try to figure it out right away- we often needs some space from the dream, and then coming back to it at a later time and rereading it will be more helpful. Devona L Marshall MS LPC NCC is starting a dream group at Kettle Moraine Counseling, and if you would like to participate please contact her at devona@kettlemorainecounseling.com.