Dreams and Healing

I Want to share this article with you.

          By: Grace Smith                           Courtesy of Subconsciously Speaking Vol 7: 1992

            All dreams come in the service of health and wholeness. No dreams ever come to tell us what we already know; their context is to move us further along in our growth and development. Jung's studies showed that the dream is a natural pathway for bridging the gap between the conscious and unconscious. He concluded that the conscious and unconscious minds both have critical roles to play in the equilibrium of the total self. When they are out of balance with each other, neurosis or other disturbances result.

            Working with dreams helps us to understand the universal archetypes or patterns that we have in our unconscious. When we use dreams and work with the symbols that we find in them, we learn more about ourselves and the meaning of our lives. The point of working with our dreams is to build consciousness. By learning to do dreamwork, we gain insight into the conflicts and challenges our lives present, for it is in the world of dreams that the unconscious is working out powerful dynamics inside us. When we take the time to learn their language, we'll discover that all of our dreams are masterpieces of symbolic communication.

            Understanding Dreams:  There are several basic kinds of dreams and often you can recall snatches from many of them. As you begin to work with dreams more often, you'll learn to recognize the differences and determine the value each is offering you. Clearinghouse dreams clean out the mental and emotional clutter of daily life. Teaching dreams give you information on problems and how to handle them by changing the way you approach life.

            Precognitive dreams give you a glimpse of the future. Visionary dreams are messages from a higher power and concern spiritual growth. Outside interference dreams are produced when something is happening in your physical environment and causing disruption-you dream you are very warm and awake to find too many covers piled on top of you. Sexual dreams often indicate learning to balance the male and female polarities within us. Recurring dreams indicate a message which you are not seeing. Death dreams frequently mean change; that is, the ending of the old and making way for the new. Snake dreams represent kundalini energy or life force.

            Inner Work:  Most people do not approach the unconscious (inner work) or dream work voluntarily. They only become aware of the unconscious when they get into trouble with it. We modern people are often so out of touch with the inner world that we encounter it mostly through psychological stress.

            Author and analyst, Robert Johnson, says that "When our conscious attitudes are at odds with our instinctual selves-then we begin to realize that the unconscious is playing a role in our lives, and we need to face it. The inner life that Jung described in his studies is the secret life we all lead, by day and night, in constant companionship with our unseen, unconscious, inner selves." To get a true sense of who we are and to stay balanced, we must communicate with our dreams and value them for the insight they reveal.

            Jungian dream analyst Stephon Kaplan-Williams says that, "The connection between who we present ourselves as and who we actually are can only be strengthened and made real by such a strong commitment we will endure whatever hardship necessary to achieve personal transformation. I know of no better form than dreamwork for this central task because it is based on following a source other than ego which reveals itself through dreams."

[Grace Smith Ph.D., CHt. P.O. Box 1762, Troy, MI 48099 . Dr. Smith is a graduate of Infinity International Institute of Hypnotherapy and a member of the International Medical & Dental Hypnotherapy Association.]