Dreams . . . The Sleeping Kind

"Dreams say what they mean, but they don't say it in daytime language." - Gail Godwin

I've had vivid dreams ever since I was a little girl. My sister, Mom and I would discuss our dreams at the breakfast table.

Why was my nice neighbor so mean to me in my dream?

Why did I dream about a person I haven't seen in 15 years?

Am I supposed to travel to Alaska?

My dad and brother, who were more of the "it's not real life so who cares, you weirdos" line of thinking, were annoyed at our analysis each day. Yet we persisted in talking about it, and even call each other to this day if we have an extra strange dream.

I've always been curious about what dreams mean. They sometimes feel so real, yet seem to have no connection to reality. Imagine my delight when my life coach training (through the Martha Beck Institute) included a section on helping clients interpret dreams and apply them to real life! Martha Beck teaches a version of Carl Jung's dream theory, which is that dreams are a window to your unconscious. Your mind uses dreams to tell you the things your conscious mind hasn't figured out yet. The people and places in the dream all represent you in some way.

For example, a client  had a dream that she was making Bolognese sauce in the custodian's closet at her children's school. (Go ahead and laugh, she said it was ok for me to share and we both laughed at the dream). What in the world did this mean?

During our session, we figured out that the sauce, which is her children's favorite, represented the good in her that she shares with others. The small closet setting was a symbol to remind her to focus on her strength, and stay in her own "closet" instead of focusing on what others are doing. My client told the dream's meaning, as a result of my questions, because only she can tell me what the symbols in the dream mean to her. In follow up conversations, we'd use the metaphor "keep making the sauce" to mean don't follow other people's dreams, or get distracted by them, just keep sharing your gifts.

People tend to dream a lot when they are going through times of change. If you are in that boat and would like help navigating the change or interpreting what your brain seems to be trying to tell you via dreams, reach out to me!

PS If you would have told me 2 years ago that today I'd be writing a blog about dreams instead of creating an excel sheet for a Corporate meeting, I wouldn't have believed you. You can change your whole life, if you want to! :)