Tuesday, July 21, 2009

What Are Your Dreams Telling You?

Though people have been writing about dreams since the beginning of time, the age old questions remains; what do dreams mean? This area of study, especially scientifically, has only recently come into light. Not surprising in many ways, studies have shown that dream meaning is related to the dreamer's life. Meaning is not random. For example, people who are ill find meaning in their dreams related to health and illness. People in relationships find meaning related to their waking day relations. The meaning of dreams may seem vast and complicated but it appears to be as simple as the salient waking events for the dreamer.

The good news is that dream meanings can be realized and then applied to waking life circumstances. Once a dreamer finds the meaning, this then is the real jewel that gives value to life. The meaning is applied with conscious awareness which means more informed decisions are made. For example, if a woman realizes from her dreams that she is choosing male partners who are controlling, she can then make more informed choices in waking day. She can become aware of her choices and choose differently. With this awareness, a new life path is being created. Dreams bring awareness and awareness brings new choices. New choices means a new life for the dreamer. In terms of dreams and dreaming, it really is the meaning that matters.

4 comments:

  1. Hi Dr. DeCicco,

    I found your blog from your email ;)...I write my dreams down whenever I can remember, and like you said, my dreams are mostly related to my life, and the struggles/issues I grapple with while awake...

    I can recognise themes in my dreams now, and I know there are some very central things which always appear in all my dreams (for example, I never seem to see the person's face, and yet I know implicitly who the person in my dream is).

    I also know I dream in colour, and while there is a lot of 'conversation' between the people in the dreams, none of them are actually out loud! They are all very much like soliloquys!

    That's why I'm looking forward to your class in the fall. Hope to have all these loose stuff tied together...=)

    See you!

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  2. Thank you for your post Daphne. You have already started the most important step in dream work which is to pay attention to your own images. We create our images in one part of the brain while sleeping and then the waking mind tries to make sense of them, in another part of the brain (we will learn more about the physiology of dreaming in class). This is why dream images often seem bizarre or disconnected from the dreamer when in fact, they are all about the dreamer's life.

    Dream interpretation is what helps dreamers make sense of the images that are created and, connect those images to waking life in meaningful ways.

    I look forward to working with you and your dreams in class.

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  3. In un gruppo italiano su FACEBOOK intitolato :
    "I sogni ( the dreams )"
    una persona dice:
    "Vi prego rispondete, qualcuno saprebbe dirmi cosa significa sognare Gesù bambino in processione!?"
    Cosa si può rispondere per dirle che non funziona così?

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  4. Donatella comments that someone posts on Facebook asking what a dream image means. We simply cannot tell people what their images mean. Not only is it not our experience, it is not our right to do so. The only thing that we can do is suggest forms of dream interpretation that they themselves can use. This way, dreamers learn how to work with their own dreams and have a valuable skill (interpretation) method to use in the future.

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