Working with your dreams
A simple way to begin working with dreams would be:
1. Write down your dream when you wake up so that it does not disappear from your memory
2. If possible, invest in a book on dream symbols. These are readily available in bookstores.
3. Everything in the dream represents you – is an aspect of your personality. The chair, the mountain, the people, the animals – all of these symbolise some part of you; how you to tend to think and behave and your current attitudes. They also tell us how we can develop new ways of thinking, new attitudes and new ways of inner and outer development.
4. Because dreams speak to us in the language of symbols, we need to unravel their meanings and the dream story so that we can understand the dream’s message.
5. There are two ways in which we would approach the symbols:
Personal Associations: Firstly, check your personal associations to the symbol. Remember, you are the dreamer and so, your dream ego has chosen specific people and things from your life in order to tell you something. For example, if you have dreamt about ants, do you have any personal associations to ants?
Did you find their organized way of functioning fascinating to watch as a child? If you were fascinated by their organization, have a look at your current organization in your real, everyday life. Are you generally disorganized? The dream could then be suggesting you need to follow the example of the ants and develop a more organized approach.
Or are you excessively organized – even a bit compulsive about it? Then your dream could be suggesting that you became so “fascinated” with organization and control that you are unable to see the equally important need for being spontaneous or laidback sometimes. If this is the case for you, current life demands could make it very difficult for you to follow your usual, rigid organizational rules. In this instance, your dream could be telling you that it will help you if you start practicing to be a bit more laid back.
Objective meanings of symbols: All symbols also have meanings that people have associated to them for centuries. Now you would check your book of symbols and you’d see that ants generally symbolise industriousness, an organized community and foresight. Foresight means the capacity to look ahead and plan for the future. From this perspective, your dream could be suggesting that you have been too involved in just living for the moment and that you need to make some provisions for the future. For example, if you have just been thinking of how cute a new baby will be, you might need to consider both the joys and the difficulties of looking after a new baby and prepare yourself by doing some reading or attending classes.
6. Symbols include people, animals, birds, plants, objects such as furniture or vases, things like the planets, the ocean and rivers and fantastic things such as monsters and robots. In short, if it exists or has existed, we can dream of it. Together with your personal associations, a book on symbols will tell you what these symbols could be saying about your current life – what they could mean.
7. When you dream about people you know, the dream is not so much about the person as about the specific qualities the person carries. The dream will often be telling us that we need to develop some of these qualities. A rule of thumb when you dream about another person is to reflect on a few of his/her qualities that are opposite or very different to your qualities. For example, you dream about your uncle. His main qualities are that he is a selfish man who always puts himself first. Perhaps you tend to be a people-pleaser and are always helping others and putting them first. While that’s a great quality to have, perhaps you need to develop just a bit of what your uncle has. Perhaps, just sometimes, you need to put yourself first. If you dream of a stranger, this would symbolise that something new, but more unconscious is beginning to develop.
8. It’s not necessary to examine every single part of your dream in order to understand its message. It will be helpful and satisfying even if you just get a general sense or understand a part of it. If a particular part of your dream carries more emotion than other parts, focus on that part
9. Sharing your dream with friends and family can also help you to get a broader understanding if you wish. Remember though, it’s your dream and so you make the final decision about what it means to you. A really helpful approach that can prevent other people from trying to analyse you when they interpret your dream is to ask the other person to say “If this were my dream, I’d understand it this way.”
Leslie Zimmermann is a Jungian Analyst trained in the philosophy and psychology of C.G. Jung in Zurich and is based in Johannesburg. She offers a range of services, which she integrates, to meet the needs and aspirations of people. In a word, her work is in the service of wholeness. Wholeness includes both our vulnerabilities and our strengths, becoming conscious of our own unique mix of these, honoring our own unique way of functioning and with this knowledge and confidence, contributing as only we each can in our own way, to this evolving world we find ourselves to be a part of.
Besides having a Diplomate qualification in Analytical psychology, which qualifies me to write about the theory and practice of dream interpretation, I also have an Honours degree in Applied Psychology and a Masters degree in Research psychology, which qualify me to write about theories of human development, personality, abnormal psychology, social psychology, sociology and ethics. Also, theories and knowledge pertaining to sleep and dreams from a perspective of neuropsychological and biological systems.
Leslie specializes in Analytical Psychology, Voice Dialogue, Life Coaching solutions for business executives. Consulting and coaching for family owned and home-based business
For an appointment Leslie Zimmermann can be contacted on:
Email: leslie.zimmermann@gmail.com
Mobile: +27 (0)83 384 9812
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