I realise that our discussion about dreams is kind of closed, but just wanted to share this thought:
it's said that at the end of our life, we are given or we have a life review. I find, at my ripe age of 71, that many of my recent dreams have involved people from my past, important people, but ones whom I no longer have any contact with (such as ex-husband). Is this soul work, some kind of preparation for the next phase of our journey? Just wondering out loud ...
So interesting, Anne - have you been thinking about those people lately? Are you trying to reconcile unresolved issues in those relationships? Are they peaceful/happy dreams? So many questions... :)
Thank you for raising those questions Susan. Many of the people I dream about, no, I haven't really thought about them recently at all. And they have appeared so vividly. Perhaps it's all about unfinished business as you say.
Funnily enough, I've just come across a discussion from The Shift Network (something I subscribe to but rarely read); but this one involved Robert Moss, a shaman, dreamworker apparently. He said something interesting which resonates with my experience and random thinking: that our dreams are places of life review. He also came up with a word I've never heard of - 'anamnesis' - or soul remembering. Interesting stuff perhaps! I'm keen to know what your new project is all about :-) and hope there may be another book - I love your writings.
Dear Susan, first of all congratulations on becoming an empty nester - it's always painful but it is also such an achievement! And congratulations on going back to school, I'm so curious to know your next steps whenever you are ready to share!
If it helps your project at all, here's a dream that left a lasting impact on me. Its not recent, and I'm sorry if your project does indeed require a recent dream. I had it when I was eleven, but only recently have I begun to understand it. I am in this place that feels both scary and inviting. Its dark and I am walking toward something I don't quite know what it is. My heart is beating really fast. I want to run away and run toward it at the same time. The tension keeps building until something says these 5 words "strange steps awake the noise". And thats when I woke up with a racing heart - and never forget those words even though they aren't proper english.
I now think that perhaps it was my soul inviting me toward its higher form (the noise), hence the fear and longing. Perhaps it was telling me the path is unpredictable (strange steps). I once shared this with my husband who is a very pragmatic person and he said I was trying to squeeze sense from nonsense. I learnt then we have to be careful with whom we share our soul's longings because they are fragile. Your project seemed like the right place to share it. The dream is precious to my heart. I even feel love toward it; the 5 words feel like the language of a child, not perfect, yet expressing a longing in the only way it knows how :)
Hello Homaira - I know this was from four days ago so hopefully you see this message. I do feel that if you interpret the dream as an expression of longing that that is what it must be....also I wanted to say that the idea that you "even feel love toward it" is very moving. And yes this is the right place to share it!
Thank you Susan, yes you’re right. Whatever in me interpreted the dream is connected to the part of me with the longing. Such an interesting and mysterious field you’re studying !
background to understand dream: I am 80 years old. My grandson is in mid 20s. He is engaged to a lovely young woman of same age. They are both actors (not musical theatre actors), working in NYC, with some successes, lots of energy, and lots of struggle. They recently traveled in Scotland, were at the Edinburgh Fringe festival, and were on a flight home on Saturday night.
My Saturday night dream: I am in a community hall type of room. Also present in the room are my husband, son, daughter-in-law, grandson, his fiancee, and a number of other young actors (maybe about a dozen?). Somehow I know all these people without really knowing them. I am watching them develop a production called "Sing the Show". They are singing and laughing and feeling very good about their work. Eventually they gather together and head out the door, singing about sharing their show with the world. Husband, son, his wife, and I are left in the room, tidying up. And I wake up -- feeling content, smiling, laughing at the silly title of the show, wondering why I thought they would develop a musical (they wouldn't), loving that I was in the room where it happened. And I treasure this memory. I often have vivid dreams that trouble me, make me wonder what in the world is going on that I would have such a dream, or that offer me new ways of looking at a situation. This one I just want to cherish!
What a strange coincidence - this discussion about dreams - I have just started again to keep a dream journal because of the most vivid and unsettling dreams I have had recently. One, where in a conference situation where I was required to speak about how to teach a yoga class, I completely lost my ability to talk. I was in a panic, I knew what I wanted to say, but could not get my voice out. The sensation of trying to speak was so physical. I asked a receptionist for help from a doctor and was told no, because I was a 'loafer'! whatever that meant. Helpless, and voiceless. Another vivid dream: I was 'trespassing' in the home I have recently moved away from, a home I loved; it felt so familiar, yet so sad, so weird to be hiding in my 'own' home, and in my beautiful garden, so real, I was heartbroken to see that the horse chestnut tree that I had planted some years ago, was no longer there, had been cut down. But there were other trees, massive old ones, and I regretted that I no longer had any trees to look after where I now live.
For many reasons, this last year since I moved house, has been one of the unhappiest of my live. So, I think these dreams are reflecting this?
Thank you everyone for sharing your dreams. Can anyone recommend good books to help understand our dream life please?
Dreams have been a touchstone throughout my life; I explore them with my therapist, and turn to books for help (recently, the Inner World by Robert Johnson, a Jung protege). My most recent "big dream" is giving me great hope and fortitude as I navigate a recent treatable breast cancer diagnosis. My dream: I was in a beautiful, warm home that I had designed and inhabited for years. I was standing in my kitchen, admiring an intentional cutout that gave a view into my peaceful living room and then to the calm ocean beyond. I knew I was leaving this home, but felt no grief, only appreciation for what I had built. In the next part of the dream I was in Martha Stewart's home, astonished by the beauty of her blue and white mosaic table; marveling that a table could be so exquisite, so unique.
Into real life for a moment: I had a double mastectomy this summer. I don't much like Martha Stewart (too rigid); blue is my least favorite color. I'm Greek.
Into my interpretation: I'm leaving (peacefully, with gratitude) the life I've built for the past 56 years for a new phase, evolution. Martha represents my rigid mother (and those parts in me); the mosaic table is me (took me a while; table is in the colors of the Greek flag). The mosaic tiles are the astonishing beauty & uniqueness that emerge from the brokenness. Something even more vivid, illuminating.
My dream makes me weep, gives me hope and peace. I'm in awe of the unconscious.
I have the dream periodically that I am in college, it’s nearing the end of the semester and I realize I’ve done almost nothing. Few classes, readings, completed research papers and I’m trying to figure out how I can possibly catch up. And how I could let it slide. And what will the consequences be. Although there were some occasional cramming, that’s not who I generally was as a student. But I suspect for me it’s about fears of failure and not meeting exceptions.
Howard, your recounting of your dream reminds me of a recurring dream I so often have: I am back at my lecturing job at a university; I know that very soon I have to give a lecture to my students; I know I've written and prepared a whole semester of lectures, but can't find them anywhere, no filing cabinets, no computers offer them up. Panic sets in. I cannot do my job, I am a failure. Such fear!
Sometime last night I had a powerful and unsettling dream. I was flying from a small city in MN to the Minneapolis/St Paul airport. The plane was itself very small. It was of a prop vintage I’ve never seen. The seats were atypical and could literally be moved around. I was very nervous but the woman next to me assured me the plane was normal and would safely fly me to my next destination. Then the problems started. It had engine trouble. It needed fuel. The fuel intake was literally in the passenger cabin and the captain thought it funny to spray jet fuel occasionally on the passengers (me included). They tried to take off and had to return to the original boarding area. I demanded to be let off the plane. I knew something bad was gong to happen. The lady and people kept telling me to stay and sit down. There were no other airports nearby, it was too far to get to my destination and I was in the middle of nowhere- no Ubers, hotels, etc. I forced my way off and found myself totally alone. I woke myself up in a terrible fright, heart pounding, mind racing. It took me awhile to fall back asleep. I have many thoughts on what this could possibly mean—I’d love to hear yours!
Of course many things struck me about your dream, and one of them is a sense of foreboding of the future and mistrust of those in charge or in positions of influence in your life (eg the pilot) but what I was MOST struck by is that you stuck to your own version of events, not those of the ppl telling you to sit down - and that you managed to force your way off! I wonder if you're working through setting a boundary of some kind, in your waking life.
Thank you, Susan, for your thoughts and insights. There is a great deal of change in both professional and personal life. I, too, am an empty nester - but a solo one. Each night and weekend there can be a loneliness I am adjusting to of its presence. Perhaps that is the me standing alone outside of the plane. Chairs moving? Roles changing? In my professional life I have been hesitant to make the change of direction I am seeking. While fear of the unknown is certainly a reality (and in the current economy), the fear of “What if this doesn’t work? What is the total impact financially as well?” I am definitely an introvert who can fool a lot of the people most of the time—it exhausts me by the end of the day. As I leave for work many days, I look forward to the moment I can walk back in my door and close off the world! (Get me away from these people on this plane.) Lastly, I have been doing a lot of “deconstruction” in my life. Things people taught me and enforced as sacred no longer serve me. This is a lot of emotional work as I change and grow and feel like I’m betraying someone or some system and then the wonder of “what if they were right and I’m wrong?” As you can see, there are many possibilities of this terrifying flight. YET….as you noticed, I get off that plane and take the next frightening step too.
I write my (rare) amazing, beautiful and poignant dreams in my journals. I must have sixty or so sprinkled throughout the years. Even from a long distance in time, I can feel them again, and visualize some part of every one.
My kids are twins, so my 'empty nest' time began abruptly! To help fill it, I went to graduate school. I kept a journal I titled 'The Fledgling Year', a mix of class work, mothering concerns, and my dreams.
When I read your essay, I remembered that friends of mine no longer use the term empty nesters to describe themselves. Their reframe? “We are Bird Launchers!” This, to me, has a totally different & empowering vibe.
Dream-wise, I’ve participated in a number of fascinating dream circles, most recently a series called Dreams, Art, & Image, co-facilitated by Martha Crawford (www.whatashrinkthinks.com) and artist Elizabeth Honer (www.grrlrighter.com) . Martha also hosts the website www.collectivedreaming.org , which collects & archives dreams on key themes of our times, such as Climate Dreams, Dreams of AI, & 47 Dreams. It began as the 45 Dreams Project, when hundreds of people around the country began reporting vivid dreams under the first DJT administration.
I love river dreams, and I am so curious about yours!
If we were sitting together in a dream circle, I might ask you more questions: What is that river like? How wide, how deep, how rapid is it's flow? What is the nature of the campus surrounding it, and how is it to move from one side of the river to the other?
Over my 30 years of working with dreams, I've come to feel that returning to a dream as lived experience--really inhabiting it, relating to its atmosphere, connecting deeply with dream figures, paying attention to whatever is 'happening' in the dream-- is one of the most potent ways to begin relating to a dream. I have found that this sort of dream immersion leads naturally toward meanings, and that these meanings emerge over time.
I am presently sitting with a river dream of my own. Mine is a swift mountain stream. I hear the roar of the water, feel its spray on my face as I move carefully along the banks, guided by a man who has appeared in other dreams. He teaches me about the land, its preservation and the plants growing beside the river. This guide carries a kind of clarity, and an integrity that demands accurate naming of things as they are.
I woke up from the dream feeling as if I had committed to a new program--one that challenges me to question old assumptions, old sentimental notions of how I've wanted things to be.....
I find it quite wonderful that an image such as a river can carry both the shared meanings of an ancient symbol, while being so very specific. Each of our rivers carries resonances that are particular to our individual dreams.
I write quite a bit about this experiential approach to dreams on my Substack and recently spoke about it on The Dream Journal podcast. I'll also be offering a five-session introductory class beginning in late October for anyone who wants to explore this approach more deeply.
Such a blessing for your sons to have parents who are "infinitely proud of them, happy for them and delighted by hearing about their new adventures". Everyone should be so fortunate.
Ever since having had a major heart attack over 4 years ago, and being put on several Rx cardiac medications, in combination with an antidepressant, the content of my dreams has become very unpleasant. Combined with a diet of processed foods, that have too much salt, in my own Jungian analysis, my system seems to be coping with horrible chemically induced nightmares. I actually wake up exhausted and am just thankful to be awake. When I have an intentionally low salt evening meal, I usally can have a reasonably good nights rest. So the obvious question is wondering whether there is an actual chemical link between what we eat, and the medications we are on, and having terrible nightmares? Hopefully other members of your wonderful forum will be inclined to share their comments and experiences in this regard. Thanks very much!
I would encourage you to speak with your physician. I, too, suffered a heart attack. It was 11 years ago. In the first weeks following I had terrible and frightening dreams I had never experienced. I looked into one of the medications and it talked about the side effects of crossing the “brain barrier.” I asked my physician if it was possible to find a substitute. We switched and the nightmares stopped. I’m not sure if it was the medication 100% because the heart attack is a traumatic event in itself. I do still have bad dreams occasionally (see mine above 🙂). At the time of the MI my dreams involved constantly reliving the experience. Those are the ones that stopped.
Thanks for yor thoughtful reply. I will keep exploring this difficulty in greater detail with my doctor, but I did have an extremely difficult time finding an Rx anti-depressant that would even work. We went through a long period of TRD before we found one that did. Then we got the bad dreams as a side effect!
Sounds like you have been through a lot! I don't know the specifics of a chemical link, but body and mind are a unit, and work together, and we have many neurons in our GI system. So it wouldn't surprise me if there was a connection between your diet and your dreams. The connection may, in part, be related to the stress you feel when your body experiences a salt load, and the hormone shifts this creates. Sometimes also, depression leads to dreams that are exhausting, rather than nourishing. That being said, you might consider exploring your experience of the dreams, the emotions they evoke in the presence of a compassionate, qualified guide. Sometimes as we work with the feelings in our dreams, especially the unpleasant ones, the experience begins to shift. Not all at once, but gradually.
Thanks very much for your reply. Yes, at the age of 87 I do have a few miles on my life-odometer. But I am a lot better than I have been, and I am working diligently to improve the quality of my remaining years.
Just this weekend I read about how it’s mentioned in the Talmud that if we dream of a river, a bird or a pot (some say it’s referring to a kettle) then it’s a sign of peace.
I dipped back into a book that a dear friend wrote. She recently passed and it’s my little way of honoring her spirit. It’s titled The Mosaic Within by Dr. Susan Vorhand, and in it she explores spirituality, personality, dreams, and healing through Jungian psychology and Kabbalah.
As I read I was reminded of the Sunday chat you had with the authors who wrote the book about dreams. I meant to go back to my emails and search for it so I can order their book, but the week was full, and now here you are with a direct mention - and the link. Wow. Thank you!
I dream often though I don’t have a recent one to recall at this very moment. I used to entertain my siblings with my dream-stories. I think that I used to give myself more time in bed to ‘play’ with my dreams upon waking which led me to remember them in more detail.
Susan I wish you so much ‘nachat’ the Hebrew word for which I haven’t found one in the English language - a fusion of joy and pride at seeing your children grow to do and be well in the world.
And I wish you much delight and success in all that’s ahead for you - how very exciting!! I’m 56 and I keep saying I feel like I just got out of high school. There’s so much to explore. Looking forward to all you share. Many blessings!
I realise that our discussion about dreams is kind of closed, but just wanted to share this thought:
it's said that at the end of our life, we are given or we have a life review. I find, at my ripe age of 71, that many of my recent dreams have involved people from my past, important people, but ones whom I no longer have any contact with (such as ex-husband). Is this soul work, some kind of preparation for the next phase of our journey? Just wondering out loud ...
So interesting, Anne - have you been thinking about those people lately? Are you trying to reconcile unresolved issues in those relationships? Are they peaceful/happy dreams? So many questions... :)
Thank you for raising those questions Susan. Many of the people I dream about, no, I haven't really thought about them recently at all. And they have appeared so vividly. Perhaps it's all about unfinished business as you say.
Funnily enough, I've just come across a discussion from The Shift Network (something I subscribe to but rarely read); but this one involved Robert Moss, a shaman, dreamworker apparently. He said something interesting which resonates with my experience and random thinking: that our dreams are places of life review. He also came up with a word I've never heard of - 'anamnesis' - or soul remembering. Interesting stuff perhaps! I'm keen to know what your new project is all about :-) and hope there may be another book - I love your writings.
Anne x
Dear Susan, first of all congratulations on becoming an empty nester - it's always painful but it is also such an achievement! And congratulations on going back to school, I'm so curious to know your next steps whenever you are ready to share!
If it helps your project at all, here's a dream that left a lasting impact on me. Its not recent, and I'm sorry if your project does indeed require a recent dream. I had it when I was eleven, but only recently have I begun to understand it. I am in this place that feels both scary and inviting. Its dark and I am walking toward something I don't quite know what it is. My heart is beating really fast. I want to run away and run toward it at the same time. The tension keeps building until something says these 5 words "strange steps awake the noise". And thats when I woke up with a racing heart - and never forget those words even though they aren't proper english.
I now think that perhaps it was my soul inviting me toward its higher form (the noise), hence the fear and longing. Perhaps it was telling me the path is unpredictable (strange steps). I once shared this with my husband who is a very pragmatic person and he said I was trying to squeeze sense from nonsense. I learnt then we have to be careful with whom we share our soul's longings because they are fragile. Your project seemed like the right place to share it. The dream is precious to my heart. I even feel love toward it; the 5 words feel like the language of a child, not perfect, yet expressing a longing in the only way it knows how :)
Hello Homaira - I know this was from four days ago so hopefully you see this message. I do feel that if you interpret the dream as an expression of longing that that is what it must be....also I wanted to say that the idea that you "even feel love toward it" is very moving. And yes this is the right place to share it!
Thank you Susan, yes you’re right. Whatever in me interpreted the dream is connected to the part of me with the longing. Such an interesting and mysterious field you’re studying !
background to understand dream: I am 80 years old. My grandson is in mid 20s. He is engaged to a lovely young woman of same age. They are both actors (not musical theatre actors), working in NYC, with some successes, lots of energy, and lots of struggle. They recently traveled in Scotland, were at the Edinburgh Fringe festival, and were on a flight home on Saturday night.
My Saturday night dream: I am in a community hall type of room. Also present in the room are my husband, son, daughter-in-law, grandson, his fiancee, and a number of other young actors (maybe about a dozen?). Somehow I know all these people without really knowing them. I am watching them develop a production called "Sing the Show". They are singing and laughing and feeling very good about their work. Eventually they gather together and head out the door, singing about sharing their show with the world. Husband, son, his wife, and I are left in the room, tidying up. And I wake up -- feeling content, smiling, laughing at the silly title of the show, wondering why I thought they would develop a musical (they wouldn't), loving that I was in the room where it happened. And I treasure this memory. I often have vivid dreams that trouble me, make me wonder what in the world is going on that I would have such a dream, or that offer me new ways of looking at a situation. This one I just want to cherish!
What a strange coincidence - this discussion about dreams - I have just started again to keep a dream journal because of the most vivid and unsettling dreams I have had recently. One, where in a conference situation where I was required to speak about how to teach a yoga class, I completely lost my ability to talk. I was in a panic, I knew what I wanted to say, but could not get my voice out. The sensation of trying to speak was so physical. I asked a receptionist for help from a doctor and was told no, because I was a 'loafer'! whatever that meant. Helpless, and voiceless. Another vivid dream: I was 'trespassing' in the home I have recently moved away from, a home I loved; it felt so familiar, yet so sad, so weird to be hiding in my 'own' home, and in my beautiful garden, so real, I was heartbroken to see that the horse chestnut tree that I had planted some years ago, was no longer there, had been cut down. But there were other trees, massive old ones, and I regretted that I no longer had any trees to look after where I now live.
For many reasons, this last year since I moved house, has been one of the unhappiest of my live. So, I think these dreams are reflecting this?
Thank you everyone for sharing your dreams. Can anyone recommend good books to help understand our dream life please?
... of the subconscious!
Dreams have been a touchstone throughout my life; I explore them with my therapist, and turn to books for help (recently, the Inner World by Robert Johnson, a Jung protege). My most recent "big dream" is giving me great hope and fortitude as I navigate a recent treatable breast cancer diagnosis. My dream: I was in a beautiful, warm home that I had designed and inhabited for years. I was standing in my kitchen, admiring an intentional cutout that gave a view into my peaceful living room and then to the calm ocean beyond. I knew I was leaving this home, but felt no grief, only appreciation for what I had built. In the next part of the dream I was in Martha Stewart's home, astonished by the beauty of her blue and white mosaic table; marveling that a table could be so exquisite, so unique.
Into real life for a moment: I had a double mastectomy this summer. I don't much like Martha Stewart (too rigid); blue is my least favorite color. I'm Greek.
Into my interpretation: I'm leaving (peacefully, with gratitude) the life I've built for the past 56 years for a new phase, evolution. Martha represents my rigid mother (and those parts in me); the mosaic table is me (took me a while; table is in the colors of the Greek flag). The mosaic tiles are the astonishing beauty & uniqueness that emerge from the brokenness. Something even more vivid, illuminating.
My dream makes me weep, gives me hope and peace. I'm in awe of the unconscious.
I have the dream periodically that I am in college, it’s nearing the end of the semester and I realize I’ve done almost nothing. Few classes, readings, completed research papers and I’m trying to figure out how I can possibly catch up. And how I could let it slide. And what will the consequences be. Although there were some occasional cramming, that’s not who I generally was as a student. But I suspect for me it’s about fears of failure and not meeting exceptions.
Howard, your recounting of your dream reminds me of a recurring dream I so often have: I am back at my lecturing job at a university; I know that very soon I have to give a lecture to my students; I know I've written and prepared a whole semester of lectures, but can't find them anywhere, no filing cabinets, no computers offer them up. Panic sets in. I cannot do my job, I am a failure. Such fear!
Sometime last night I had a powerful and unsettling dream. I was flying from a small city in MN to the Minneapolis/St Paul airport. The plane was itself very small. It was of a prop vintage I’ve never seen. The seats were atypical and could literally be moved around. I was very nervous but the woman next to me assured me the plane was normal and would safely fly me to my next destination. Then the problems started. It had engine trouble. It needed fuel. The fuel intake was literally in the passenger cabin and the captain thought it funny to spray jet fuel occasionally on the passengers (me included). They tried to take off and had to return to the original boarding area. I demanded to be let off the plane. I knew something bad was gong to happen. The lady and people kept telling me to stay and sit down. There were no other airports nearby, it was too far to get to my destination and I was in the middle of nowhere- no Ubers, hotels, etc. I forced my way off and found myself totally alone. I woke myself up in a terrible fright, heart pounding, mind racing. It took me awhile to fall back asleep. I have many thoughts on what this could possibly mean—I’d love to hear yours!
What are your thoughts, Carolyn?
Of course many things struck me about your dream, and one of them is a sense of foreboding of the future and mistrust of those in charge or in positions of influence in your life (eg the pilot) but what I was MOST struck by is that you stuck to your own version of events, not those of the ppl telling you to sit down - and that you managed to force your way off! I wonder if you're working through setting a boundary of some kind, in your waking life.
Thank you, Susan, for your thoughts and insights. There is a great deal of change in both professional and personal life. I, too, am an empty nester - but a solo one. Each night and weekend there can be a loneliness I am adjusting to of its presence. Perhaps that is the me standing alone outside of the plane. Chairs moving? Roles changing? In my professional life I have been hesitant to make the change of direction I am seeking. While fear of the unknown is certainly a reality (and in the current economy), the fear of “What if this doesn’t work? What is the total impact financially as well?” I am definitely an introvert who can fool a lot of the people most of the time—it exhausts me by the end of the day. As I leave for work many days, I look forward to the moment I can walk back in my door and close off the world! (Get me away from these people on this plane.) Lastly, I have been doing a lot of “deconstruction” in my life. Things people taught me and enforced as sacred no longer serve me. This is a lot of emotional work as I change and grow and feel like I’m betraying someone or some system and then the wonder of “what if they were right and I’m wrong?” As you can see, there are many possibilities of this terrifying flight. YET….as you noticed, I get off that plane and take the next frightening step too.
I write my (rare) amazing, beautiful and poignant dreams in my journals. I must have sixty or so sprinkled throughout the years. Even from a long distance in time, I can feel them again, and visualize some part of every one.
My kids are twins, so my 'empty nest' time began abruptly! To help fill it, I went to graduate school. I kept a journal I titled 'The Fledgling Year', a mix of class work, mothering concerns, and my dreams.
Any dreams I remember are always me trying to get somewhere like home, work, or catch an airplane and all sorts of people get in my way.
When I read your essay, I remembered that friends of mine no longer use the term empty nesters to describe themselves. Their reframe? “We are Bird Launchers!” This, to me, has a totally different & empowering vibe.
Dream-wise, I’ve participated in a number of fascinating dream circles, most recently a series called Dreams, Art, & Image, co-facilitated by Martha Crawford (www.whatashrinkthinks.com) and artist Elizabeth Honer (www.grrlrighter.com) . Martha also hosts the website www.collectivedreaming.org , which collects & archives dreams on key themes of our times, such as Climate Dreams, Dreams of AI, & 47 Dreams. It began as the 45 Dreams Project, when hundreds of people around the country began reporting vivid dreams under the first DJT administration.
Sounds like a wonderful resource, Mary. Thank you for sharing these links.
I love river dreams, and I am so curious about yours!
If we were sitting together in a dream circle, I might ask you more questions: What is that river like? How wide, how deep, how rapid is it's flow? What is the nature of the campus surrounding it, and how is it to move from one side of the river to the other?
Over my 30 years of working with dreams, I've come to feel that returning to a dream as lived experience--really inhabiting it, relating to its atmosphere, connecting deeply with dream figures, paying attention to whatever is 'happening' in the dream-- is one of the most potent ways to begin relating to a dream. I have found that this sort of dream immersion leads naturally toward meanings, and that these meanings emerge over time.
I am presently sitting with a river dream of my own. Mine is a swift mountain stream. I hear the roar of the water, feel its spray on my face as I move carefully along the banks, guided by a man who has appeared in other dreams. He teaches me about the land, its preservation and the plants growing beside the river. This guide carries a kind of clarity, and an integrity that demands accurate naming of things as they are.
I woke up from the dream feeling as if I had committed to a new program--one that challenges me to question old assumptions, old sentimental notions of how I've wanted things to be.....
I find it quite wonderful that an image such as a river can carry both the shared meanings of an ancient symbol, while being so very specific. Each of our rivers carries resonances that are particular to our individual dreams.
I write quite a bit about this experiential approach to dreams on my Substack and recently spoke about it on The Dream Journal podcast. I'll also be offering a five-session introductory class beginning in late October for anyone who wants to explore this approach more deeply.
If there is ever a 'bittersweet' moment, it's the instant one becomes an empty nester.
Such a blessing for your sons to have parents who are "infinitely proud of them, happy for them and delighted by hearing about their new adventures". Everyone should be so fortunate.
Ever since having had a major heart attack over 4 years ago, and being put on several Rx cardiac medications, in combination with an antidepressant, the content of my dreams has become very unpleasant. Combined with a diet of processed foods, that have too much salt, in my own Jungian analysis, my system seems to be coping with horrible chemically induced nightmares. I actually wake up exhausted and am just thankful to be awake. When I have an intentionally low salt evening meal, I usally can have a reasonably good nights rest. So the obvious question is wondering whether there is an actual chemical link between what we eat, and the medications we are on, and having terrible nightmares? Hopefully other members of your wonderful forum will be inclined to share their comments and experiences in this regard. Thanks very much!
I would encourage you to speak with your physician. I, too, suffered a heart attack. It was 11 years ago. In the first weeks following I had terrible and frightening dreams I had never experienced. I looked into one of the medications and it talked about the side effects of crossing the “brain barrier.” I asked my physician if it was possible to find a substitute. We switched and the nightmares stopped. I’m not sure if it was the medication 100% because the heart attack is a traumatic event in itself. I do still have bad dreams occasionally (see mine above 🙂). At the time of the MI my dreams involved constantly reliving the experience. Those are the ones that stopped.
Thanks for yor thoughtful reply. I will keep exploring this difficulty in greater detail with my doctor, but I did have an extremely difficult time finding an Rx anti-depressant that would even work. We went through a long period of TRD before we found one that did. Then we got the bad dreams as a side effect!
Sounds like you have been through a lot! I don't know the specifics of a chemical link, but body and mind are a unit, and work together, and we have many neurons in our GI system. So it wouldn't surprise me if there was a connection between your diet and your dreams. The connection may, in part, be related to the stress you feel when your body experiences a salt load, and the hormone shifts this creates. Sometimes also, depression leads to dreams that are exhausting, rather than nourishing. That being said, you might consider exploring your experience of the dreams, the emotions they evoke in the presence of a compassionate, qualified guide. Sometimes as we work with the feelings in our dreams, especially the unpleasant ones, the experience begins to shift. Not all at once, but gradually.
Thanks very much for your reply. Yes, at the age of 87 I do have a few miles on my life-odometer. But I am a lot better than I have been, and I am working diligently to improve the quality of my remaining years.
Just this weekend I read about how it’s mentioned in the Talmud that if we dream of a river, a bird or a pot (some say it’s referring to a kettle) then it’s a sign of peace.
I dipped back into a book that a dear friend wrote. She recently passed and it’s my little way of honoring her spirit. It’s titled The Mosaic Within by Dr. Susan Vorhand, and in it she explores spirituality, personality, dreams, and healing through Jungian psychology and Kabbalah.
As I read I was reminded of the Sunday chat you had with the authors who wrote the book about dreams. I meant to go back to my emails and search for it so I can order their book, but the week was full, and now here you are with a direct mention - and the link. Wow. Thank you!
I dream often though I don’t have a recent one to recall at this very moment. I used to entertain my siblings with my dream-stories. I think that I used to give myself more time in bed to ‘play’ with my dreams upon waking which led me to remember them in more detail.
Susan I wish you so much ‘nachat’ the Hebrew word for which I haven’t found one in the English language - a fusion of joy and pride at seeing your children grow to do and be well in the world.
And I wish you much delight and success in all that’s ahead for you - how very exciting!! I’m 56 and I keep saying I feel like I just got out of high school. There’s so much to explore. Looking forward to all you share. Many blessings!