pink, thanks for responding! Given the lack of responses, I am feeling like probably I am the only strange person out there who does this.

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I think I understand now-- because an object in your dream can represent comfort or fear or whatever-- bringing that object into your conscious state can offer your either the same comfort or the opportunity to face the fear.

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Yes. That is it exactly. I feel my unconscious "knows" things before my conscious mind does, and my unconscious is trying to deal with issues that may not have even come up for conscious me yet. My dreams are a window into my unconscious, and bringing elements of them into my conscious world can facilitate my progress--help my conscious start dealing with the stuff that my unconscious already is trying to and that is bound to leak out in the future anyway.

T has said my progress in therapy with him has been "meteoric." I wonder if this is because I have speeded things up by listening to my unconscious so purposefully? I don't necessarily wait for things to transfer from my unconscious to my conscious (unless they are just too too scary). I actively do it (by connecting with my dreams) and skip ahead.

Early in therapy, T told me that only I knew what I needed in order to heal, that he couldn't know and needed me to tell him so he could help and guide me to what I needed. That comment has profoundly influenced my therapy. I have felt that unconsciously I know what I need in order to heal, and the job of the cognitive me is to connect with my unconscious, learn what that is, and bring it into the conscious realm so that I may act upon it with purpose and direction.

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Do you share any of your dreams with T?

</div></font></blockquote><font class="post">Yes, I brought him a dream in my second therapy session and he was so receptive that I've brought them ever since. We sometimes do dreamwork using a rather formal, Gestalt approach. Other times we are more casual. We did more dreamwork in my early months of therapy. The dreams I most often shared were ones with him in it. In recent months, we don't have time for dreams in session, as we have so many nuts and bolts, husband-wife-divorce-relationship issues to deal with. I miss doing dreams.

pink, let me know if you try bringing a dream object into your conscious world.