[sunrise]

Sometimes when there is a symbol in my dream, I will bring it into my real life. I find that somehow therapeutic. It's not really even intentional on my part. I'm wondering if it helps bring my conscious in synch with my unconscious? Does it let me grapple in real life, at least a little, with what my unconscious is working on? Does anyone else do that?

Here are two examples:
I had this dream months ago that my husband was a water python and lived in a river. I was talking to him (the snake) in the river and he died. I remember at first being not quite sure if he was dead or not, and then feeling kind of numb and just emotionless when I looked at the dead snake body, and worrying about how I was going to handle planning the funeral and helping my daughters grieve. When I woke up I was very upset that I had this feeling of "not feeling" when I looked at the dead snake. It haunted me for days and weeks after. A little while after that, I was at a toy store and saw a big display of stuffed snakes. They called to me. I bought a 6 foot long blue and black snake that reminded me of the snake in my dream. And I slept with it for months after that. I almost felt like I was trying to face this horrible feeling of "not feeling" from the dream, by confronting that snake every night. One day in August, after my vacation, I came back home and saw the snake in my bed and wasn't bothered by it anymore and didn't want to sleep with it anymore. So I packed it up and put it away. It's almost like I had moved on. I think this was kind of an outward symbol of my growth, and emotional resolution.

The second instance was my dream where T and I worked together in a garden, pulling out weeds and planting flowers. The flowers were yellow. Several weeks later I was at the nursery buying some flowers for a friend and I saw lovely pots of yellow flowers for Fall. Spontaneously, I bought some for myself, and they are sitting outside on my doorstep. I realized later I chose them because of my dream. They make me feel good whenever I see them. I feel more connected to that good feeling I had in the dream of being with T and working together in the garden.

Does anyone else bring their dream objects into their real lives? It somehow seems to help me. (I have never told T either of these dreams or about the dream objects. I wish I had more time in therapy for that!)

This is very interesting. I have never brought a dream object into your conscious state before and I struggled a bit when I was reading your post because it took me awhile to understand what that symbolized for you. 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.

I have never thought about doing this before. I would like to try though.

Do you share any of your dreams with T?

A sidenote as to why I say "conscious state" or "waking state" instead of "reality"-- I normally don't say reality when talking about a non-dreaming state-- I used to say 'reality' or 'in real life' and then T said to me, "What do you mean real life? Isn't dreaming your real life?" And I said-- ohhhhh yeah--- dreaming is real life-- just in a different mind state.

[sunrise]

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.

[Perna]

Sunrise, I didn't get a chance to answer last night, wanted to think about it; I do stuff like that and also in reverse where I ask my dreams to answer questions and show me certain symbols :-)

I don't know if I physically do stuff but I'm often "triggered" by dream images that I remember in the real world. Your snake dream reminded me of a dream where I was eating breakfast/weekend brunch in an outdoor, riverbank cafe with my T and a dinosaur :-) brontosaurus (Apatosaurus), to be exact, came up out of the river and was chewing vegetation. The dream was very "difficult"/complicated in feeling, I think my T was going away in it and we were meeting one last time before she did. But I don't think of/see dinosaurs without remembering that dream. I've forgotten a lot of the dream, which is unfortunate, because I still have a faint feeling of sadness and loss when I think of it.

But I have a fantasy retreat/room that has French doors leading out to a walled garden and I went out and bought a 19th century, brass, house key at an antique shop and keep it on my key ring so I can think of that ultra comfortable/safe place when I'm stressed. It's a lovely thing in its own right, all worn and pleasant to hold.

[sunrise]

Perna, yes, that is exactly the sort of thing I am talking about! (((hugs))) I love how your key reminds you of your 19th century haven. BTW, what do you think the Aptosaurus meant in your dream?

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I've forgotten a lot of the dream, which is unfortunate, because I still have a faint feeling of sadness and loss when I think of it.

</div></font></blockquote><font class="post">I understand. Dreams can be so powerful at evoking emotion. I sometimes write a poem about a dream I find significant and want to remember. I use a haiku for this purpose, and use the traditional form in intent but not necessarily with the perfect meter. I find that having to distill the dream down to 3 lines makes me really get at its essence and so just reading the poem later can bring the whole thing back to me. I love poetry that way.

[Perna]

I think the dinosaur was my childhood/past and part of the sadness I felt. It did rear up from under the water (subconscious/emotional depth) and was benign. I think the therapist going away and the Aptosaurus being there, all seen and "known" was sort of a precursor to termination and being done with therapy.

Not to change the subject :-) but this morning I dreamed one of my cats was killed suddenly (accident) and realized when I woke it was probably a meds dream maybe caused by my pain pill and I was wondering do you think there's a different between meds dreams and "real" dreams? Some meds do cause "vivid" dreams they say and I was wondering if people can tell the difference and if anyone thinks it matters. The violence and suddenness of Emily's death startled me and the dream didn't seem like most of my dreams in that way and I found I was also relieved she was dead because that meant I only had one cat, Calvin, to care for anymore. I've been fretting about getting them to the vets lately for checkup. Neither of them likes getting in their carriers :-) But the relief from the death was uncomfortable to realize. More bald than most of my dreams would normally be in feeling.

I use to write poetry about my dreams too! Usually when my T was away.

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sunrise said:

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

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I had a dream last night that I was keeping various body parts in my freezer and selling them to a list of consumers who were willing to pay around $40 for each. I'll wait for another dream to come around before I start bringing any of the objects into reality. I probably should stop going to bed with Forensic Files on the TV in the background. Perhaps the dream had to do with my lack of personality integration--all the different parts.

[Perna]

I don't know; I've wanted to go out and buy an "ear" to carry around with me to remind me to listen instead of talking so much!

http://www.sculpt.com/catalog_98/CLA...mical_refs.htm

omg I will look for one in my freezer and email you with shipping information, lol.

[MissCharlotte]

Well, hmmmm,

I just wrote a whole post about how I never have done this but I just remembered something. I once had a dream about a polar bear that made me want to face some fears I had. For the longest time I kept one of those little china bears that you get in Red Rose Tea boxes, on my windowsill. So, yes I have done this. (It was years ago.)

Do you think that talking about these dreams while we are awake either with T or with each other/friends, is a way of bringing them to the waking state? How about journaling?

I haven't had many dreams lately that I remember, and those that I do tend to involve people rather than things and symbols such as tunnels or airplanes. I have had dreams about babies but I'm certainly not about to bring one of those in at this point in my life! LOL

Having said that, I do love symbolism and insist on attaching meaning to objects. For example, I bought a doll for my inner child, one that I never had as a kid and sometimes I use beeswax when I am in session to calm my inner child.

Sunny I think you are very brave to sleep with that snake for all that time.