Dream Analysis

Have you ever wondered what your dreams mean? And what they have to do with individuation? And what the word 'individuation' means?

We probably should have started with that last question first.

Individuation is a word Carl Jung used to essentially describe the becoming of ones whole self in a way that is very different from another becoming their whole self.

It is different from individualisation, which is more about the expression of that self. Most people, mind you, don't ever get to know 'that self' because to get on the path to individuation, you must acknowledge and explore the subconscious - something most people simply don't do.

The subconscious is almost like it's own person. We really know very little about it. We know that our subconscious has the power to bring things up and shut things down, and we experience these things involuntarily. A panic attack 'out of nowhere', didn't really come out of nowhere. An inability to remember a traumatic experience is not something that we can resist, no matter how hard we might try.

But it is really only through the integrating of our subconscious with our conscious that we can fully reach our individuation. Imagine the two of them - unconscious and conscious, walking, living and playing side by side. Two little, inseparable friends. And, whilst some would argue that individuation is not necessary to live a full and complete life, the concept of these little persons finally getting to know one another it is totally cool and I find myself nerding out about it in ways that make me very happy.

But this blog was meant to be about dreams.

Yes! And dreams come straight from the subconscious - unbidden and involuntary. When we learn to listen to what our dreams are saying, we are joining the two 'persons', the subconscious and the conscious.

BAM! Individuation. Ok, not quite BAM. It's slightly more of a journey than that, but at least its a start.

And dreams are a great place to start, due to the fact that our conscious self is ... well, asleep when they happen. Our conscious self has a habit of being like that kid at school who always has to have an answer, has to say it before anyone else and always has to be at the front of the line. Remember that kid? Remember when that kid had a sick day? That's the dream state right there. The state in which other voices get a chance to be heard.

But being heard is different from being listened to.

Hopefully by the end of this, you will know how you might learn to listen to those quieter voices and perhaps you will be on your way to the more enriched, individuated version of yourself.

So, yes, yes, yes - on to the dreams.

Jung believed that the reason for the human dream was to process life. Over time and with much play around this idea with his clients, he discovered the subconscious had quite a few things to say from the dream world.

Mostly requests.

Requests for change.

Requests for growth and extra thought.

When these requests aren't met, or when the advice from the dream state is not taken, it doesn't go away. Recurring dreams are an example of this. Or, if you are one to keep a dream journal, you might notice recuring themes. School camps were a recurring theme in my dreams for a long time.

Only a very, very small portion of people have prophetic dreams (the reason behind this, I do not know - I do feel very left out though).

And some people believe dreams are written by the cheese we ate just before bed.

But this does not mean that the non-prophetic vegans are left with meaningless, boring dream states.

According to Jung (and I have certainly found this to be true when have a good old look at my own dreams), the people in your dreams do not represent the actual people from your life. The 'things' in your dreams do not always represent the actual things.

Rather, all people in your dreams are representations of yourself (yes, even your long forgotten ex).

Before you all start thinking of your ex's and wondering if subconsciously you are a cheating, narcissistic mumma's boy who idolises their pathetic father figure, don't fret.

What Jung meant was that the brain pulls up familiar images to represent parts of ourselves. If I had a dream where my Grandmother featured, the part of myself trying to get a word in edgeways might be that of caring, nurturing, loneliness, contentment - any of the things I saw my grandma as.

But they are my parts.

My caringness, my nurturing or need for nurturing, my loneliness, my contentment or need for contentment. It's not about Grandma.

And as for the things or events in your dreams, they are representations of your associations with those things or events. For example, a rock to a naturalist would have a different association to that of a frustrated gardener, or a sculptor.

If, in my Grandma dream, she was driving a car and applying the brakes but the car was not slowing down, the dream is very unlikely to be about a car and brakes and danger. But if I ask myself about what I associate with the function, first of cars, and then of brakes, I might have a list such as this:

Cars: take us where we want to go/keep us safe from other vehicles.

Brakes: keep us safe by controlling the speed/I expect them to work when I need them.

So perhaps (and only I would ultimately know as The Dreamer), this dream is about the part of me that needs nurturing, or needs to nurture, heading in a direction (perhaps my job or my relationship or even hobby) but something unexpected is happening, or something that I want to be slowing down or stopping is not slowing down or stopping.

So you see, this dream was never about Grandma having a car accident.

But how wonderful that I can listen to my subconscious like this! My little backseat driver friend, reminding me to take a careful look at what is happening on my path - 'nurture', 'direction', 'slowing down' - if I ignore my quiet, subconscious friend, I will stay on this path, my nurturing will be ignored and my nervous system that desires, nay, possibly needs to slow down, will kick up, and this can cause inflammation, psychological disorders, disconnect from loved ones and, over time, actual physical illness.

Now, I should pop a warning in here about the listening to of one dream without keeping track of the 'dream ream'.

Remember that our brains are excellent image storage units. But often time gets things a bit muddled. On top of that, dream state has a notorious reputation for becoming fuzzy very quickly! On top of, on top of that, our brains are also fantastic at keeping us safe and prioritising what needs to be held onto or tucked away for later. They are predicting machines and love knowing things.

With all of this scanning, tucking away, experiencing things that vaguely remind it of other things, responding, defending, attacking, predicting and more scanning, from time to time things that would actually be really helpful to process, become lost and forgotten - held somewhere in the body as clenched teeth, tight anus or deep inside the gut.

Jotting down your dreams and going back over them as a sequence means that sometimes you will catch a theme that your subconscious is desperately trying to have you process - something that might easily be missed if you only approach your dreams one dream at a time.

So when you remember a dream, I recommend you give it some air time immediately. I strongly recommend starting a dream journal. Because, like a bad take away, it needs to come out somewhere, somehow. If we heed the warnings of our friend, subconscious, we may well avoid a lot of unprocessed rubbish that would otherwise store up in your body and squeezes out through inflammation and passive aggression.

If you're interested in giving this a go, even for a solitary dream, why don't you head back to the newsletter and try the activity there? Perhaps you'll love it and begin a dream journal.