Dragon Dreams
"The Greek word psyche means ‘butterfly’. It also denotes ‘soul’. Dreams give your soul wings. And images from dreams are the exquisite patterns on the wings. Hold your dream as you would a butterfly – in you open, quiet palms. Make sure none of the delicate wing dust brushes off on clumsy hands. Pinning the dream down with interpretations will tear the wings off the butterfly and kill it. We can put the dead butterfly under glass, stuff it, admire its uniqueness, and also let others admire it (if they like butterflies). Bit it will never, never, never fly again. Hold your dream images gently enough so that they can still fly."
Jill Mellick The Natural Artistry of Dreams. Conari Press.
Dreams and imagination. How to capture your dreams.
The key to catching your dreams-is to learn how to wake up slowly - so that you can prolong contact with the dream mind.
Most of us, as soon as we awaken in the morning, allow our minds to wander off.
We let our minds fill us with the conscious stuff of the day.
If we do not work to recall our dreams immediately upon awakening, we will have missed a crucial opportunity.
Waking up S L O W L Y means that we lie still in bed, without talking, keeping our eyes closed, and working diligently to try to remember what it was we were just dreaming about-because research shows that we frequently dream just before we wake up in the morning.
If we don't immediately recall a specific image or sequence from a dream, it is important nevertheless to remain still, and allow ourselves to evaluate our feelings. Dreams always leave us with an emotional "hangover." Did we wake up feeling tense, frustrated, happy, sad, worried? Were we looking for someone, or trying to accomplish a task?
Write the dream down in the present tense. 'I am walking along a road'...and put in as much accurate detail as you can remember. Don't worry or try to make sense. Just get as much down as possible, at this point.
Once you have written up the dream, you may want to reflect on some of these questions.
- What was the key image in the dream?
- What was the key feeling?
- Where was the dream located?
- What situation in my waking life does this dream remind me of?
These four questions will help identify the dream's meaning, and will help you to focus and recall the dream later in the day, when you have more time to reflect upon it. You may even want to draw or paint or model something from the dream.
Before you go to bed at night, try to confirm your intention of remembering your dreams-and to wake up slowly the following morning, and write the ream down. If you don't write it down immediately you will find that you have lost large parts of it.
It sounds simple - and it is! If you follow these 3 easy steps for two weeks, you are giving yourself the opportunity of tuning into you inner world, the unconscious.
Dreams are windows to the soul. Dreams enable us to know ourselves better, to make the right decisions in life, and to get balance. They often point out something that we need to pay attention to. Like fishermen and women casting our lines into a magical ocean, we can all learn to access these reflections of our rich inner lives. All that is required is intention and effort!
If you are intrigued by your dreams you may like to read C G Jung's biography - 'Memories, Dreams Reflections'. It is full of his dreams and how he came to know himself and work with and be guided by his intuitions, and be nourished by this internal source of wisdom, and imagination.
Related Links: http://www.dreamjournal.net