Our dreams do not operate in space and time – in an ordinary sense of space and time. But our dreams at all times describe ourselves: various aspects and shades and layers of our unique personality.
When we do our dream analysis we can often find a certain theme, a trend in our dreams, or we may have a recurrent dream which always happens in a particular way. For example: a ‘travel dream’ where you are always late. When we attempt an integration with the intentional dreaming and dreamwork, journaling for better clarity, Colourpuncture for conflict resolution, or any other helpful tools, at some point in time we may get a dream where something is suddenly and unexpectedly different: the setting of the dream is the same but the outcome is different in some way (you act in a different way than usual; you take a different road than usual; you respond in a different way than usual; you try a totally new way of approaching an old conflict; you see a 3D object – such as a house, a room, a neighbourhood – as if from a different angle or you go around this house (room, neighbourhood) when previously you always just saw a certain fixed point of it which you most often saw in you waking reality – the front of it, the usual entrance point etc.
This is an indication of a major breakthrough and usually happens with time with your work. However, while this does mark a breakthrough and often a full answer/major clue/resolution of a conflict of some sort, this may not be the ‘final end’ of a dream, a dream theme or dream analysis. One of the reason is quite simple: reaching a resolution at some level, we may go a level deeper/further to address an even bigger/more complex conflict which will heal the very roots of our life-long struggles.
In this sense there is a timeline to our dreams – also reflected in our dreamwork:
- a conflict comes up in a dream (again, again and again = recurring dream) –
- the conflict gets clearer and clearer, both in your recurrent dream and your dream analysis –
- you are beginning to see/understand your conflict resolution options better –
- you start acting in a direction of conflict resolution in a real world –
- at some point you see a breakthrough dream (similar setting with a different outcome).
You breathe out – a long held conflict resolved…but is it?
Yes, if we are talking about a particular, defined conflict.
Not quite so if we are talking about a defining feature of our personalty which if poorly understood/accepted/integrated which can create another conflict.
Classic example: taking responsibility, assuming a full agency and intention for our actions. From a perspective of human archetypes which often show up in our dreams (we need to remember that our dreams will always include some elements of connection to the collective unconsciousness and so to a family of human archetypes), an inability/reluctance/fear to take a full responsibility for our attitudes, choices and actions may come from a whole host of ‘growing up’ or maturing or master-in-the-making archetypes: a Child, a Helper/Apprentice/Servant etc.
Talking about timelines, a classic example would be a Princess archetype. A Princess is – potentially – a future Queen. However, a Princess does not have any real responsibility – and no real power. A classic, archetypal Princess is typically waiting to be married to a Prince with whom she will co-rule (and so take her part of responsibility for the state and subjects), all the while being under protection and care of her Father. While waiting, she learns certain things which will help her to assumer her future role as a Queen.
A Queen on the other hand, has all the power and all the responsibility: her duty is to ensure the survival, justice and prosperity of her land. A Queen may rule with or without a King. From a perspective of a development of a human character, a Princess is supposed to naturally and intentionally grow and mature into her future rule. If there are any internal or external obstacles to the process of maturity (difficulty of the beginning; secondary gains etc), this can show up as a conflict in the dream.
While a Queen archetype may seem far removed and not so relevant for modern times, on a simple level and in translation to business for example, a Queen would be a woman who owns and runs her own business. She has to ensure that the her state (business) is safe, stable, sustainable, self-sufficient and protected; her subjects (workers) are listened to and well cared for so they can do their part of the job; the resources (business assets) are kept in a good order and so on. Now….if you run your own business, no matter how small – do you remember your first steps – the fears, the doubts, the difficulty of making decisions, the reliance on various advisors opinions and so on? If you don’t run your own business, think of somebody you know who does and ask them how they started…
So in the sense of gaining maturity, there is a time line to Princess-Queen archetype character development; however, in a sense of our always present personality tendencies, a full established and successful Queen may have some ‘Princess moments’ when times are hard …. especially if we grew up in an over protective or not all all supportive environment, took our time to grow up and start acting in the intended direction, had massive secondary gains in not assuming a full responsibility and so on.
Our dreams are only one (very important) part of our inner life where every dream further highlights a part of this vast inner landscape and every dreamwork makes for a building block of our Self cultivation.
Our dreams tend to highlight the challenges of the moment; as a part of our inner life they reflect and bring to the surface some sides of our understanding and processing of the situation, our attempts of a resolution and better choices. So in this sense, every dream is a dream for this moment of time – but in a grand scheme of things – our entire life – the characters, symbols and archetypes inhabiting our dreams – be they stationary or evolving – always reflect our unique personality traits. Recognising them, accepting and owning them – and observing them deeper without judgement is a key to a deep inner peace, serenity and contentment – ‘life making sense’. This is also a point of application of our power and intention should we wish to make any positive changes in a real life.
Our dreams sometimes can give us a good ‘pencil sketch’, a clue or even a full answer to our current or long-held problematic situation – if we talk about a certain, clearly defined situation or a problem. But in a context of our whole life and our development as a human being, our dreams and dreamwork is always a work a progress, and this is a beauty of it – with a better understanding and deeper working with our drams we can intentionally and creatively collaborate with the Life itself.
If you would like to explore your dreams with creative dreamwork, join us for the next ‘Dream Yourself Together’ Dreamwork challenge to learn simple and effective self-care tools which you can use for years to come 🙂
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