Program Override

I

Some dreams command your attention. This is one of those...


"I'm watching a woman rush towards a airplane that is about to take off. She has a short metal tube in her hands that is filled with cylindrical rods. She takes two new rods and places them along side the others. She is going to pilot the airplane, but will need to insert this metal tube into the control panel. She runs down the aisle towards the cockpit telling the other pilots that she has a new program that will override the existing one. There are only moments left before take off. She slips the tube in and the readings on the control panel indicate that the new program has taken effect. She says, "I knew it would work!" The plane rises into the air with great speed and power."

This dream left me with some poignant questions. What in my life needs a program override in order to take off? What might a commercial airline signify? Something where I'm transporting people to another destination? What about the metal rods? Two new ideas... two new pieces of information? I have the sense that this woman is a part of me that knows what will work and she has the keys!

Carried Along

Have you experienced a dream that completely shifts your attitude about something?

Early this week I was feeling anxious about my ability to adjust to a new situation in my life that is requiring me to learn many new skills very quickly. I felt overwhelmed and fearful of failure. Along came this dream...

"I am moving into a new house. It feels just right for me - the living area is an open-concept design and the house is generally very spacious. There is room for all my furniture. Off the master bedroom is a small room for my young son, and off that room is a smaller room that has art supplies in the closet. Right next to the house is a wholesale grocery store. I hope that I can shop there.

I walk down the street to the beach. I see a very large basket in the sand and a group of people sitting nearby. I join them. A woman climbs out of the basket - it seems she has had a healing experience. There is a woman (healer) who is directing this. I don't see her in detail - she is sitting off to the side and has an aura of mystery about her.  I decide to take a turn in the basket. I lie down and close my eyes.

 

Soon I feel the basket moving along in the sand. I imagine that SHE is pulling me. When I open my eyes, I am being carried along in the water and the other people are swimming all around me. We are heading down the river. I still don't see the woman who is pulling me. I would like to get out and swim, but realize that this is what is needed for now."

I awake with a great sense of being taken care of. I feel relieved and somehow more confident that I will be able to cope with the new situation in my life. I muse about the dream... The house seems to be a metaphor for a new place (in my psyche) where I will be residing. It feels just right for me and I love the sense of spaciousness (lots of room to grow). My son as a child was happy, creative and expressive. These qualities will be residing right next to the 'master bedroom' in my psyche. That's a great sign!! And there is nurture right next door - and wholesale! The beach can be seen as a liminal space, in psychological terms, a marginal transitional state... land to water... a place where boundaries dissolve a little and we move across the threshold  to a new sense of who we are. The basket is such a lovely image. It's soft and pliable and likely hand woven. It encompasses me. All along the way, I am being carried along by this mysterious feminine force. This dream was truly a gift from the Self!

Two dogs, two choices

A dream fragment...

D has adopted two dogs – a mother (or grandmother) and daughter. The daughter is a small mutt, orange in color and frisky. D is holding the older dog. She has fluffy salt and pepper colored fur and is very sedate.. I tell D that if she finds the two dogs too much to deal with, my partner and I will take one. I wonder which one - I think it would be the older dog.

A simple little fragment that  may seem meaningless.Here's what I come up when I look at associations to the dogs and woman in my dream.

Dogs speak about loyalty to me. Mother daughter loyalty here? In my life... I am feeling torn right now, between going to see my mother or my daughters and grandchildren. I have been looking at flights.

Why is D in my dream? She has 3 daughters - perhaps showing me the strength of the pull towards going to see my daughters. D is very family centered and sees her daughters regularly. She has everything she needs at this time in her life – money especially, which allows her to travel and be generous with her family. Money is part of the dilemma for me in making my choice.

Is D that part of me that thinks I can take care of everyone? There is also another voice that knows I can't. In the dream, I choose the older dog. I had intended to go and see my mother at Christmas and was unable to. She is in her mid-nineties - who knows how long she will be with us.

The images in our dreams are very specific. We need to pay attention to the energy that they hold. To access this I could 'become' the older dog (as it is the one I would likely choose), allowing her to flesh out in my imagination, bringing her to life.. Jung called this active imagination. 

She is in D's arms - she needs to be held -  She feels like part husky - independent like my mother. Her eyes are soft and loving. She is quietly vibrant.  I feel very connected to her. I want her in my life.

I could also work with the D in me. I'll leave that for another time. She'll show up again!
Should I go check those flights?

I don't want to give the impression that I have this dream all figured out. Perhaps it is time for a dog to come into my life again? In the dream it is not only me that will take the dog, but my partner and I - we have talked about this. Or perhaps it is time for the energy and qualities of this particular dog to be in my life or be manifest in me? I should also look at other areas in my life where loyalty may be afoot. I try not to tie dreams up in neat little bows. Tomorrow may shed new light on today's analysis.  

     

The "Inner Other"

There's so much we can learn about ourselves from the people who appear in our dreams. In the Jungian way of looking at dreams, these women and men primarily represent aspects of ourselves. For a woman, the men in her dreams tell her about the 'masculine' aspects or energies that exist in her psyche, and for a man, the 'feminine'.

American Indian, Hyemeyohsts Storm, states a commonly held belief when he says, "Within every man there is the Reflection of a Woman, and within every woman there is a Reflection of a Man. Jung called these aspects 'anima' for a man and 'animus' for a woman. The anima personifies the feminine nature of a man's unconscious and the animus the masculine nature of a woman's unconscious.

To understand this concept, I have found it helpful to look at the masculine and feminine as principles. Jean Benedict Raffa expresses the differences between these principles in her book Dream Theatres of the Soul.

The feminine principle, she says, is focused on receptivity, relationship, & nurturance.  It manifests as an ability to 'be'... to contain, to wait, to hold. It's that part of us that is connected to our feelings and emotions and prefers to use mediation, compassion, harmony, and compromise in problem solving. Creativity is based on intuition, instinct, dreams, the imagination. 

 

A man's anima promotes the feminine principle of 'eros' (relationship, feeling) and helps a man reflect on his inner world. How this manifests in his life is dependent on his experience with the significant women in his life. If undeveloped or wounded, the anima can create much havoc in a man's life, making him oversensitive, moody, passive or wishy-washy.

The masculine principle is associated with activity... the ability to 'do'... acting on ideas, forging ahead, pursuing goals. It's that part of us that wants clear focus and rationality. It's an ability to create order, organization and structure from chaos. The creativity of the masculine principle is based on logic, thought, reason, theory and ideas.

The animus develops from a woman's inherited notions of maleness and through contact with all the significant men in her life. The animus helps a woman with decisiveness, discrimination, and bringing her creative impulses to fruition. If manifesting in a negative way, the animus can render a woman rigid, opinionated, critical and stubborn.

This is a really big topic in the world of dream interpretation, but even just knowing this much, helps us identify what energy or corner of our personality is being addressed by the different characters in our dreams.

You're probably asking at this point, "How does this actually show up in dreams?" A man's anima will be personified in a whole range of women, known or unknown, from child to wife to famous women. She may initially be young, troublesome or immature in dreams and eventually develop into sacred partner or guide. A woman's animus will show up as husband, baby, son, brother, friend or an unknown male. At first it might appear as threatening groups of men or mysterious stranger, and develop into her soulmate or spiritual guide.

Jung tells us that moving towards becoming 'whole persons' is dependent on bringing to consciousness these repressed aspects of our "inner other".... developing a relationship with them, allowing these aspects of our personality to work for us and help us evolve. This will also help us gravitate towards healthier relationships or improve difficult ones. I believe that the quickest and most effective way of recognizing our "inner other" is through our dreams.

Dream Recall

 One of the most common questions I hear is, "why is it so difficult to remember your dreams?" Some people recall long sagas from the night regularly, some seem to be left with a fragment or image, and some say they never remember a dream.

We know that everyone dreams off and on during the night. Studies tell us that people who sleep more than 8 1/2 hours have 50% more REM (dreaming) sleep than people who sleep less than 6 1/2 hours.

In one study, a relationship was shown between remembering dreams and creative or artistic tendencies. They saw a significantly higher proportion among art students. The lowest recall was among engineering students. The conclusion drawn was that the art students were using more right hemisphere processing (a good deal of the right brain is 'online' while we are dreaming) and had greater memory capability for visual images. The engineering students were more prone to the linear thought processing of the left brain.  Finally the study suggested that an openness to experience and a tolerance of ambiguity help. 

If you're not an artistic type, don't be too discouraged. Something I have experienced in the dream groups is that when a person really wants to remember a dream, the psyche will respond eventually. It seems that intention and an appreciation for what our dreams can offer us, is really key. And perhaps engaging your dream world will help your inner artist to step forward.

Emotionally embued images in dreams

 "I am looking out of the living room window... it's dark outside. I see an airplane plummeting nose down towards the building across the street (this building appears to be a flour mill a few stories high). The airplane is black. I can't believe what I am seeing! It crashes into the building and there is a tremendous explosion followed by thick plumes of grey smoke and fire. I see the black airplane in the midst of the flames. The building is burning and people are starting to arrive to battle the blaze. I feel panicked. I try to call my partner on the phone. I need to let him know what is happening." 

Wow, what a dream! I awake feeling startled and frightened.  

I am sharing this dream with you to illustrate how emotion is at the core of the language in dreams. Before falling asleep I had been very troubled about something important in my life, and wondering if I was heading for a crisis (a crash and burn). I could feel myself spiraling downwards into a depressed state... the image of the black plane plummeting downwards and the explosion a perfect image and mirror for this. The intensity of the image shows how fearful I was.

The plane crashes into a mill. I think about the process of grinding and separating that takes place in the making of flour... a place of transformation? These life struggles we go through can be 'grist for the mill' - made useful... we sometimes describe our hardships as 'going through the mill'.

 Jungian dream work tells us to look at the end of the dream and ask ourselves where the energy is leading. People arrive to deal with the fire - there is help! Yet I am in a panic and I realize I must let my partner know what is happening i.e. how I am feeling. The dream is telling me I don't need to go through this alone.

A dream such as this could leave one feeling very anxious. Working with this dream and understanding the metaphorical language showed me the import of my feelings and more importantly gave me some direction as to how to deal with them. Following the dream's guidance, I did 'contact' my partner and was met with empathy and support. I could greet the next day feeling stronger and not so much in the grip of my emotions.

Dream work works!

The dreaming mind

"O how I dreamt of things impossible." William Blake

If dreams are important messages from the psyche, why do they come with symbolic language and sometimes puzzling scenarios that we need to decipher? Dream science gives us some clues. Recent research shows that there is quite a bit of similarity between right brain processing and the dream state. You may know that the right brain processes non-verbal information & visual imagery, recognizes patterns, forms associations, is intuitive, and sees metaphors and analogies. The right brain takes us into the realm of the imagination, creativity, mystery and paradox.

A few years ago the Globe and Mail ran an article about capturing snapshots of the creative process through taking brain scans of jazz players while they were improvising. What they discovered is that being creative uses the same circuitry that has been measured during dreaming. With EEG, MRI and PET scans, scientists are able to see sections of the brain that activate or deactivate in the dream state. Some parts of the brain are on-line, others off-line. The fact that the logic center is inactive in the dream state helps to make dreams insightful rather than rational. The limbic center is highly active during dreaming. Among other things, this system recalls emotional memories and processes their unresolved impact. This would explain why there is often a central image in a dream imbued with the emotions of the dreamer. Some say that dreams and the arts come from the same source. The dream, like art is an emotionally filled communication given through the use of images and symbols.My feeling is, that working with dreams can not only provide vital information for living one's life more fully, it can also enhance one's capacity for experiencing and expressing that astonishing world of the imagination and creativity.

These are just a few tidbits of information from the tremendous amount of research that has been done on the brain and the dreaming mind. Thank you to Robert Hoss, a scientist and former researcher in the field of light energy, and on the faculty of the Haden Institute for Dream Training. He provides in-depth reading on the science of dreaming at his website www.dreamscience.org 

Yesterday I was asked by a reader if this blog was a venue for sharing dreams. That wasn't my original idea, but might be exciting. Dreams are very personal and tend to readily get at the core of one's issues. There would have to be an awareness of some of the principles of Jungian dreamwork and these I can share over the next few weeks. If you have a dream to share, let's start by brainstorming about the metaphors.