Dreams as Doorways to Possibility:
Four ways to open up even the smallest of dreams
Have you ever been stumped by a dream? Likely all of us have experienced genuine puzzlement when we wake up with a dream image that seems utterly mysterious, too wispy to follow or simply nonsensical. We are apt to dismiss such dreams as nonsense, or as not profound enough to warrant our attention. However, if you consider dreams as openings for further exploration, every dream is worthy of our attention.
In my year-long experiential dreamwork program, I always spend a session exploring dream ‘snippets’ as a way to illustrate how much can come of mere wisps of dreams. It helps to consider a dream as a doorway to a much larger world of experience. Or like the thread from the Greek myth by which Ariadne left a trail enabling her lover to escape the maze of the Minotaur. The end of the thread, the snippet, does not give us the whole picture, but rather, a way forward. The destination is not yet known, but ultimately might lead to greater freedom.
In this article, I offer a few different ways that you can explore any dream, big or small, in a way that opens to new possibilities.
Dreams as picture-metaphors for emotion
My dreams often come as single images without much of a story. They can be a simple picture, and for the person guiding me in a dream process, it may feel like there isn’t enough to work with. For example, I dreamt of an old-fashioned pair of crossed wooden skis. Considering Ernest Hartmann’s idea that dreams are metaphors for salient feelings, already something opens up. There is a sense of motion that is stopped, possibly because of an outdated way of doing things, or maybe because I am ‘cross’. Yes, I can feel some old anger I hadn’t realized was present…
The other thing that occurs to me is that these skis can still work and have served someone very well. They have been well-used, and I sense, well-loved. In Hartmann’s way of working, this feeling might correspond to something current and salient in my life, so further inquiry could head in that direction.
Dreams as bringing a bodily felt sense
Another way to deepen understanding of any dream image is to try a focusing approach, as offered by Eugene Gendlin. This involves getting a bodily felt sense of the image, and letting it open up from the inside. Like Ariadne’s thread, such a process can lead to new territory entirely, with the image as the starting place.
A felt sense of the skis, for example, takes me to a crossed place in my chest, but also an awareness of potential movement. The skis, of their own accord, want to uncross and be placed on the snow. Their essence speaks of forward motion and speed. I begin to feel an expansive sense in my chest, and am infused with enlivening memories of my cross-country skiing exploits. Rather than get lost in those, I go back to the felt sense (which is what I would do if I were guiding a dreamer here). I’m getting a message that feels like an unblocking, an opening and a sense that the way forward is available, and both awkward (old skis) and exhilarating.
Dreams as doorways
Carrying this little image forward in another way, I might explore the environment of the dream, and then venture out into it. This is a Jungian approach, called active imagination. You can take any dream image as a place to begin and then open up the setting or dream landscape.
My skis seem to be in the wall of a rustic cabin, and there is a sense that it might be an earlier time. These skis are not obsolete, but in fact, more an essential means of getting somewhere. There are now some old-fashioned boots and poles are nearby, and I see a skier breaking trail through a foot of fresh snow. The trail is flat, wooded, and inviting. There is the sense of a journey, but one the skier is very prepared for. In exploring this dream image, we can follow this trail as far as we like, potentially meeting challenges and helpful characters along the way.
Associating to dream images
The last opening I will suggest here is that of association. This is a more traditional way of exploring dream images, and one that I tend to use lightly. This is because the process of asking what memories or stories from our life are brought to mind by a dream image can sometimes lead us away from the essence of the image and into webs of memory that limit rather than open what we experience from the dream.
Associations to the skis are of fancy cabins that hang such skis on the wall as decoration. I also recall a pair of leather ski boots my dad used to own, and a childhood memory of trying to ski on flat ground in huge old skis and not getting very far. I also associate to skiing in general, which I love. To me, these images feel less generative than the methods listed above that open up the image via experiencing and imagination. Such is my personal bias. Associations can also be powerful.
My suggestion is to try any of these methods that appeal to you. Next time you wake up with a puzzling dream image or snippet, one you are tempted to dismiss, play with these avenues. Or if a client brings a dream that feels too thin and unsubstantial, try these ways of helping them to use the image as a leaping off place to a world of possibility.
DREAM CIRCLE Dec. 4: Dreams as doorways to possibility
Our last Dream Circle of 2022 will focus on imaginative and experiential ways that even the smallest of dreams can open the dreamer up to possibility. See the article above for a fuller description of the avenues we will explore as a group. This group is open to all graduates of my experiential dreamwork and focusing programs. More info here.