I sometimes dream very original action movies. They are chronological with very clear and entertaining storylines. And I always end up as the heroine, of course, just like in the movies! Is that a kind of escapism I create for myself while sleeping or is it merely the result of an overactive imagination?
Many an author or film-maker has received inspiration or a good story line from a dream, so don’t miss the opportunity if you feel you’re really onto something good. The dream director is your right brain, which explains the creative, lateral approach, high drama and clever humour of many dreams. If you’ve got good chronological order in the dream too, then reap the benefits while your more rational, restrictive left brain is taking a doze.
But, good ideas apart, what do your dreams reflect about you? It’s significant that you’re always the heroine. As your dreams are like action movies presumably the heroine is busy rescuing people most of the time. Everyone in a dream represents your own experiences, feelings, beliefs and attitudes – some you are more aware of than others. Your dream theme suggests you have many abandoned or hurt feelings that need to be rescued and healed. When you look at your life today, or when you look back to your past, what losses and hurts would you like to have healed? Where do you see times and places where you would have loved someone to come along and rescue you?
In your life right now, you may find that you lack power, tending to look to others for rescue and strength, or you may be working this problem from a different perspective, trying to rescue other people and solve their problems for them. If the first situation describes you, it may be time for you to get in touch with your own strengths. If the second situation describes you, it may be time for you to stop and shine your healing light on yourself for a while.
To understand what you need to rescue and how you can help yourself find a more balanced path between rescuing and needing rescue, you need to understand more about the other characters that appear in your dreams.
Consult me confidentially about your dream.
Gut Reaction Poetry
The title of your free-form poem is “Help Me!” Keep it going for 5 - 10 minutes. (See how to do this in next section.)
How to do this
Take a blank piece of paper and a pen. Set a timer for somewhere between 5 and 10 minutes. Do not allow yourself to think! Start by writing the title as your first line and just let it flow. Keep on writing even if your poem seems childish or nonsensical. No rhyming or verses unless it comes out that way! The only definition of ‘poetry’ here is that you’re not writing sentences and you’re not using up all the space on your lines. Let your words find their own shape on the page.
How does this work?
By not thinking, by keeping the words flowing, you are letting your right brain and unconscious mind do most of the work. They created the original dream so they know what these symbols mean for you. They will reveal. You will be surprised.
More details on Gut Reaction Poetry as a Dream Alchemy Practice in: “Dream Alchemy” by Jane Teresa Anderson, pages 324 – 327.
Jane Teresa Anderson
