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Chapter 6 Expressive
being
STEP
1 Last chapter’s Step 15 suggested
that you write down a dream featuring a part (or parts) of the body in
preparation for learning how to interpret body symbols in your dreams. Once you
have done this, make a short list of other body parts that have been prominent
in your dreams. You might have noticed in some of
the earlier chapters that I interpreted some dreams by observing the clichés
they were acting out. For example: Chapter 3 Michelle’s Lost & found dream, in
which Michelle "walks around a block". Interpretation: she is avoiding
solving a block. Chapter 4 Andrew’s Circling dream, in which Andrew "just keeps
circling". Interpretation: he is going round
in circles. Chapter 4 Barbara’s Missing the boat dream, in which Barbara keeps "missing
the boat". Interpretation: she’s been
‘missing the boat’ in her life too. Chapter 5 Melanie’s Killing my mother dream, in which Melanie "washed her
hands". Interpretation: she washed her hands
of a situation or attitude. In the same way we often use body
parts in our everyday spoken clichés to describe emotions or situations. For
example: Shoulders "shoulder
responsibility" "cry on my shoulder" "a shoulder to lean on" "a weight off my shoulders" Our dreams frequently use body
parts to dramatise our spoken clichés when they are appropriate to our life
situations or emotions. Shoulders might be emphasised in a dream as a symbol of
responsibility or support in accordance with the old clichés. We may hold physical tension in
our shoulders when we’re feeling the burden of too much responsibility, or the
need to be strong and give support. The resultant pain in our shoulders is a
physical reminder of our mental or emotional tension. In this way our state of
mind can show up (manifest) in the physical body. In such situations it seems the
body and the mind are linked together, the body being a (symbolic) reflection
of the mind. Our dreams use the same symbolism. Our clichés indicate our
unconscious understanding of the way the mind and body are linked, even though
we may have consciously lost touch with the origins of these expressive
patterns of speech. It is my understanding that the physical body is solely a reflection of the mind (or soul
- to use another good dream pun!) STEP
2 For each of the body parts you
listed in Step 1, make a list of clichés involving that body part, as I did for
shoulder in the example above. Make it a real blitz list: put in every cliché
you can think of! Amongst the clichés in your Step
2 list you might have discovered your personal symbolism or a universal symbolism
for your body part that helps you to interpret your dream meaningfully. STEP
3 Write down a summary of any
symbolism of body parts you have discovered through this exercise. Some of my interpretations of
dreams in earlier chapters were made by observing dream puns on words that
sounded similar but had different meanings. For example: Chapter 4 Penny’s Look! No brakes! dream, in which Penny "needs a brake". Interpretation: she needs a
break. Some body parts commonly appear
in dreams as puns. For example: Eyes Ayes I’s i’s ... Heel Heal (Hence ‘Achilles heel?’) STEP
4 For each of the body parts you
listed in Step 1, make a list of puns on that body part, as I did for ‘Eye’ and
‘Heel’ above. As you have already learned,
personal symbolism is more important than shared or universal symbolism when it
comes to interpreting your own dreams. If you frequently dream of fingers and
you are a piano player or a jeweller specialising in rings, for example, then
fingers might have quite a specific meaning when they appear in your dreams. STEP
5 Go back to your list of body
parts from Step 1 and add any personal associations that occur to you, as in my
example above. To do this effectively you might wish to use the Dialogue Method
from Chapter 5, talking to the body part just as I talked to the four-leaf
clover to discover its hidden personal symbolism. The function of a particular body
part also gives clues about its symbolism. For example: Legs Move us around and support us.
May symbolise direction, movement and support. Nails Protect our delicate finger tips,
but also scratch. May symbolise protection of something delicate and ability to
defend ourselves. STEP
6 Go back to your list of body
parts from Step 1 and add words describing the functions of those parts. Then
write down any new symbolism you discover through doing this, as I did with
legs and nails above. By now you should have several
possible symbolic meanings for each of the body part symbols you chose in Step
1. When you put the body parts back into the storylines of your original
dreams, you will be able to see which symbols are appropriate. Just before you do this, there’s
one more important sign to look out for: For many body parts there are
right and left sides: right and left arms, right and left legs, right and left
eyes, and so on. The right side of the body is linked to the left side of the
brain, so it is symbolically associated with the outer world (Yang, inner
male). The left side of the body is linked to the right side of the brain, so
it is symbolically associated with the inner world (Yin, inner female). You
will need to add this knowledge into your dream interpretation process. For example: If you have decided that shoulder
represents responsibility, the right shoulder may symbolise responsibility for
a situation in the outer world, and the left shoulder may symbolise
responsibility for your inner world situation. STEP
7 Take some time now to go back to
the dream you chose for Step 1 and use your insight into the personal meaning
of your dream body part to interpret the whole dream. Bring in as many of the
dream interpretation skills you learned in earlier chapters as you wish. Further on in this chapter I have
included an extract from "Sleep On It ... and change your life"
which lists possible symbolic meanings for many body parts commonly featuring
in dreams. It is hardly an exhaustive list, either in terms of the number of
body parts mentioned or the possible meanings for each. It is simply an illustration
and it can be used to trigger your reactions and thoughts to help you determine
the right meanings for you. You might wish to do the next step, Step 8, before
looking ahead to gain confidence in your own abilities to decipher symbolism. STEP
8 Look through the following list
of body parts and jot down notes on clichés, puns, personal associations and
functions for each part. Add dialogue method results if you wish. You’ll see
there is an opportunity to consider the difference between left and right sides
of the body in some cases too. You will be able to use your notes to help you
interpret any of these body parts which come up in your future dreams. Head Eyes right
eye left
eye Mouth Teeth Cheeks right
cheek left
cheek Ears right
ear left
ear Chin Nose right
nostril left
nostril Throat, neck Hair Tongue Heart Legs right
leg left
leg Intestines/ Guts Knees right
knee left
knee Hands right
hand left
hand Sexual organs Stomach Chest Back Heels right
heel left
heel Toes of
right foot of
left foot Thighs right
thigh left
thigh Arms right
arm left
arm Feet right
foot left
foot Soles of feet of
right foot of
left foot Fingers of
right hand of
left hand Ankles right
ankle left
ankle Elbows right
elbow left
elbow Waist Shoulders right
shoulder left
shoulder Buttocks right
buttock left
buttock This extract does not cover
everything in your list, but it might add to it: Extract
from "Sleep On It ... and change your life", by Jane Teresa Anderson Chapter 9, Universal & Shared
Symbols, pages 91 - 94 Head Eyes Mouth, teeth Ears Nose Throat, neck Hair Heart Legs Knees Hands Stomach Chest Back Shoulders Buttocks Right side Left side *
The left hemisphere is ‘Yang’ for 95% of right-handed people and for 70% or
more of left-handed people. The hemispheres are reversed for the
remainder." (End of Extract).
Here
are some extra puns and clichés to check with your own Step 8 list: Waist waste Cheek ‘what a cheek’ ‘turn the other cheek’ Feet feat (de)feat? ‘stand on your own two feet’ ‘a foot in the door’ ‘put your foot in your mouth’ ‘put a foot in it’ ‘jump in, feet first’ Elbow ‘elbow grease’ ‘elbow your way in’ Fingers ‘to finger something’ ‘a finger in every pie’ ‘point a finger’ ‘give a finger’ Sole soul sole (alone, only) ‘life and soul of the party’ Arms arms (weapons) (h)arms? ‘up in arms’ ‘armed’ Chest (Treasure) chest ‘get it off your chest’ Guts ‘he’s got guts’ ‘the guts of the matter’ to ‘gut’ something ‘gut reaction’ Heart ‘wear your heart on your sleeve’ ‘the heart of the matter’ Head ‘lose your head’ ‘making headway’ ‘head this way’ ‘an old head on young shoulders’ ‘get (a)head’ ‘heading the team’ ‘head over heels’ ‘heady’ Teeth ‘get your teeth into it’ ‘I’d give my eye teeth" Hair ‘get out of my hair’ STEP
9 Have a look at the following four
dreams featuring body parts and interpret them as if they were your dreams. Use
all the skills you have learned in this book. As usual, the dream examples are
fictitious but based on my research collections. Eleanor’s
dream Accident
scene I was driving along a country lane
when I saw a hitch-hiker. I stopped to pick him up and soon my car was full of
extra passengers. We drove through busier and busier streets until up ahead I
could see some sort of commotion. As we got closer I realised an accident had
just happened. I didn’t want to look but it was right in front of me. Next I
was wading through the bodies, some alive, some dead. Some were legless and
others had smashed, broken, or bruised legs. Now I think about it, I don’t
recall seeing any injuries apart from leg injuries. I was devastated, in shock.
Sean’s
dream Earring
gift I was back at school again
sitting an exam which seemed hard. It was politics or social studies or
something like that. I didn’t know what to write because I hadn’t studied. I
felt stupid. I sat looking at Jamie, the student in front of me. (Jamie was
in my final year at school and he always got good marks for the social
sciences. It annoyed me because he never studied but he had the gift of the
gab.) He was writing furiously, of course. Something seemed odd. The more I
looked the more I noticed his left ear until it seemed to grow and ended up
ridiculously huge. It was studded in earrings which Jamie would never have worn
in life. Somehow the exam seemed less important and I felt a great sense of
relaxation come over me. I felt well rested when I woke up. Will’s
dream Lost
eye I seemed to be happily shopping,
walking and talking with friends when I noticed the right side of my vision
ahead darken. We were buying things, clothes perhaps. My friends were helping
me choose and I seemed to have quite a bag full of things. I was getting
frightened about the darkness as we headed off to share a pizza. I didn’t want
to worry them by telling them about my failing eyesight. I thought they might
laugh at me (seems silly now I’m awake). Later I looked in a mirror and my
reflection showed that my right eye was missing. Where had I had lost my right
eye, and why had no-one noticed?! I didn’t know what to do. It felt like the
end of the world.’ I would never get it back and I felt completely lost. Theresa’s
dream Spitting
teeth I’m at work and about to go into
an important meeting. As I walk into the committee room I feel seeds in my
mouth. Or are they stones? When it’s my turn to speak I try to speak without spitting
out the stones but they come cascading out of my mouth and I realise they are
my teeth! My teeth are falling out! Here
are my interpretations, for you to compare with yours: Eleanor’s
dream Accident
scene Eleanor takes on more than she
can handle and may not be very good at processing and letting go. Her life and
her inner life are therefore very busy. This is leading her to conflict
(commotion) up ahead. She can now see that she is heading for an emotional
crash of some sort (or it may have already happened, at least at an unconscious
level). She would prefer not to know about this but the situation is getting so
bad that she’s going to have to confront it. Her overload is resulting in a
loss of direction or a loss of her ability to be able to achieve her goals.
Unless she makes changes, many of the things/issues she has taken on will come
to an end and she will find herself at a loss over her direction in life. These
revelations are a shock to her. It may also be (though this isn’t
clear from the dream) that her direction has been all about helping others or
taking on too much or staying busy, and that without these diversions she must
face the fact that she has lost all other direction. She may be encountering
repressed shock from a past event that she has avoided acknowledging by
becoming busy. Sean’s
dream Earring
gift The theme of Sean’s dream is
readiness and the feeling of not being well enough prepared for a situation in
his life. (Often this kind of dream belongs to a perfectionist who has issues
and fears about not being good enough.) The exam subject is politics or social
studies indicating that the area of Sean’s life under consideration is his
relationship with others, diplomacy, lack of diplomacy, or general
interactions. Jamie was good at these things. Sean feels unready for these
kinds of situations. The left ear grows huge. (Symbols
in dreams sometimes do this to draw attention, though they may also signal
imbalance.) The left ear symbolises Sean’s (Jamie’s) ability to hear his inner
(left) self: his Yin: his creative, intuitional, emotional self. The dream suggests
Sean would be more at ease in social situations if he just relaxed and listened
to his inner self rather than looking for outward clues as to how to act. He
might hear, "Just tune in, you know it all already. It’s there in your
intuition. Your creativity is good enough to get you by. There’s nothing else
you need to know. Maybe you can’t study for this kind of situation. You must
relax and ‘play it by ear’". Earrings draw attention to the
ear symbol (watch for jewellery in other body part dreams) and there is a
beautiful pun on ‘studied: studded’. Sean’s inner self is already ‘studied’ in
this area. He need not worry. The message must have got through as Sean feels
relaxed at the end of the dream and well rested when he woke up. Will’s
dream Lost
eye The dream is about choice
(shopping, choosing, buying) although it seems as if Will needs his friends to
help him make choices. He is losing sight of his outer world: his Yang
qualities (inner male: assertiveness, rationality, dealing with outer world).
He is fearful of his outer world and the fact that he is losing sight of it. His right eye may also symbolise
his ‘Right I’, meaning that he is losing sight of who he really is. This makes
sense in the dream as Will is perhaps dominated by his friends who ‘help’ him
in a way that reduces his own choices. He is losing his self-assertiveness and
his ability to make his own choices and express his real self (right I) in the
world. The lack of self esteem is underlined in the dream when he puts his
concerns about himself on hold, not wanting to tell them (worry them) about his
failing eyesight. Again it is underlined by his fear of being laughed at. The
end of the dream is Will’s revelation that he has lost his right I or his
assertive Yang. ‘I felt completely lost’ = "Eye lost". Theresa’s
dream Spitting
teeth Theresa lacks confidence in her
ability to powerfully communicate. Are these the ‘seeds of doubt’ she feels in
her mouth? Whenever she needs to communicate powerfully she fails because her
seeds of doubt get in the way. Maybe these doubts are ancient ones, as ancient
as stones. (Note: Sometimes teeth can
symbolise spirituality or core beliefs, as they can be seen as being part of
the skeleton: the basic structure upon which everything else is hung. It would
be important to talk with Theresa to discover whether there was a conflict
between her spiritual beliefs and her need to speak up.) Expressive
Being Although Theresa, in the last
dream example, was fearful of speaking out powerfully, she might be surprised
to learn that she is nevertheless communicating powerfully all the time. A
paradox? She may not feel able to open her
mouth and express her feelings in words, but every part of her physical body
expresses her conscious and unconscious thoughts and feelings precisely. Her
shoulders may be hunched slightly forward, her lips may be slightly retracted,
her eyelids may be slightly downcast, her fingers may be slightly curled to
cover her palms, and so on. Every part of the physical body, according to my
understanding and experience, powerfully communicates the state of mind. The body is a reflection of the
mind, in dreams and in waking life. There is more to communication than the
spoken word and we all powerfully express our being through our physical bodies
all the time. Theresa’s physical body most probably powerfully expresses her
fears of verbal expression and her lack of confidence. If only she knew! So in waking life and in dreams
you express your true being but it takes an understanding of the unconscious mind
to be able to tune into what is being communicated and to get the message. As
an expressive being you may not be conscious of expressing your true emotions,
but your unconscious mind finds expression through your physical body and your
dreams. The way forward to a more
balanced and fulfilling life is to bring what is unconscious into
consciousness, a process which best begins by acknowledging your unconscious
emotions so that you can integrate them rather than dissociate them. Sometimes the rawest of emotions
are expressed in dreams in extraordinarily heightened ways. It is common to
experience intense anger in a dream from time to time. The dreamer feels and
expresses anger in ways that would not be appropriate in waking life. Surely
the idea is not to bring this unconscious (repressed) anger into full conscious
expression?! Of course not. The point is to acknowledge
the intensity of your repressed anger and then to work out, by interpreting
your dreams, why you have repressed the anger, so that you can understand,
forgive yourself and others, and then express that enlightenment and
forgiveness, rather than express the anger. This is the process of integration
and release. Always remember that the other
people in your dreams are aspects of yourself. You may be violently angry with
a member of your family in your dream and on waking up you may still feel angry
with that person because of some injustice that you can pinpoint. You may
indeed feel that they have caused you an injustice, but your dream anger is
directed at yourself. The dream generally shows your
anger at yourself for having been in that situation or for having played it the
way you did. It can be anger at yourself for having repressed your true
feelings, or anger at yourself for not speaking out appropriately at the time.
It may also be anger at yourself for being like this person in some way, as in
Jeannie’s evil presence dream described in Chapter 5. You can also regard the
explosion of anger in a dream as an emotional release as it carries the promise
of healing through recognition. Grief is another emotion that
frequently finds expressive release in a dream. People sometimes wake up crying
and just keep on crying for hours, or have a feeling of overflowing sadness and
grief that can last for days even though they may not be able to say why they
feel this way. The repressed grief has broken through in a dream and, with the
aid of dream interpretation, the source of that grief can be discovered,
remembered, integrated and healed. Without dream interpretation that grief may
spill over into inappropriate areas of life, becoming attached to other
situations as a kind of dissociation (most commonly blaming the grief on other
areas of life). Alternatively the person may heal a more recent sadness in life
without going back to heal the original grief. Such is the power of good dream
interpretation. Treat strong, overwhelming,
spilling-out emotions in dreams in this way:
STEP
10 Last chapter’s Step 15 suggested
that you chose a dream that carried strong or heightened emotions to work with
in this chapter. If those emotions were as expressive as those discussed above,
then you’re now ready to work on that dream. (Go ahead - don’t let denial win
by putting it off!) If the emotions weren’t that strong, this leads to the
final approach to dream interpretation: STEP
11 The
Feeling Method of dream interpretation Choose a recent dream (any
dream!) and write it down. Then go back and add in your feelings or emotions in
as many places as you can. These must be the feelings you remember from the
dream, not the feelings you think you should have had in the dream. If you
dreamed of killing your cat and it made you feel calm, don’t censor the feeling
to make yourself feel more comfortable! As an example, here’s So much
for the dog! I was in a car as a passenger
when we came to a sudden halt. The impact threw my body into the corner of the
back seat where there wasn’t much room to breathe. Next thing there was a
little black dog next to me, its head drooping forward. Everything was very
quiet. A long time seemed to pass. I suddenly thought the dog must be hungry so
I gave him some biscuits I had in my jacket pocket. The more I gave him the
more his head drooped forward. In the end he grew so fat before my eyes that he
blocked any chance I had of getting out of the car. I sat and hoped that help
would arrive. I don’t remember anyone coming, but I do remember being surprised
to see some space in the roof of the car and seeing starlight beyond. I pulled
myself through and was free. And now AFTER he added his dream
feelings: So
much for the dog! (Once more with feeling!) I was in a car as a passenger (passive,
uninterested) when we came to a sudden halt (passive, uninterested).
The impact threw my body into the corner of the back seat (passive,
uninterested) where there wasn’t much room to breathe (resigned).
Next thing there was a little black dog next to me, its head drooping forward
(sad, ‘doggone’, depressed). Everything was very quiet (passive,
uninterested). A long time seemed to pass (stuck). I suddenly
thought the dog must be hungry (instinctive feeling) so I gave him some
biscuits I had in my jacket pocket (satisfied). The more I gave him the
more his head drooped forward (questioning myself). In the end he grew
so fat before my eyes that he blocked any chance I had of getting out of the
car (concerned). I sat and hoped that help would arrive (hopeful,
patient). I don’t remember anyone coming, but I do remember being surprised
to see some space in the roof of the car and seeing starlight beyond
(sudden relief, motivated). I pulled myself through and was free
(surprised, expansive). STEP
12 Now extract the feelings and
emotions you have added into your dream along with any that were in the
original dream record and write them out in the order in which they appeared.
Here’s passive, uninterested STEP
13 Can you see any clues about the
meaning of Here
are my suggestions based solely on this list, for you to compare with yours: This gives a fair amount of
insight although it doesn’t provide all the answers. You can use this method to
orientate your dream interpretation, to help get you onto the right track. In Armed with these clues it’s now
possible to go back to black dog the dog must be hungry gave him some biscuits more I gave him the more his
head drooped blocked hoped that help would arrive see some space in the roof I pulled myself through So "Sometimes I slip into
depression, particularly when I’m taking a back seat in my life. I get into a
cycle of feeding the depression which leads me nowhere, only into a deeper
depression. This seems to be an instinct I need to break. My dream suggests this
is something I have to do myself. I need to find a space where I can motivate
myself to pull myself through. That space is there. I just have to look up and
notice it." STEP
14 Now work on your own Step 12 list
following That’s it! You’ve now worked
through and acquired enough methods and approaches to dream interpretation to
be able to interpret your dreams with skill and confidence. Congratulations! This is a great time to gather
together all your extra pages of workings and insights and review them as a
whole. You might like to add a page about your decisions, an action list based
on what you have learned about yourself and your life by working on your dreams
using this book. You might wish to print this book
and then add in your pages of notes and bind it all together as a personalised
book. You will be able to use it as an easily accessible highly personal dream
interpretation reference or to take yourself through a refresher course at a
later date. Best of all, this is a treasured record of some of your most
important dreams, breakthroughs and insights, so why not celebrate by creating
it into a personally bound memoir? I hope you’ve enjoyed the
journey. May your dreams bring you peace, light and many blessings. Jane Teresa
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