Issue 132, August 2009
Chicken or egg?
copyright Jane Teresa Anderson, July 2009
"All my life I’ve dreamed of mess and chaos. Mess, chaos and dirty toilets," a woman told me recently. "I’m a perfectionist," she added, proudly. "My husband says I dream of mess because I like to be in control of things. The mess has to go somewhere, so it goes into my unconscious and into my dreams. What do you think?"
This is the same as saying that people who don’t like to show their anger suppress it into their unconscious and into their dreams. Energy has to go somewhere! Accumulated suppressed anger can be buried very deep, bubbling away until it finally erupts into a dream in one huge torrent of rage, in much the same way as the accumulated buried mess and chaos bursts through into the perfectionist woman’s dreams at certain times.
It’s true that people who suppress their anger have angry dreams, and it’s true that perfectionists, or people who like to be in control, have messy or chaotic dreams. But let’s look a little deeper, because all is not quite as it seems.
The woman’s husband believes her perfectionist attitude causes the mess dreams. And I have painted a picture of an anger suppressing attitude causing anger dreams. Both examples suggest our dreams are caused by our attitudes.
Do you agree with this, or not?
Dreams process your experiences of the previous 24-48 hours to try to make sense of your world, so in one way it is correct to say that what happens in your dreams is caused by your experiences which are caused by your attitudes. But that’s quite a superficial explanation. You probably already know that you’re a perfectionist who doesn’t like mess and chaos, or you already know that you don’t like to show your anger. Dream interpretation, at this level, is not really telling you anything you don’t already know.
Let’s look in from a different perspective now. Instead of saying a certain attitude results in a certain kind of dream, let’s say a certain kind of dream results in a certain kind of attitude. Let’s see how this would work:
This perspective would suggest that uncomfortable dreams of mess and chaos cause you to have an attitude that keeps everything as perfect and in control as possible, to stop the dream from coming true. And it would suggest that dreams of extreme anger cause you to have an attitude of suppressing your anger, to stop the dream from coming true.
Gets interesting, doesn’t it? Which comes first, the chicken or the egg? The perfectionist or the mess? The anger-suppressor or the anger? The attitude or the dream? The attitude you know about, or the mess or anger sitting in your unconscious mind that upsets and confuses you, though you don’t know why?
Is a person born a perfectionist, or does a person become a perfectionist? Are you born with an anger-suppressing attitude, or do you become an anger-suppressor?
Your unconscious mind holds all your experiences and the beliefs those experiences have generated. Many of your experiences and beliefs are located in your conscious mind, or are easily accessed by your conscious mind. But most are deeply buried in your unconscious mind, surfacing occasionally, in surreal forms, in your dreams. Your unconscious beliefs are extremely powerful –far more powerful than your conscious beliefs –and so they shape how you respond in the world. You respond in the world according to your beliefs, and especially according to your unconscious beliefs. Most of the unconscious beliefs driving your life are the result of either early childhood experiences or traumatic emotional experiences from childhood onwards.
Even though, every night, your dreaming brain processes the last 24-48 hours of your experiences to try to make sense of the world, it does this by comparing these recent experiences with all your past experiences and beliefs. Your dreaming brain prefers to prove that your old beliefs are right (even if it cheats slightly to do this) rather than create new beliefs, new ways of looking at the world. Fortunately, the way-things-were is occasionally overpowered by the way-things-could-be, and you experience a breakthrough and wake up with a shifted or new perspective on life.
When you know how to interpret dreams, you can identify those unconscious experiences and beliefs that are being reinforced or changed in a dream. You can point to a dream and say, “Look! There’s an unconscious limiting belief that you’ve had since you were four years old, and it’s still affecting your attitude and the way your life is going.” It’s like looking in on how your mind works. That’s what dream interpretation gives you: a window into how your mind works, a powerful insight into the unconscious beliefs that are shaping your attitudes and causing your present day life experiences. After all, your life experiences are determined by your attitudes.
So when you interpret an uncomfortable dream about mess, chaos and, perhaps dirty toilets, you will probably find unconscious beliefs about order and chaos, based on your past experiences. You will then realise that those beliefs have driven you to develop a perfectionist attitude and keep everything in control. Essentially, a fear of chaos, a fear of lack of order, causes you to develop an in-control or perfectionist attitude to protect yourself from what you see as chaos.
And when you interpret an angry dream, you will discover unconscious beliefs that reveal the source of your anger and explain why you work so hard to protect yourself from expressing anger in any guise.
So, which comes first, the chicken or the egg, the perfectionist or the mess, the anger-suppressor or the anger, the attitude or the dream? This may seem like a philosophical question, but if you’re interested in personal development and spiritual growth, interested in making positive changes in your life, interested in being the best you can be, it’s a very practical question. Dream interpretation empowers you to identify your unconscious beliefs that are driving your attitudes and driving your life. These unconscious beliefs can then be transformed, by doing dream alchemy practices, into beliefs that create more positive attitudes and better life results.
It must take so much energy to be a perfectionist, to stay in control. And there must be so many opportunities missed when you don’t allow a chance a look in.
What do you think?
Jane Teresa Anderson
And now for this month's news:
July was busy and fun. I love doing radio, and this month I was interviewed or did dream talk back on eleven different radio stations. It's all about spreading the message about the benefits of understanding your dreams.
And you can help too. As you know, our August, November, February and May issues include a new Dream Sight article. I hope you enjoyed today's, 'Chicken or egg?'. Please help spread the message: Twitter the link or share with your friends! Thank you.
Current media schedule (updated day to day)
And we have just launched a FREE eDream Journal for you to use! See first news item below:
NEW! FREE! Computerised Dream Journal
Dream Sight Diary Database ver 3
Free download! Record your dreams using our free eDream Journal. What is it? It's a database program designed to record your dreams. It allows you to search your dream records for similar themes and symbols, print reports and save your dream records in other formats, such as word processing documents ... and so much more. It also helps you to interpret your dreams by asking you leading questions.
Huge thanks to Belinda Hodge, who developed the original version of Dream Sight Diary Database, and who has dedicated an enormous number of hours to developing this more sophisticated version, version 3, as a free download, as well as conducting extensive testing, writing and creating the free online tutorials, and designing and producing the www.dreamsightdiary.com website. Thanks also to everyone who tested version 3 last month, and for your feedback.
NEW! July TV gig - watch video
The Morning Show, Channel 7
31 July: Interpreting viewers’ dreams
watch video
Why does one man always dream about work? What does it mean when someone's face morphs into someone else in a dream? And why does one dreamer hide in a tunnel made of washing powder boxes when throwing chip pan fire at an adversary doesn't work?
NEW! July episodes - The Dream Show
A free weekly podcast
Listen here
Or subscribe/download to your iPod
Episode 12: Daphne
Daphne dreamed she spat out a mouthful of guts, strangled a little dog, and ended up helping a princess. What's the moral of this dream tale? How did Daphne relate to the interpretation? Listen in!
Episode 12
Episode 13: Deb
Deb dreamed of a tsunami that swept through her old house and washed everything out. What happened next, and what does the dream mean? Listen in as we discuss the interpretation and how it relates to Deb's life.
Episode 13
Episode 14: Lexie
Lexie dreamed all her possessions were stolen, all communication lines were cut, the police were unable to help, and the security guard had stolen four million dollars. She thought it was just a mad dream and was astounded when the interpretation related to specific events in her life, and revealed a new way to move forward.
Episode 14
Episode 15: Sarah
Sarah and I discuss her vivid, frightening, childhood recurring dream of her mother trying to pass her to a mean-looking man on a motorbike. What did it mean, and why does the memory of the dream still float up from time to time as an adult? Plenty of tips here on how to help children with recurring nightmares. Listen as we interpret Sarah's dream, hear her responses, and discover insight into her past and present.
Episode 15
Episode 16: Louise
Louise's dream features an orphan, a lost address, fun on a jetski, a cream bun, and some mysterious bruises on her brother's back. How do the puzzle pieces fit together, and what does it all mean? Listen as we discuss the interpretation, and hear Louise's response on how the dream relates to her life. And what's Prince Harry got to do with it all? Press play, and find out!
Episode 16
Daphne from Episode 12 sent some comments on her podcast dream interpretation experience.
"Thank you very much for the opportunity to talk to you on The Dream Show. You have an amazing ability to recognize so many levels of meaning in a dream and so generously share your knowledge and wisdom.
You were so accurate in your interpretations and so philosophical.
I feel privileged to have had this opportunity. Thanks to your insights I was able to look at my dreams in a new light which helped me understand so much more about myself and what is happening in my life right now.
I cannot thank you enough for the help you have given me."
Listen to all podcasts
A free dream interpretation?
If you’d like to have your dream interpreted on the show, please email me. It's simple to take part: I phone you at the appointed time - wherever you are in the world - and we record the conversation for our podcast. It takes about 20 minutes of your time. Your contribution to the show helps other people to understand their dreams, you receive a free interpretation, and you get to replay the podcast as often as you wish to really absorb your interpretation.
That’s it for now!
Thank you for staying tuned and for your interest in interpreting your dreams and applying dream alchemy for more authentic, meaningful success.
Enjoy the many blessings August – and your dreams – bring you.
Jane Teresa Anderson
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