Are you having weird dreams lately? Join the club. There has been a surge in reported dream activity since this global health crisis began. Denver 9 news even reached out to me to reassure them this is normal, take a look at the interview HERE.
Sigmund Freud began the modern exploration of dreams, but dreams have been long valued prior to the existence of psychology. Shamans, diviners, and sages used dream reports over centuries, for a variety of purposes, including navigating the future, empowering society and alleviating stress. In Native American cultures, dreams are seen as central to healing as they put us in touch with our deepest spiritual source. The Mapuche Indians of Chile share their dreams regularly within the family unit, particularly during significant times of stress. The Aborigines of Australia believe the world was dreamed into existence. Indigenous dreaming cultures are on every continent. On some level, if you go back far enough, all of our long forgotten ancestors belonged to a dreaming culture. These cultures teach us that if we aren’t paying attention to our dreams, then we aren’t fully paying attention to our lives, because there is a distinct relationship between the two.
There are things we all have in common as human beings and dreaming is one of them. When someone says they don’t dream, what they are really saying is “I don’t remember my dreams.” Sleep laboratory research confirms the average person dreams between ninety minutes to two hours every night. We spend so much time dreaming for a reason. Modern culture minimizes dreams, but after studying dreams for over a decade, I know there is nothing insignificant about them! Once you understand your own unique dream language, you enter into a whole new relationship with yourself, that opens doors to opportunities you never imagined possible.
For example, I hugged my Mother in a dream, two weeks after she died. In that dream I was overwhelmed with love as I said goodbye to her (something I didn’t get the opportunity to do in waking life). As she held me in her arms she said “Honey, I love you, everything is going to be o.k.” I woke up and felt such healing, even through my grief, I was relieved. Saying goodbye to her in the dream allowed some part of me to heal and feel complete. No amount of grief counseling could have given me that gift.
Learning to navigate our dreams is even more important then ever. Living in the information and technological age, we are bombarded with so much stimuli and information that many of us are having difficulty determining what is real. Dreaming brings us back to our own unique internal truth, one that we can stand on as the world around us shifts and shakes. Working with clients for so many years I’ve found that when someone learns to feel into the truth of their dream they can’t deny what they feel, its an anchor in the storm. The work I’m facilitating with clients right now during this current global crisis is particularly powerful as it is helping them uncover gifts in the challenges we face. They are using their dreams to navigate choices, possibilities and healing. And they don’t doubt the source of the information, because it came from within!