Dreams are one of those things that seem to divide people. Some see them as vital spiritual communication and other do not see them as anything but brain mush.
Dreams are of course a bit of both. Yet sleep and dreaming is hugely important not only to our mental health and well being but new scientific studies have found it allows different genes to turn on or off dependent on how much and the quality of your sleep. Heart disease, obesity and even diabetes are only some of the genes that can be affected.
I am a bit bias. I LOVE sleeping. Not only because with looking after a tiny kitten I have had less that usual, but I have always loved it. I dream in colour and when I found out that a lot of people don't I was shocked and surprised. I have also always been able to astrally travel and lucid dream all my life. As a child I was early to bed and early to rise, but living on a farm then it seemed only normal. Having kids has altered my body clock some what but I still love sleeping and dreaming.
Psychology at it's beginnings was founded on analyzing this doorways to our truest self. Dream are our personal landscape. Everything in our dreams comes from us, it is normally a part of ourselves. Other people in our dreams tend to not be the actual person but the reflection or idea of them we have. This is why sexual dreams that can seem violent, upsetting, erotic and disturbing or not as awful as they seem. It is the innocence, brutality, or any other quality we associate with that person we are trying to take into our self, or be a part of. Or of course run from or destroy.
While these psycho-dramas are a healthy response of the self trying to deal with complicated feelings and unresolved situations they are no less real than the external world for the dreamer. The sub-conscious mind, or the instinctual mind is not less than the one with a voice. It may speak in feelings and pictures but it is real and part of the whole person. Dreams are the landscape, the place where symbols are real and real is symbolic. Where rivers are feelings, darkness is our own mental and emotional shadow, and light is thought. If we are feeling anxious, preyed on, hunted, lost or overwhelmed this space will tell you, clearly and with resounding clarity.
Reoccurring dreams are this space trying to get the mind to adjust, or accept something. A trauma, a person or place that is bad for us, something that requires our attention. The longer we avoid our self the more frustrated this side of our self will become.
There are then those other dreams. They have a very distinctive quality in that you seem to be in a different space than within. Sometimes it is a real place. The people there are not the people or places you know or go to. These dreams are often to show us something beyond ourselves. I can only say from my personal experience that the light is different to when I am within my own head. The people and creatures that I encounter there are sometimes surprised by my presence, can be indifferent or have been waiting for me. The dream would continue whether I was there or not. Sometimes I am shown things that will happen, or that have happened.(These are not always nice happy things.) Sometimes I am there to help or heal someone or be helped or healed. These places often become part of my waking meditations for the healing and teaching of others. If you have a frightening dream, look first at the dream. What or who is making you frightened? The more you look at your dreams the more you will recognize the patterns of this presence, this place, in your waking life. It is a boon. A joy. You know, I think I fancy a nap...
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