Hopes and Dreams

As a hypnotherapist, I believe that everyone's dream symbols are unique. This is rather strongly and clearly supported by the fact that dreams are direct communication in the language of the subconscious mind. Also, stronger meaning behind the dreams that come later in the night is explained by the stages of REM sleep that occur during the night. It is not until the third stage of REM sleep that "Venting Dreams" where there is stronger potential for symbolic meaning and presentation of what the subconscious is trying to communicate occur. The typical timing of this later stage of REM sleep puts it close to dawn for many of us.

The Ashanti culture says that "dream incidents are real events". It makes me wonder how much of the symbolic messaging of our dreams is being driven by the proactive work of focused meditation, positive affirmations, or setting our own intentions before we start to dream as opposed to just receiving what the subconscious chooses to present. This is the true power of the dream quest. It is not just a matter of learning from your dreams, but of actively directing them to help augment what you are trying to achieve. That is pretty cool and aligns nicely with ancient Tibetan “dream yoga” that says that dreaming provides us unlimited possibilities. Even though we can make changes to our dreams, we should always try to drive those changes toward the positive support of our goals. It is important to have both hopes and dreams.

References

Hypnosis Motivation Institute (Producer). (2006). Dream therapy. [DVD]: Available from Panorama Publishing Company.

Moss, R. (2009). The secret history of dreaming. Novato, CA: New World Library.

Reed, H. (2005). Dream solutions! dream realizations!: The original dream quest guidebook. Mouth of Wilson, VA: Hermes Home Press.

Wangyal, T. (1998). The Tibetan yogas of dream and sleep. Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion Publications.