Atmosphere of a Dream
Have you ever found residue on your hands and have no idea where it came from? You find something sticky or gritty on your hands and you trace your steps back through the day trying to figure out where on earth you could have come in contact with such a substance.
The atmosphere of a dream can be like that.
You awake from a dream one morning knowing that you had a dream but you just can’t put your finger on any specifics. All you’re left with is an essence of the dream’s presence; a lingering essence. Dreams by their very nature are elusive. They must be sought out. But how can you seek something out when all you have of it is the faintest vapor of remembrance?
What I’ve learned to do is turn my attention to fading images or emotions as I’m waking up. If I can pull just one of these back with me as I awake, I can sometimes remember a little bit more of what was going on in the dream. As I write down what I remember, often another image will pop into my mind. If I’m successful, I’m able to reconstruct a dream scene that I’d completely forgotten.
It takes a bit of practice to reach back into the dissipating vapor of a dream memory and pull something significant back to yourself. It can be difficult but it’s not impossible.
It’s very helpful if you’ve trained your mind to think subjectively.
A childhood saying comes to mind: What are girls made of? Sugar and spice and everything nice. That’s what girls are made of. This is a great example of subjective thinking, a metaphor. No doctor has ever performed surgery on a girl and found literal sugar and spice in her stuffings. It’s a description of the characteristics of girls, of course. It’s a way to introduce little boys to the concept that she may kinda look like me, but this girl is a completely different creature altogether.
As children grow into adults they’re all taught to be more literal and serious, to “grow up”. We trade the metaphorical and subjective for the logical and literal. If you want to understand your dreams it would do you well to go back to the days of childlikeness and embrace metaphorical thinking once again. It’s not as hard as you might think.
Try this. As you’re going through the business of life today pick something simple to think of in a metaphorical way. For example, you’ll most likely find yourself in a kitchen. As you’re there, begin to think of ways a kitchen can represent something else. It’s a place of preparation, for example. When you’re in a vehicle, you might think of different things a vehicle might represent in a dream, a way of getting from one place in life to another.
As you get into the habit of doing this, metaphorical thinking will come easier and easier to you. You may even be able to identify some of the symbols as you’re pulling them into this world from the dream world.
Comment below on your success.
EB
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