In my private practice, teaching, and with friends with whom I share dreams, I find that when we write down our dreams over time, they begin to create a larger story.  It’s as if each dream is a chapter, anticipating the next turn of plot, with prior dreams being the backstory.

For example, a man I know recently dreamed he was walking along a wooded path, nothing frightening or threatening or really very remarkable at all.  He looked to the left, and there was a smaller path, like something made by a small animal, winding through the undergrowth beneath the trees.  He awoke.

A week or so later, he dreamed he was in the woods, only now he was on his hands and knees, crawling through the brush, seeking something terribly important.  When he awoke, he couldn’t remember what it was, but was left with the feeling… Something…

He had several more dreams, all set in the woods, in which he was always alone, and on a journey toward something important, with an increasing sense of urgency. In the latest dream, a small but quick fox appeared ahead of him, which he began to follow.   It led him to the edge of a cliff before he woke up.

Consider your own dreams over a few weeks.  Look for similarities in setting, characters, and your own focus as the dreamer within the dream.  Is there a plot unfolding? Where are you going? How will you get there? What will you do next?

Your unconscious, the author, is writing your story every night, with no conscious effort from you at all.  Was that you, thinking you’re not creative? Have no more ideas? Are stuck? Take a look at where you are, where you’ve been, and what’s in front of you right now:

You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.
-Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

I’m off to give a dream workshop at Rancho La Puerta in Tecate, Mexico.  Until next time, feel free to explore the links to the right and to scroll down for prior posts… Sweet dreams!

Feel free to submit a dream, and explore dreams by other visitors by clicking the section to the right, “Dreams, Interpreted.”  Comment upon posts or dreams by clicking on “comment” at the end of the list of links at the end of each post!

Over three decades, I’ve heard so many dreams, each one of them as unique as the dreamer, and each a potential door  into the unknown territory of the self. So many dreamers have emailed, asking questions, or just wanting to share a recent, troubling, funny, or perplexing dream, which  left me seeking a place to share what I’ve learned, in hopes of helping those from far and wide I can’t meet personally!

Dreams are the one unifying experience we all have, on average 5 times per night, no matter who we are or where we live, and whether we remember them or not. In our dreams, we are each creative — we create an entire world out of nothing but our minds, our memories, and our own creative spirit. We make movies, instantaneously–tens of thousands of them–throughout our lives. We make up the characters, create the setting, develop the plot; we are the director, the producer, the casting agent, and the set builder. Even when we dream of people we know or places we’ve been, they are never exactly as they are in real life. In dreams, we are always recreating our waking life experience, imposing ourselves on it, revealing our conceptions about the world, others, ourselves.

We are all creative in our dreams.

I’m glad you dropped by for a cup of your favorite beverage (Vosges’ Parisienne hot cocoa is what I’m drinking at the moment).  Have a lovely day, and sweet dreams…