dream interpretations

Last night, as I was falling asleep, I was thinking about what my next blog topic should be. As I was slipping out of consciousness, I recall having spectacular ideas. No... they were GENIUS. I said to myself..."you gotta remember this one, Emily...it's a gem. Remember ...remember ... remem...zzzzzzzzz. " Needless to say, all of those good ideas are now trapped in some dream (hypnosis will be a future topic, to be sure). I'm convinced that I'm most creative when I'm half asleep. Or maybe I just think I am...I'll have to start digitally recording my pillow musings.

So while doing dream interpretations SOUNDS dramatic and exotic and film-noir-esque (maybe? just a little?), they're actually none of those things. Like a lot of people, I kind of just projected what dream interpretation would be like in therapy. You know, the patient bursts into the room, riddled with anxiety. Arms flailing above his head. "Doc! You gotta hear this! I had the most amazingly bizarre dream! Tell me what it means! It's like a I can see the FUTURE or something!" He flops on the couch and recounts his dream, which is filled with rainbow slides, talking refrigerators, and aliens...who land on earth in gothic mansions and abduct younger siblings at gun point (oh, wait... that's just MY recurring nightmare). The therapist extracts some mystical meaning about unicorns and his dad from the incoherence. And the patient leaves having figured out his core trust issues. Well, I can't say this with MUCH much authority, since I've only had one client who has recalled a poignant dream during session. But I don't think it's really like that. My first deep psychological dream interpretation went surprisingly well. Upon examination, what s/he reported was a slightly unrealistic reflection of what s/he experiences in reality. As I tracked and reflected it (points for good technique!), parallels between it and her/his life patterns emerged. The dream turned out to be less mystical/bizarre and more enlightening. I believe that most of our dreams are creative composites of our anxieties, wishes, fears, and past experiences. Maybe throw some unconscious material in there. And you got yourself a dream.

Smarter, more experienced and psychologically educated professionals might disagree. Or maybe just fine-tune this conjecture. However, I'll stick to my elementary (and cunningly vague) explanation of these fascinating occurrences. I am, after all, a newbie.

I'll close with this. Before you, the reader, go bursting in to your best friend's, or roommate's, or lover's room requesting that s/he listen to and interpret your dream....think about the fact that while dreams are AMAZING experiences for the person involved..."it's never THAT fun to listen to people's dreams, Emily." Save it for your therapist. We're paid to listen to you.

(quote courtesy of my friend and dream confidant Bonnie B.)