i've been wanting to form a dream group for ages

[sueami]

ever since shortly after dd was born. and it's just not been possible logistically, with nursing babies and the busy schedule of friends.
i think dream groups probably work best IRL but as i was falling asleep last night, it occurred to me that an MDC dreamgroup could work very well!
is anyone else interested?
i would want to follow jeremy taylor's guidelines for setting up and providing feedback to dreamers. i have his dreamwork book and a newer one wending its way to me from amazon.com.
in a nutshell, DREAMWORK offers some basic dream interpretation concepts culled from the various schools/philosophies and encourages you to use your intuition to parse your own dream's meaning.
he also offers some wonderful guidlines for helping others to interpret dreams, in particular, that each person should preface their suggestions with "if it were my dream" and that even if someone is 100 percent conviced they know what an image is about in someone else's dream, unless the dreamer has a tingle/aha/realization when they hear that interpretation, it's not valid for them. (he explains why in the book.) i think those are great rules for keeping the process respectful and ensuring that everyone feels that they "own" their own dreams.
he also cautions people not to join a dream group if there's something going on in their lives that they want to hide, because it will manifest in a dream, in ways the dreamer doesn't recognize but others easily do!
and lastly, it's important to make a commitment to participate in the group. that is what allows you to remember dreams, your intention to process them is like an invitation for your deep mind to open up the channels of communication.
so, all that said,
anyone want to join me and say, post a dream once a week, then offer your input to fellow group members on their weekly dreams?
eagerly awaiting any responses,
susan

[mamaDsofi&iri]

Sounds great, but I'm a coward!

If I ever decide I have nothing tlo hide, I'll come back!

Good luck finding dreamers!

[susan61]

sueami, I'm game! I had an awesome dream the other night and was really wanting to share it here but just couldn't think of how to do it! Crazy, I know:

I'll just go ahead and tell it...
My best gf's mom died a few years ago. I promised her I would look out for her dtr (she's 10 yrs younger than me). I've had a few dreams involving her since she died. This one the other morning was significant to my life situation right now. I am surprisingly unemployed right now. I won't get into all that right now, but will say I've been open to learning which direction to take.
Linda (her name) was in my dream, didn't say anything in the dream, I received more like a psychic message and feeling of peace. She was in a dress shop, trying on a beautiful dress and she looked soooo beautiful. Not much more to the dream, other than me waking up, thinking about what she did for a living (was a financial planner) and asking myself some questions about that. I had never considered it for myself until now.

Upon awakening I knew I needed to phone her dtr (my best gf) and tell her about my dream. She immediately said, "what did she say to you?" and I blurted out "to become a financial planner" and I proceeded to ask her questions about her mom's career. She was surprised too, as she said she NEVER thinks about her mom's career much and suddenly was asking herself the answers to the same questions I came to ask her.

Needless to say, I find my dreams very informative and helpful. They are a huge part of my life. Looking forward to hearing of other's experiences and sharing more of my own.

Hope we aren't the only ones!

[sueami]

hey, susan61, i'm glad to hear you're interested! we susans have to stick together.
thanks for sharing your dream, i love it when dreams answer waking life questions like that! i wonder what linda's trying on the beautiful dress meant to you?
lets see if anyone else expresses interest (probably not the best time of year to be trying to start something like this. i can barely managed to post the last few days. : )

thanks, mamaDsofi, for your encouragement. whenever you decided to live a clean life, feel free to join us!

[Luma]

i want to join in, although i usually forget my dreams because im awakened by ds to nurse and suddenly all vanishes BUT last night i dreamed that i was with a tall dark haired & skin woman and then we hugged each other and our wombs were together and then we began to produce lots of warmth, everything was getting really warm i remember that much!
great thread!

[sueami]

wow, luma, that's an intense dream! it sounds like it was tapping into some deep, primal energies. (oops, i'm supposed to say, if it were my dream...does that woman feel like an aspect of yourself? )
hey, i'm very glad you're interested. i have the same problem that you do. ds wakes every 1 1/2 to 3 hrs and on the shorter end of that schedule there's no way in heck i'd actually wake myself up to write/tape record any dreams. a functional amount of sleep takes priority, so i tend to only remember the ones i have right before waking, if i'm lucky to wake at the end of a dream cycle...
lets hope we get a couple more dreamers on board, then i'll try to find the time to type up some suggestions from taylor's book to get us started. i'm very excited!
susan

[susan61]

I second on the lack of sleep affecting ones dreams. It wasn't until recently, when dd2 finally allowed me to get a decent, uninterrupted sleep, that my connection to the dreamworld was re-established. I was soooooo happy!

Hang in there dreaming mamas - it will return!

[Luma]

I read once that an aid in remembering dreams was to stay in the same position you wake up until you memorize the dream and then move, for me its like that, when I move is like all the pieces of a puzzle move and diappear. If I can remain still I can remember but thats unusual because of the nursing positions I have to asume first thing in the morning:

sueami: I dont feel like she was an aspect of myself, although it could be, this was a different kind of dream, the woman was somewhat frightening, but I wasnt scared, there was a "no fooling around or time wasting"attitude and look in her eyes, she was really tall, very dark skin, and brows, and hair, and her eyes were strong, I have been actually trying to think about what race or country could she be from... her nose was very straight and fine but big, and she was slim. Her eyes very black, her brows too... as I said she was really tall.

So, I too hope that more dreamers join in!

[juicylucy]

Hi, dreamer here

My dreams puzzle and disturb me. Briefly, I grew up with an abusive father who my mum divorced when I was 17. But every dream I have, whether it be about my dad or not, is set in the house where I grew up. Often I dream about my dad as well, that my mum has taken him back and that we are all trapped in the house again. It is really frightening. I really wondered if there were such things as dream counsellors, as I really need to understand this, but I guess this group full of wise MDCers is good enough!!! I'd really like to let go of this dream, as he holds me back in my waking life. I have other dreams occasionally as well, and will be happy to share them as they occur. I warn you though, I am a very vivid dreamer!!!

[susan61]

Lucy don't worry, my dreams are very vivid and strange sometimes too.

I don't know how we are to approach responding to other's dreams, sueami ??


What I've done for myself in situations that I dream about over and over (obviously trying to work it out), I make a conscious effort to dream about a positive direction I'd like to move the situation towards.

I'm so grateful for the wealth of knowledge within our dreamworlds.

[sueami]

the little ones are demanding my attn right now, but i wanted to post this link to give you dreamers a chance to browse jeremy taylor's site for instruction and some idea of how he reccds we work with dreams. i havn't explored it yet myself, will do so when i get a chance. i did just get a second book by him. welcome sdmummy! your dream is very interesting! more as soon as i get a chance...
www.jeremytaylor.com

susan

edited to add:
if you're pressed for time, at least check out his dreamwork toolkit, under the dreamwork link, and cyberdreamwork. that should give us a common starting point here. although his common dreams link is fun too and gives you an idea of how he interprets dreams...

[sueami]

since the kids are self-entertaining for the moment, i just wanted to respond to luma's elaboration of her dream...
if this were my dream, i might consider the idea that the dark-haired, dark-skinned woman was a shadow aspect of myself. one interpretation of dreams is that all characters in them are aspects of ourselves. (and there are supposedly many many layers to every dream so other interpretations of this figure are also just as possible and equally valid. taylor asserts that dreams are incredibly complex and our minds can pack an unbelievably dense and rich message into even the simplest images/scenes). the reason this might seem like a shadow aspect of myself is that she is scary but you are not scared of her (because she's you). i think shadow aspects of ourselves can include parts of us that we haven't fully developed as well as bad things that happened to us, emotions that we don't want to acknowledge and parts of ourselves that frighten us for some reason. i'm struck by her sense of urgency and her strength. are you ttc, thinking about having children, worried about running out of time? have you had a pap smear lately? could you be teling yourself something about your fertility or the health of your reproductive organs? is there some aspect of your being a mother that she is trying to communicate about? is being strong an issue with you in some way? these are just the questions that come to mind for me...

and sdmummy, if this were my dream (and i've had some similar ones!) i'd consider the common dream interpretation of house as self. i'd maybe take it as a msg that i need to revisit that 17yo self, that there are unresolved issues that my deeper consciousness wants me to address. (duh, i know. doesn't exactly tell you how to resolve them). i think i'd take this dream, if it were mine, as an indication that i need to work through this part of my past, maybe with a therapist. (fwiw, my therapist, when i first started seeing her, was so excited to hear that i kept having recurring house dreams. i thought they were about my anxiety over just buying my first house but she said they were an indication that i was ready to begin doing this sort of personal growth work.) and as for the dreams where your mom specifically takes him back and you are trapped in that same house, i'm don't have as many ideas to offer. if it were my dream, i'd consider that maybe i needed/wanted to talk to my mom about what happened? ask why she stayed with him as long as she did? come to some understanding that would relieve me of the worry that she could yet draw me back into such a dangerous situation?
susan61, luma, any thoughts?
susan, does the dream website answer your questions about how to respond to dreamers within the group? you point out that we should probably establish a protocol here. do we start a different thread for each person's dream or does that clutter up the personal growth board? do we keep it in one thread and do one dream a week? what are your thoughts? and we need to talk about issues of confidentiality. taylor raises this on his website. is the anonymity of cyberspace enough or do we have on-line personas that we want to protect? should we conduct the dream group through personal messages? how do each of you feel about this?
i think i'm comfortable posting my dreams as a thread, but i'm open to any options.
gotta run and moderate an escalating confrontation.
susan

[Luma]

wow thats amazing sueami, I usually tend to think that every character in my dream is an aspect of myself, although this time somehow it was different because the dream didnt change much as dreams do, we were just holding each other and producing warmth and it was very pleasant as well as powerful. But it could be that it was an aspect of myself! This dream happened 1 or 2 days after I had my 1st bellydancing show in a theather, I was so scared to do it but everything went fine and I enjoyed it immensely. The night after the show, I woke up feeling really relaxed and warm and next night i had the dream, so maybe it could be that I managed to dance through my fear and enjoyed it and produced something really pleasant even though I was doing something scary for me???????
I dont know these are just free thoughts! Still, Im intrigued by her features, this is cool!


And about Lucys dream, someone told me once to identifiy all the emotions that the dream brings up, and almost forget about the content, so I would identify like you said fright, and what else? Maybe I would think that I, as a little girl, was still frightened of that man?

[Luma]

just wanted to ask all of you what do you personally think about this, quoted from sueami's post above

one interpretation of dreams is that all characters in them are aspects of ourselves.

[yoga]

I'd like to participate in this. I have several vivid dreams a night, usually. Esp. if I'm going thru a growth. My dreams are usually very weird and sometimes intense. But, I'd be willing to share them and get insight from others. And, offer any insight I have.

one interpretation of dreams is that all characters in them are aspects of ourselves.

I don't agree w/this, altho I do think that what the characters are or are not doing in the dreams represent aspects of ourselves.

[sueami]

i wanted to post a few excerpts from the dream work book before i fell alseep, in case they help anyone...
these are general dream work suggestions:
make a written record of your dream, no matter how you record them initially (i use a tape recorder sometimes)
record them in the present tense. give your dream a title. the moment of picking a title is often a doorway into insight.
you are the only one who can know what meanings and significance your dream holds. the "aha" feeling is the only reliable touchstone of dreamwork.
however that tingle test is only a positive test, which is to say that the absense of a tingle doesn't necc. mean that an idea is wrong, it may be or you may not be prepared to acknowledge some aspect of the whole truth about yourself at that moment.
experiment with different ways of recording yoru dreams. draw pictures of them, write poems about them.
do not ignore dream fragments, which are often an image carefully edited to make as economic anc clear a symbolic statement as possible.
remember that every dream has many meanings and many levels of meaning and don't get too dazzled by the first or second set of tingles you have.
review all your dreams periodically, looking for new patterns.

suggestions for group dream work:
share dreams in present tense as much as possible.
every dream has multiple meanings. one of the reasons group dreamwork is so rewarding is that the different ideas, projections and intuitions of others will touch a much wider range of possible meanings than working alone.
what is said about a dream always reflects the personality and symbol structures of the person making the comment as much or more than anything in the dream itself.
spooky things occur in dreams frequently; don't ignore or repress any aspect of your experience just because you don't understand it.
after a dream has been shared, deal first with any questions of clarification in the narrative. then address feeling responses, intuitions, ideas about meaning and metaphor, etc.
understand you can never come to the end of possible meanings for any dream, so decide when you've done your collective best and move on.

and lastly from a chapter titled some elements that are always present in dreams (he argues that the different schools and styles of dream work emphasize different universal aspects of dreaming and are not mutually exclusive) :
every dream comes in the service of wholeness and the effort to harmonize inner and outer life
every dream contains an element of sexual desire.
every dream contains an element of unconscious wish fulfillment
every dream depicts elements of the dreamer's personality and vital energies
every dream contains an element of reflecting the physical health and condition of the body at the moment of the dream
every dream has an element drawn from the memories of the preceding day or two; it's important to ask why that particular event instead of some other has been woven into the fabric of the dream. (this speaks to the idea that every element of the dream is specifically chosen for its msg, no matter how random or odd it may seem. lots of puns and wordplay in dream meaning)

and this chapter actually goes on a great deal more, but i'm running out of steam, so i'll stop here.
good night, and fruitful dreaming...

edited to add:
glad to hear that you're interested in doing this too, chaka! i look forward to hearing your interpretations!

[juicylucy]

Thanks for your interpretation of my dream Sueami- it all makes sense. I have felt for a while that these dreams are telling me I have to resolve my past, I have just been unwilling to listen (too painful to rehash). But it may be the only way to stop them.

Luma, I think your belly dancing experience may totally have something to do with your dream. Maybe that was YOU you dreamt about, with the warmth eminating from the stomach area. You said the woman in your dream was dark (you are dark) and tall- an exaggerated version of you? If you were feeling confident about your performance, you may have been embracing (literally) the side of you that is more powerful and expressive. Sorry if I'm not expressing myself very well.

And by the way Luma, I'm glad your dance went well. Simone told me how nervous you were. It must be a great form of self expression

[juicylucy]

BTW Luma, your postbox if full

[Luma]

just cleared the pm box, Lucy!

thanks for your interpretation, and you expressed yourself very well! Yes, matter of fact this bellydancing experience has been very healing for me in many ways, I have always been kinda tomboyish, I grew up in between 2 brothers and loved climbing up trees etc, and hated skirts, dolls... Being a male was favored in my parenst house so it was a very helpful survival tool then, but now I feel that motherhood, pregnancy and bellydancing are helping me become a full womyn, and Im just realizing that maybe thats why is hard for me to accept that amazing woman in my dream as ME!?! but ok ok I will, it was an aspect of myself, a powerful, beautiful, warm and mmmm tall aspect of me!!!!
Although she could also be a goddess saying hi in the dreamland

sueami, thats a very helpful post thanks!
fruitful dreaming to you all too! zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

[juicylucy]

Luma, I just posted to you in Tao!!!!