Dreams
If I write about "understand a message" as part of art therapy, creative work or spontaneous writing, then dreams, if we remember them, if we learn to work with them - which is, to write them down regularly, or draw, meditate on them; to freely associate what a symbol in a dream can be, then dreams are one of the most valuable messages of our psyche. The use of dream books is inappropriate in this case, because only we can decipher our dream and the symbols in it, or with a guide who knows how to work with dreams, but with someone who does not interpret them for you.
Working with dreams is commonly used in individual and couple therapy.
Two very well-known psychologists who routinely used dreams in the treatment of patients were Sigmund Freud (the important Austrian doctor-neurologist, psychologist and founder of analytical psychology), and immediately afterwards C.G. Jung (Swiss psychologist, student of Sigmund Freud, who further enriched analytical psychology). They both approached dreams a little differently than the other one.
However, dreams have long been used quite commonly and naturally by indigenous peoples.
It was a natural part of life for them. They told each other their dreams and took their messages absolutely seriously.
They even claimed that if the Spirit sends us a message through a dream and we ignore it, we will soon become ill.
Many people, when I talk to them, say that they don't have any dreams or they don't remember them at all. And I tell them from my experience that it's about habit. It is good to write down your dreams immediately after waking up. As soon as I started doing it regularly, I could remember my dreams for a whole day without writing them down. It seems like an exercise, and each of us can strengthen our ability to remember dreams as well as our ability to learn to understand the message we received in a dream.
I really enjoy speaking about dreams with children because when you talk to them about this, they immediately become attentive and tell such interesting stories that you understand that children take dreams very naturally and seriously. It's a wonderful way to connect with children. They are happy that someone is interested in their dreams and even those children who are normally more reserved will enjoy keeping to talk.
With adults who usually claim that they do not remember dreams, it regularly happens to me that within a few days of the interview they will come up with the fact that they had a very unusual dream and when they tell me about it, I am amazed at how many messages were sent to them in the dream or how interesting the dream was and how they can describe it, with such details.
Sometimes I get scared, when, after speaking with someone in a dream, the dream shockingly turns into reality after a few days, weeks or months. This is very rare for me and unfortunately I never know what particular part of which dream will come true. It seems to me that this happens mainly because I take the world of dreams really seriously. And we could talk long about what kinds of dreams we have, how to work with them, what to do with nightmares from which we wake up in terror.
If you are interested in working with dreams, if you are interested in more information, my dream stories and dream collages or drawings that were created from dreams, then read on…