Playing with Dreams

We are living in black and white times; in the duality of either/or choices. Good and evil seem to call to us from the sidelines of our lives, and our choices — when we can even accept the fact that we have choices — seem to be only “this” or “that.” While I happen to look great in both black and white, in life I’m an advocate of many shades of grey!

Among those who are trying to follow their dreams and use them to increase their self-understanding, we take our dreams so seriously. And society seems to be of two factions in this: either dreams have meaning or dreams have no meaning. It’s no wonder we take dreams seriously. We are fighting against attitudes that would render self-reflection and growth through dreams as meaningless.

Even so, I wonder if we all wouldn’t benefit from a little more dream fun? Here are some ideas to get you started:

- Pull out your favorite oracle card deck and use them to help uncover the dream’s meaning. For example, I have a dream about my sister and I’m having trouble determining if the dream is giving me information about my actual sister or it’s symbolic for the aspects of my sister that are present in me. So I decide to take out my Soul Coaching® Oracle Cards by Denise Linn (but Tarot or other decks are great too). I ask the question, “What qualities will help me understand the symbol of “my sister”? I shuffle the deck while thinking of my question and pull the card “Opening.”  I read, “There is nothing to fear, so allow your vulnerability to shine.” I then apply this to my dream and I see that in the dream I was hesitating to go with my sister because of my fear of appearing vulnerable to her. The card gave me a fresh perspective that I didn’t initially see as I reviewed my dream.
- Speak as the various characters in the dream. And by “characters” I mean both the people in the dream, but also the settings, the objects and anything at all that shows up in your dream. Let’s say you dream that you walk down a dark and narrow country road. There is a fence along the right side of the path and at the end of the road, a farmhouse. You feel apprehensive. Take the part of the darkness, the road, the “right” or the “left,” the fence and the farmhouse. Let them talk to you and share with you, from their point of view, what they want you to know. “I am the darkness and people are always afraid of me.” (What part of your own darkness do you fear?) Or “I am the farmhouse and I will keep you warm and feed you and offer you shelter after a long journey.” (What part of you offers a similar feeling?) Or “I am the ‘right’ way to go!”
- The next time you feel like a costume party, have all your guests come dressed as one of the characters in their dreams! At the International Association for the Study of Dreams’ annual convention, this is always the highlight that members look forward to at the end of the conference. Trust me when I say that all the dreamers present, whether researchers or scientists, psychologists, writers, or lay dreamers, all have a great time playing with their dreams in this way.


So go out and play with your dreams. These are just a few ideas to start you off. We can learn just as much from our dreams when we enter them with a light-hearted and fun point of view then if we go in with serious intensity. A fun approach to dreaming can in turn produce more fun dreams.

I’ll draw another card for you. I pulled Fulfillment: “Joy abounds in all areas of my life”! See what I mean?