Four Smart Questions and Answers About Dreams You had not Thought of Yourself

This dream is part of a series of four blogs. 
How to Use A Dream as a Tool For Self Development;
How to Analyse a Dream with an Archetype in 4 Easy Steps;
Q & A: 7 Questions and Answers about Dreaming, and Mythology;
Four Smart Questions and Answers About Dreams You had not Thought of Yourself

Most people want to know what their dream means. They assume a psychologist or a dream dictionary will give them instant access to deeper meaning. They even assume a dream might give them a prediction about their future. Mindfunda sets the record straight. It is up to you. Here are 4 smart questions and answers that will instantly help you make much more sense of your own dreams.

Smart Questions and Answers #1

One of the most powerful question is not to seek the answer a dream is giving you. It is to seek the question a dream is asking you. A dream wants to set you in motion. Dreams do not like the status quo, They challenge you.
Look at the small and simple dream discussed in the first blog.

“I am standing with my parents and brother in the street, and all of a sudden, a man comes running towards them and stabs my brother down“.

What question does this dream ask the dreamer? I can think of a number of questions. What in this moment of your life threatens you? Why are you watching while your brother gets stabbed? Is it time to move on now?

Any time you remember a dream and want to know more about its possible meaning, play with these kind of questions. In my eyes this dream-play is even more valuable than the answers you get.

SMART QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS #2

A very smart question to ask yourself if you want to know what a (repeating) dream means, is if you should want to hire a dream expert. As a dream expert, of course I would like you to do that. But there are some things you need to consider before you put your valuable money down to pay their consultation fee.

Can you trust this person? Even if someone has a certification like I do, people who advice other people about their dreams can put a label on a dreamer. I once attended a dream group in which a Jungian therapist called a dreamer “neurotic”. Needless to say this dreamer disengaged from the group. If something like that happens to you, make sure you get out and don’t pay. No self-respecting dream therapist would ever put a label on a dreamer.
Is my dream important enough to have clues that will help me improve my general sense of well-being? This is an intuitive feeling. It has to do with the fire that is enlightened in your soul after you wake up.
After you pay your money, what do you get? An email? A Skype Talk? A written report with action points to undertake? Is there a follow-up where the dream worker checks to see if you have honoured the dream? I always have a Skype talk and writ out a report for the dreamer. I follow-up after the dream consultation by sending an email a week after the consultation.

SMART QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS #3

What about dream dictionaries? Is it alright to use one to attach meaning to your dream?
This is such a complex question, but an important one to address. Online Dream dictionaries are huge. Lots of visitors. Among the majority of people who professionally work with dreams there is a shared contempt for dream dictionaries.

I am stuck in the middle with you. I see al lot of people getting stuck into the complexes they think they have. They mentally re-write everything to fit this basic assumption. I estimate about 99.995 percent of people, including myself, fall into this category. So if people interpret their own dreams, those dreams will revolve around those same paradigms. And you want a dream to show you some new information, a dream dictionary might be able to give you that. But just like a professional dream worker, a dream dictionary isn’t always right. So use any interpretation you find online in the most creative way. Let it suggest new layers of meaning to you, not definite answers. A dream can have a different meaning 10 years from now!

SMART QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS #4

What is the theme of my dream? In my eyes dream symbols are nice, but dream themes are gold. Don’t get stuck on dream symbols, look at the big picture. In my eyes there are nine themes in every person’s life.

Who are we?

Carl Gustav Jung was one of the guys who made a living out of exploring every inch of the Self and he created a model of the psyche that isn’t scientifically validated but is still extremely popular. But you don’t need Jung to answer this question. As long as you experience your life as a journey in which you can surprise yourself, you will discover amazing things about you.

Reality

A dream is a place to test boundaries of reality. A place to explore new forms of being, new worlds, new phases of life, new genders.

Culture

Usually in a dream an archetype reflects the values of the culture you are living in. We are social creatures and I am convinced that we are able to “pick” things up and pre-dream the future, even though this is not the commonly excepted Western vision about dreams. You can test it yourself very easily: try to dream for someone else. You will find out that when the emotional connection is high: it is a person that belongs to your “tribe” you will definitely pick up something.

Behaviour

What does you dream say about your behaviour? Does it give you a direction to change your ways?

Bias

Wat kind of bias does the dream indulge in? One of the hardest things to discover yourself. Usually you would have to take a step back and tell yourself the story of your life as if you are the hero.

Perception

Whose perception is told in the dream? Let’s look at the dreams I have discussed in the two case studies in this blog-episodes. The first small dream from the blog How to Use A Dream as a Tool For Self Development:

“I am standing with my parents and brother in the street, and all of a sudden, a man comes running towards them and stabs my brother down“ talks about a first person perspective. In general this could be a clear indication that the theme of the dream is the Self of the dreamer. But the dreamer is not a participant she is an observer. Whose view is she observing? Who is the hidden dream maker?

The second dream is from the blog How to Analyse a Dream with an Archetype in 4 Easy Steps:

In the first part of this dream which I vague recall, I am in a boat on a large lake – as if I arrived on a boat… I have arrived with Catherine who is in early pregnancy. I am bringing her to a woman who is refusing to see her because Catherine intends to terminate the pregnancy. I look out at the lake, its distant coastline, and the small boat that I will be returning in. The lake is calm and peaceful and smooth like a mirror. I think to myself, “I can do that.”

Now from a position of standing in the water [although I don’t feel the water] observing Catherine on the shore. I see a black bear above her in a tree. I call out to her, “Catherine, there’s a bear!” She doesn’t seem to hear me. Then I see four bears in the tree shaking it wildly. “Catherine! Catherine!” She moves to the other side of the tree I think she sees the bears and is ok.

Here the first person perspective is used but there is a moment in the dream where the dreamer looks back and sees the bears in the tree. To me this si a key point in the dream worth exploring further. If I was to professionally work with this dream, I would focus my attention on this aspect. Because right after the dreamer looks back while standing in the water, the tree of life with the four bears appears. All very strong archetypical symbols.

Where do we come from?

This theme is associated with the first theme of the Self. We belong to a tribe, we are the product of our ancestors. It is a melting pot that alchemically shapes our sense of Self.

Emotions

For many people emotions are at the core of every dream. I would never reduce someone to an emotion however… Emotions are a key to decipher what a dream might mean to you dreamer. But one of means keys, I hope that I have given you several others in this blog that you can use right away!

Consciousness

The big mystery. For years and years I have educated myself in neurology, hungry to discover the origin of consciousness. It is still a mystery. It is an accumulation of neuronal activity, that exceeds a certain threshold.
In the second dream consciousness is gradually introduced, there has been a vague beginning of the dream. I would definitely see that as a suggestion towards a new found consciousness about life and death.

I hope I have helped you to see your dream in ways that enlighten your life. Don’t hesitate to contact me if you need help with a dream.

Did I forget any smart questions you usually ask yourself when you remember a dream? Let me know in the comments or send me your feedback!

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THIS CONTENT IS CREATED BY SUSANNE VAN DOORN, AUTHOR AND OWNER OF MINDFUNDA; MAKING THE FUNDAMENTALS OF PSYCHOLOGY, MYTHOLOGY AND SPIRITUALITY EASY TO USE IN YOUR PERSONAL LIFE!

What is Mindfunda about?

My name is Susanne van Doorn, I am a Dutch psychologist, blogger and author. I have been working with psychology, dreams and mythology ever since I finished my study in psychology at Tilburg University. I made this independant site to share insights, and recent scientific articles about the brain, dreams, and mythology for use in your personal life.

This posting is categorised as Dreamfunda:
Everything you need to know about dreams. Practical How to’s, the latest scientific research, the most commonly used ways to attach meaning to dreams. This and more is given to you for your everyday use in this part of Mindfunda

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Comments or suggestions? Share your thoughts:

Susan Scott

12 February 2017 at 19:32

Beautifully depthful Susanne thank you. I agree, never rush to an interpretation but rather be able to ponder the dream – perhaps to sketch or paint it, ’embody’ it in some form. Learning the language of dreams is such a worthwhile venture. To get messages from the unconscious is such a gift if we want to ‘Know Thyself’.

Susanne
12 February 2017 at 20:59

Ha yes, it was the ‘Temet Nosce’ -> know thyself sign in the kitchen of the Oracle in the film the matrix that gave me the first clue that the Matrix is a film about the Goddess. And today I have been reading the Seed of Yggdrasil: so much information about the Goddess in Norse Mythology. You will love that book. I will soon publish a review of it on Mindfunda

Susanne

12 February 2017 at 18:56

Such an archetypical dream as the one I talked about in ‘How to analyse a dream with an archetype in fur easy steps’ is always inspiring. Archetypes resonate: your archetypical dreams will stirr something in my soul / inner world vision too. Thank you Deborah for your response.

Deborah Gregory

12 February 2017 at 17:50

You clearly express your love of working with dreams Susanne, and share many deep insights generously with your readers. Instead of looking for answers, I enjoyed your questioning approach. For in doing so, we turn the dream telescope around as dreams only ever reveal what we don’t know, not what we do. Smart questions and answers indeed! I really enjoyed reading the dream about Catherine and the bears. Interestingly, Catherine means ‘pure and clear’ much like your writing! Blessings always, Deborah.