Bad dreams...

I've had several bad dreams recently. I generally don't remember my dreams, so these have stood out to me because I obviously have remembered them.

I believe that dreams are meaningful, powerful, and have therapeutic value. I took a class in dream interpretation in grad school and it definitely made me a believer. Now, I don't believe in the "cookbooks" of dream symbology. Rather, I believe that dreams are highly personal and individualized. The dreamer is really the only one who can interpret a dream. As a therapist, I can serve as a guide and help facilitate the process.

The key initial step in understanding a dream is to write it down. Last night's dream really upset me, so much so that I had to wake up K. So, I'm going to post it then try to figure out the meaning. Here goes:

One of my staff (LD) and I were going to visit another staff member (SB) who recently left the Department. The only time that we could work out to go see her was at 10pm. LD drove. We had apparently been to see SB before and so we had a general familiarity with where to go and how long it would take. We were on an isolated road, it was very dark with no streetlights to guide us, very few cars driving on this narrow road, lots of trees like in a forest. We kept driving and driving in the dark along this narrow isolated road. Finally, LD and I realized that it was taking much longer than it should (more than an hour). The road just seemed endless. We finally agreed to turn around and head back the way that we came. We wondered whether we had been on the wrong road. There was only 1 building - possibly some type of temple or Church - that served as a road marker. It was lit up and glowed a shade of orange. We passed it, but didn't see the main cross street that we were expecting to. We were hoping to get on that road since it was more of a major roadway with more light and more cars. I was getting scared. We kept driving, but it was so dark and we just didn't seem to be getting anywhere. Another thing is that the front of the car was open and there were animals running around. I told LD just to keep driving, even if we hit them. I didn't want them to attack us. After we passed the building and didn't see the other road that we were hoping to, LD called her husband. She wanted him to come get us to guide us home. While she was talking to him, the only person that I thought of calling was my dad. He'd know what to do. I'm not sure what happened next. I just know that I was really afriad of being on this road and not getting anywhere, not moving forward, not making progress, not getting where I wanted to go.

See, already as I wrote that, things are coming to me about possible meaning....

The next step is to free associate with the key images in the dream, then retell the dream using the new phrases or images that string together, and then finally to relate that to your waking life.

I'll keep you posted.