Dream a Little Dream

 What do all these things have in common?  An emerald green river, a boat full of people on dry land, a bonfire in the desert, a grocery cart for luggage, a race car ride down a perilous mountain. Give up? These all were symbols from my dreams. Although I am no dream-works specialist, I love paying attention to my dreams and the symbols they hold for my own life. I believe they are windows into the soul – unfiltered images surfacing from deep within mind and spirit. 

If I remember a dream upon waking, I record what I remember in my journal. I write the dream in present tense to help me stay actively engaged with it. I begin each entry the same, “I was given a dream, and in it I am…” Then I write about how I felt in the dream, the emotions that accompanied it. Then after I record the dream, I consider the possibilities of what the dream is telling me. I always assume that a remembered dream is given to me, not to tell me about the future, but rather as a gift to meditate on through journaling, art, or conversation with my spiritual director.

Dreams turn to prayer when I tend to them and count them as worthy of my attention. At the end of each year, I read back through my dreams and notice patterns, both in the images that are given as well as the underlying themes I discover. This anchors these messages within, giving them opportunity to continue unfolding for me even years later. They speak to me in what feels like a purer, unfiltered language of symbols brought up from the inner chamber of the heart. 

Don’t get me wrong, many of my remembered dreams are silly, crazy meanderings, as most dreams are. I can’t find any connection, rhyme or reason to the dream, other than they bear witness to the mystery of life that continues to speak even while I sleep. And maybe that is enough.

What images have been given to you recently in your dreams? How have they spoken into your life?  How do you capture your dreams? Where do you share your dreams?