Let's start talking about dreams!

I've always been fascinated with symbols. I love to look beyond the surface to find the message in everything. Our whole world is full of symbols. Dreams are a wonderful and rewarding source for all kinds of symbolism and knowledge. They've been used for inspiration, divination, and self-growth.  Every dream can be a valuable tool in understanding what makes you tick. Let's look at what a dream really is.

Have you ever wished for a best friend who's precisely "another you"? Someone who came from the same background, has the same perspective of the world around you, and knows everything about you? That person who, because of everything afore mentioned, just knows what to say when life gets a bit complicated? Well, guess what? You've had that friend all along. Meet your sub-conscious! AKA your Soul Self. Your sub-conscious can fill that role. In fact, it is the real you. It tells you like it is, rarely pulls any punches, and genuinely has only your best interests at heart. Very few best friends can actually fit that bill. Dreams are the vehicle for communication with your newly re-discovered best friend.

Your sub-conscious, your Soul Self, has a link to the divine and has painstakingly gathered everything you've experienced in your lifetime. All that you see, hear, feel, taste, and smell is stored away for future reference. Most often these references are communicated back to you through dreams. Your Soul Self is building a vocabulary from the moment you enter this life. When we communicate with others outside of ourselves we begin with a thought. The mind forms images of that we wish to communicate and we then use our vocal abilities, physical gestures, and socially agreed upon symbols to convey our thoughts as accurately as we can to another being. It's a pretty complex system when you think of it that way and when you consider that for most of us this process takes place in microseconds. Obviously, some of us are better than others at getting their ideas out of their heads and to another person. Unfortunately, there can be many obstacles to prevent the message from coming through accurately. For example: different languages, different culture, and different experiences can affect the interpretation of meaning behind someone else's words.

Now, your Soul Self is you so it skips right over everything past the initial thought. It needs no words so it's almost like using flash cards to tell a story or those pictograph stories we did as kids. A pictograph uses an image or icon instead of a word or phrase to get the same meaning across. In our culture it's generally not as accepted to talk to ourselves with any seriousness and we tend to forget our own power so we often look outward for our answers. Dreams are a reminder to us that we are more than flesh and bone. For some this is an avenue for communication with our Creator, Spirit, or higher power. For others, it's a mind-bogglingly complex system of self-study that uses the extra power of the brain to consider our life interactions while the body gets healing and rest. (Whew! That's a mouthful!) Regardless of which camp we're in, there is the understanding that benefit can be gained from the consideration of our sleeping thoughts. Although I'm in the first, I felt I should reference both sides-- spiritual and secular-- because one doesn't have to be spiritual to recognize the complexity of our existence and find value in the study of our psychological processes.

Dreams are an incredible resource and a wonderful first step to beginning to realise our true potential and empower ourselves. Once we begin deciphering the language our Soul Selves are using, we can begin to gain insight from our dreams that we can apply to our waking life to help us lead a more fulfilling and enriched life.