Dreamwork: The 5 Important Lessons of Dreams & How to Learn Them
by Dr. Peter Reznick

Part 1

Why do we have dreams? What do they mean? From where do those images come? Why do some dreams reoccur? Why do we have nightmares? How can we eliminate disturbing dreams?

Akin to imagination, night dreams are a universal human phenomenon which unites all people across the barriers of age, sexual difference, racial background, social and historical circumstance.

Moses Maimonides said "Tell me what your dreams are, and I will tell you not only what you are, but what you are to become."

A night dream comes with a purpose of aligning us with the present moment and showing us to us. When looking into a dream we are looking into a mirror. In our waking life when we look into a mirror we see quantities of ourselves; that is; one nose, two eyes… In the dream life we look into qualities of ourselves represented by characters in the dream.

Any person, place or event in the dream holds tremendous significance for understanding ourselves. Nightmares are simply messages from the deepest part of ourselves to our consciousness calling for change. If unheeded, not only may we continue to suffer from the unpleasantness of a "bad" dream, but we run the risk of perpetuating negativity in our waking life.

By uncovering the language and symbolism of dreams we can learn about:

1. Our relationship with the world and ourselves around the time of the dream.
2. The "global" issues (physical and emotional challenges) that we face in our lives.
3. The condition of our body at the time of the dream.
4. Our unconscious beliefs.
5. How to solve our problems.
   

Part 2

First I will focus upon the subject of how "to work the dream" in order to gain insight about our relationship with ourselves and the world around us.

Here are some basic guidelines in "working the dream." You, in a dream, are qualities of yourself that you identify with. Other characters are the qualities that you consciously do not identify with. If you remember a dream upon awakening, make time to work on the dream, preferably right away. This is because the dream might be informing you about something that needs to be addressed during the coming day.

The first three questions you ask are:

1. How do I feel upon awakening from this dream? Determining your feelings about the dream will give you a sense of whether or not the issue brought up by the dream is resolved. For example, if you feel puzzled, the dream may be informing you that there are things in your life you are not aware of. If you feel happy or relieved upon awakening, perhaps some issue in your life was resolved and the dream reflects the change.

2. What was the setting? The setting speaks of where you are in your inner life. If you were traveling, the dream may speak about your journey in life. If you are in a hospital, the dream may be telling you something about being ill, or possibly recovering. If you are in the school, it may be about education, learning lessons in life. If you are in a foreign country, you are in a place that is foreign to you. Ask yourself how you feel about this country, why this particular and not any other country, what is the first thought that comes to you when you think about this country? That will tell you how you feel about being in this new place.

3. If this dream was a story, what title would I give it? This will reveal the general theme permeating the dream.

Remember, the meaning that you attribute to different events, places, or people in your dream is strictly individual, since each person has a unique personal history, attitudes, appreciation, and dislikes. Answering the questions above will immediately give you a sense of the issues with which you are dealing. Work on small segments of a dream first, identifying what qualities of yourself you experienced and how they related to each other, then see if there is any analogy (points of similarity) between the events of the dream and your waking life.

Here is an illustration of "working a dream" of L., a 36-year-old mother of an 11 month-old and 6-years-old sons. L. remembered a dream in which she was visiting a prison. There, in a cell she found B., an old friend from college whom she had not seen for ten years. B. pleaded with L. to get her out of prison, but L. said, "No, no, I can't, don't tell anyone you know me," and ran out.

Upon awakening L. felt sad, guilty, and ashamed. The setting spoke for itself. The title L. gave the dream was "Betraying a Friend." (This was my conversation with her - I am "P.R." of course.)

P.R.: Within 1 to 72 hours around the dream have you felt like a prisoner.

L.: Not really, I have so much fun with my little boy. He is such a blessing...

P.R.: What is the first thing that comes to you when you think about B., what kind of a person do you remember her to be?

L.: Oh, fearlessly independent and very creative.

P.R.: So, continue please, there is a fearlessly independent and creative quality of yourself that is in prison…

L.: This quality is pleading to me to get my spirit of independence and creativity out of prison. I don't want anyone to know that I have anything to do with this quality. Though I feel guilty about it I can not help it to be free…

At this point L. had the "aha" experience. Yes, she is happy to have the second baby but she also has no time for herself and for doing things that she likes. Often she feels lonely, trapped, and unable to share with her husband about her feelings because "he works so hard so I could stay with the children."

These realizations enabled L. to become aware of the issues she was facing and to make changes in her life that would benefit her and her family.

Read the Second Half of This Article Now!
(you'll learn the meaning of numbers and of dominant colors in your dreams!)

Dr. Peter Reznik Biography

Dr. Peter Reznik is a new SixWise.com contributing editor whose insightful articles, like the one below, will appear routinely in the free SixWise.com e-newsletter. Dr. Reznik is a staff member of the Schachter Center for Complementary Medicine, and a faculty member of the American Institute of Mental Imagery. A former director of the Petrie Institute of Hypnosis, and consultant to the American Health Foundation, he has practiced psychotherapy and conducted wellness seminars for twenty-five years in the former USSR, Israel, France and the United States.

Dr. Reznik is a recognized specialist in the fields of mind/body integrative therapy, behavior modification, mental imagery, dream work, clinical hypnosis, and holistic counseling.

He holds Master degrees in linguistics and social work and a
Doctorate in health and human services. He received his post-graduate training at the American Institute of Mental Imagery.

Dr. Reznik has conducted wellness programs for such corporations as Conde Nast Publications, Lilco, Smith Barney, Citibank, Morgan Stanley, Con Edison, Gray Advertising, and Estee Lauder. He has been interviewed by such popular magazines as “New York”, “El”, “Mirabella”, “Sassy”, “B.E.”, “Style”, “Detail”, “Organic Style”, and “Harper’s Bazaar”. Most recently, he appeared as a guest on National Public Radio, on Fox Five News and BBC, and on WBAI’s "Natural Living with Gary Null.”