Two Faces

The first post of the New Year seems a good time to talk about why we bother to look at our dreams. What’s to be gained? Your dreams tell you who you are. Your dreams teach you to accept yourself. They point out where you’re uneasy, uncomfortable, ashamed, guarded, envious, angry, hurt; sometimes a dream will show you that these feelings are rooted in something that, as an adult, you wouldn’t think twice about. You begin to learn what’s driving you and, once you know, you are in a better position to decide if it’s something you want in the driver’s seat. Like any spiritual practice, this self-knowledge doesn’t appear over-night. (But it does appear over many nights!) It takes time and attention, and the willingness to be honest with yourself, to take the time to write down your dreams and to look at them carefully. It might strike some as self-indulgent, but ultimately it is not only a gift to yourself but also a gift to those around you. As you become more aware of your authentic self, and more accepting of yourself in all your complexity, you will notice that you are more compassionate and more accepting of others.

The point of this blog is to give you an example of how one person looks at her dreams. My hope is that it will guide you to a way to look at your own. Serious dream workers do not suggest that dreams have one fixed meaning or that we can come up with a single interpretation and say “that’s it!” There are always other possibilities. You will know that you’re on the right path with an interpretation if you react with an “aha!” to a particular insight.

I chose the image Two Faces for this post to demonstrate the conflicting parts that make up us humans: the good side, the bad side, not to mention gradations of all sorts in between. For the New Year I wish you success in discovering all parts of yourself. Welcome them to your conscious world.