By Lisa Catania, LCSW
In reading Oprah’s August 2011 “O” magazine, I chanced upon an article which referenced dreams. In “The Science of Intuition”, Annie Murphy Paul quotes psychology professor Rebecca Spencer :
“REM sleep is good for problem solving and decision making because your brain is putting pieces together and trying out new alternatives….you gain insights that wouldn’t occur to you when you’re awake.” REM also activates the emotion area of the brain, so “things that are most important to you on a gut level are prioritized”.
Though this statement is not as poetic as Dr. Estes, similar knowledge is being communicated: we can gain guidance from an inner source of wisdom while we sleep.
Since my conference with Dr. Estes, I have been recording some of my dreams. I recently had a dream that seemed so bizarre and dark, that previously I would have discarded it. Now, I feel quite excited by the creativity of my “Dream Maker” who, in her dark images, whispers messages of encouragement.
In my dream, I was down the street from my childhood home. There were zombies invading the streets, and I was in a car looking to escape and to help others escape. As zombies blocked the street, the driver of the car rolled down the window. He had a knife in his hands, and to my surprise, he simply handed it to the zombie. The zombie swallowed it down, and did the same with the next knife as well. With this, I had a realization that the zombies wished to die. As it is in dreams, suddenly I was the driver facing ambivalence and the questioning my courage to drive through the zombies to get to my home. Then I awoke.
Using Dr. Este’s formula, here is my dream retold: I was entering a passageway leading to a place of safety and love. The restless undead invaded my passageway. I had a strong, solid protection that could get me to the next place and the one in charge handed the undead an item which could slice through and kill, finalize, release… The undead wanted to be dead and released. I realized I needed to deal with my ambivalence to move through that which no longer served me. If I did, my path to secure my protected, core place would be cleared.
With the help of this method to analyze my dreams, I felt empowered in my conscious state to believe that I could let old, unhelpful patterns die and that I could trust change and myself.
Pretty cool stuff.
Peace, Lisa
