Whilst individual dream work is rewarding and necessary to the growth of your understanding of dreams, you can sometimes overlook or be bewildered by certain aspects of your dreams. These are the natural limitations imposed by your blindspots, or over-involvement with the dream itself. These blindspots are those of your beliefs and values that are held as unchangeable; the over-involvement with the dream occurs when your emotional reaction to the dream or the dream images is still fresh enough that the necessary perspective one needs for some of the dreamwork can be missing. Other people can usually avoid these limitations because they are not directly connected to the dream material. They approach the dream with fresh eyes and ears, and with sufficient difference in life experience that they can provide the distance necessary for an accurate interpretation.
In short—even when using this encyclopedia—you may find that you get stuck every now and again when interpreting your dreams.
If this happens, you may want to share your dreams with a dream partner. Another approach would be to join a dream group that meets weekly or monthly.
Most of us have dream partners, and we don’t even know it.
Friends, partners, co-workers: all of them have probably heard us say at one time or another:‘I had the strangest dream last night!’ Such interaction is normal, and can be helpful and insightful; there can be problems, however, especially if your dream partner appears in an unfavorable light in your dream, or disturbing images appear in your dream that might make for uncomfortable listening
A dream group is a group of people who meet on a regular basis to share and help each another understand the meaning of their dreams. A group may consist of two or up to twelve members, although from five to seven individuals in this type of group works very well. Some are professionally facilitated or led by a well-experienced dreamworker; others are leaderless or egalitarian. Some‘organizers’ of the group charge a fee for participation; others don’t.
Each group has its own unique ethics and procedures, often based on those processes developed for doing dream group work over the past few decades. One of the most popular is Dr Montague Ullman’s‘If it were my dream’ technique, or variations on that theme.
Most groups don’t try to mimic the dream analysis or interpretation that would take place in a therapeutic situation; the intent is rather to provide a safe environment in which to allow a dreamer to be respectfully heard and questioned, respectfully listening to the dreamer, questioning them and ultimately helping them to come to a better understanding of what their dream is communicating.
Sharing dreams with a partner or with a group can be beneficial to everyone. But when you are dealing with something of such a personal nature, there have to be guidelines:
Everyone has to remember that dream sharing is NOT therapy.
No matter how tempting, do not interpret anyone else’s dream for them. All you will be doing is reflecting your own feelings about the dream.
Respect the dreamer’s experience of the dream, no matter how much you may personally disagree.
For the partnership or group’s work to be successful, the dreamers must feel comfortable enough to express as much (or as little) of their emotions as they want. Remember that the dreamer is vulnerable, and go to all lengths to ensure confidentiality.
Treat the dreamer with gentleness. When the dreamer wants to stop a discussion, they must be able to without feeling an excuse is necessary. Never pressure a dreamer to talk, no matter how helpful you may think it would be.
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