Compensatory Dreams Some dreams reveal the “dark side” of our personality. This does not infer evil; it refers to what Jung described as the shadow-self. The parts of ourselves we repress. An example might be a Nun who dreams she is promiscuous. Such dreams are designed to balance our personality and give vent to emotions we would not usually seek to experience. Reference
Colors A quick note regarding colors. They can be relevant to a person’s culture, religion, heritage or other personal beliefs which could be very much different than your own.
I use colors in a dream in Salem’s Daughters. Here’s a quick clip of an American Indian staying at the bed and breakfast interpreting the first of Bob Stevens’ (protagonist) three consecutive dreams:
Bob Stevens: “Okay. I’m eating breakfast and everything in my world is blue. I’m sitting by a lake and there are two guardian angels, one male and one female.”
Joseph Meicigama “Your first dream is easy to interpret. The guardian angels represent your parents who act as spiritual guides. Blue represents grace, hope, heaven, truth, and wisdom. These are what your mother and father imparted for your young life’s journey. And the setting is breakfast. This tells of your youth until you left home.”
Honorary Mention Comedy, Communication and Compass
Tomorrow D is for Daydreams and Downloads
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| Just Gotta Let It Go |
Question Do you let dreams get you down? Don't. They're not meant to. Dig a little deeper and you'll find dreams are often a way of helping you sort through stuff you are hanging onto but should release. Like a balloon. Let go, watch it fly away and say, "Buh bye."
That is so true about dreams helping us to sort out things. I know I would have dreams based on anxieties I might be feeling. Once those were resolved, those dreams usually resolved themselves too.
ReplyDeletebetty
I seem to have a lot of adventures in my dreams. Some I remember, some I don't. Couple have been good fodder for a story but I'm no writer.
ReplyDeleteI need Joseph to figure out why my dreams are so boring...
ReplyDeleteAlex, try a large double pepperoni double cheese pizza before you go to bed.
DeleteI don't usually sweat my dreams. I figure they're helping me with something. When I remember them.
ReplyDeleteDreams usually only get me down in the immediate - like I wake up feeling terrible because something awful happened in the dream. However, that usually goes away as reality reasserts itself.
ReplyDeleteTasha
Tasha's Thinkings | Wittegen Press | FB3X (AC)
I'm with Alex--my dreams are pretty pedestrian most of the time.
ReplyDeleteTry said recommended pizza for Alex with mushrooms.
DeleteGreat post Beautiful picture of a dreamcatcher. My dreams most often involve the plots and characters from my stories. https://mhsusannematthews.wordpress.com/
ReplyDeleteGreat post Beautiful picture of a dreamcatcher. My dreams most often involve the plots and characters from my stories. https://mhsusannematthews.wordpress.com/
ReplyDeleteSusanne, many great stories start out this way. Check out tomorrow's post D is for Daydreaming and Downloads.
DeleteI don't remember my dreams enough to work things out.
ReplyDeleteI find dreams fascinating. I especially love the dreams I have that are like stories I'm living in. Even better is of I know I;m dreaming because then I can make things happen...
ReplyDeletemshatch, we have common dreams. You'll like the l is for Lucid Dreams.
DeleteI'm a prolific dreamer and rarely let them get me down - they're altogether too fascinating for that.
ReplyDeleteSusan, you and me both!
DeleteI'm a prolific dreamer and rarely let them get me down - they're altogether too fascinating for that.
ReplyDeleteThe only color i remember from the last dream i remember is red, and i have no clue what that means.
ReplyDeletemessymimi, I wasn't going to post on the color red but might change my mind. Too many people try to confine colors to their culture when it doesn't mean the same to billions of other people. But what the heck, why not?
DeleteI don't let them get me down, even if some are weird as crap.
ReplyDeleteGreat post. I have felt the after effects of a disturbing dream. They make me wonder what I still need to sort out, or if they are warnings of some type of danger.
ReplyDeleteMary at Play off the Page
Sorry, we have tried and cannot "let go" of these things of the past...
ReplyDeleteAll of these bad things in our past have helped to form just Who we are these days.
Hey Dr. Theda, long time no see. Good point and thanks for adding to the thread. Some will calls these trial and tribulations that are necessary to shape us. Others will have different explanations. Various cultures past and present will have a different spin. But yeah there is a common thread that things from the past that come back in our dreams do shape us.
DeleteVery, very interesting. After Compensatory dreams can't wait to learn more in Daydreams. It's time for me to go to bed now in India, so I will say to myself 'sweet dreams' and hope I have fun interpreting them tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteFor me dreams imply things unresolved or troubling most of the time. Wish I knew if they actually helped me find a way to take care of those issues, but I'm not sure they do.
ReplyDeleteCheryl, I think unresolved issues is the baseline for a large percentage of our dreams.
DeleteThat was very interesting. Next time, if I remember my dreams I will try to apply what I learnt over here. Great post!!
ReplyDeleteVery interesting on the compensatory dreams - this makes lots of sense.
ReplyDeleteI very rarely remember colors in my dreams. This isn't to say that there aren't colors there, just that they don't seem to play much of a role (watch, tonight I'll have dreams that are all about the colors).
I love this....shadow-self! If I really think about it makes so much sense to me! Thank you! So many things to think about in relation to dreams!
ReplyDeleteNice post about dreams. Most of the time I don't remember my dreams, when I do it is either because the dream has impacted me profoundly and got me really thinking or because it was totally bizarre. I tend to find most of my dreams are either random or about things I've been thinking about. Sometimes a dream can have a strong impact on how you wake up- you may carry the heaviness of the dream. Interesting stuff. Thanks for this post. gabmakesart.blogspot.com
ReplyDeleteI'll have to try to think about past dreams that have revealed my shadow self. I never thought about it that way...
ReplyDeleteI love to dream in color. Most of my dreams are in color but sometimes the color takes on the most remembered part of the dream. In that case, I like to refer to a color chart given to me by a psychic for interpretation. It's so interesting to see what colors indicate.
That was an interesting interpretation of your showcased dream. American Indians have dream interpretation down!
Michele at Angels Bark
Well familiar with the "Shadow-Self" theory (have studied Years of "abnormal-psychology")
ReplyDeleteIn part it is True, most folks do have a "repressed Dark-Side" and there are "triggers" embedded in their minds that can "set-off" someone who has "repressed"....
... Old saying... "All it takes is One Bad Day"...
Until today, I'd never heard of compensatory dreams before. I like the idea of venting emotions for experiences we don't usually seek. Luv your dreamcatcher photo.
ReplyDeleteGail’s 2016 April A to Z Challenge
C is for Chili Wisconsin-style and Characters who take Control
Gail, I think many of my dreams are just that; venting. My brain needs to vent as I try to be professional ad mature during the day but while asleep, oh yeah, I vent.
DeleteI agree, dreams do help us hash things out. I can usually analyze a disturbing (or even good) dream the next day and feel as if I resolved the issue :-)
ReplyDeleteI don't usually remember enough of most dreams to remember the exact colors. But I do sometimes remember if the lighting in my dream was bright or dim.
ReplyDeleteCynthia, now that's a new one. I've not experienced or heard of that. Always great to hear what others experience in their dreams.
DeleteI can never recall if my dreams are in color. When I try to remember those details aren't clear enough for me to figure out.
ReplyDelete~Patricia Lynne aka Patricia Josephine~
Story Dam
Patricia Lynne, Indie Author
What a lovely and peaceful dream! I often have dreams where I'm falling. or I show up for a college final without ever having taken the class. I think those dreams are fairly common, but they seem so real at the time. You've chosen a very interesting theme, Stephen!
ReplyDeleteJulie
Julie, you'll want to check back for F is for Falling. I've had those and hate them.
DeleteI almost always dream in color. I heard that's rare!
ReplyDeleteMy dreams are in color as well Deb. Dreams that show your dark side let you know what you might be capable of. Does not mean you'll become such a person. Blog: QueendSheena .
ReplyDeleteThe dreams that bother me the most are the ones involving danger for my sons, accidents, etc. I dream in color and BW guess it depends on the dream and my frame of mind?
ReplyDeleteI dream in colour and sometimes my dreams have weighed on me. When I took an Alternate State of Consciousness class way, way back, the prof. told us to mark down our dreams. I was lucid dreaming, changing things and becoming very tired and in anxiety that the prof told me to stop. he also wanted to study my brain-hahahaaa-that would have scared him.
ReplyDeleteI had this reoccurring dream of my grandson stuck under the ice. An elder from the band suggested I reach over, grab the axe, and free my grandson. And that's exactly what I did the next I had that dream. Haven't had it since.
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