Working with dreams is one of the most exciting and creative things we can do. They open the door to one of the most creative aspects of ourselves. Dreams can predict the future, warn about directions not to take and guide us to grow. They’re also a great source of creativity. We owe numerous inventions and works of art to dreams. The solution to how to create the modern sewing machine, came to Elias Howe in a dream. Stephen King dreamed the setup for his book, Misery which became a film. And Sue Monk Kidd dreamed the ending to her bestselling book, The Secret Life of Bees. A pharaoh in ancient times dreamed that if he uncovered the Sphinx which was buried up to its neck in sand that he would become pharaoh. He was not close in line of succession, but he did as he dreamed and the dream eventually came true.

Dreams are powerful and enticing. They’re almost like magic. They speak to us in the language of the soul – that is symbols and metaphor. Rarely are they direct and straightforward. Like learning Spanish or French, they require time and patience to master and fully understand. But the rewards are great. They can give guidance and bring insights that open us up and expand our world.  But beginning to explore dreams can be challenging. A friend who wanted to work with them said that the first night she tried, her husband came to her in a dream and warned her against opening a closet. She felt a sense of fear and anxiety coupled with excitement. In a second dream, a gentle guide filled with light came to her and encouraged her to open the closet. The closet represented the other levels of consciousness that dreams provide access to. When she opened the door, she found a mess, but she also found many treasures buried inside.

This kind of inner work is some of the most challenging and yet it will become the most rewarding. Through falling asleep and dreaming, your soul, as it speaks to you in dreams, will encourage to awaken during your daylight hours and become more vibrant and aware to the life inside and around you.

Where Do Dreams Come From?

“Instead of concealing, the purpose of a dream is to communicate something to the consciousness. The unconscious, in other words, has a kind of intelligence that attempts to guide and otherwise assist the conscious self.” – James R. Lewis

Dreams come from the different levels of consciousness. The human being functions at various levels – the conscious or waking level, the subconscious and the super-conscious level. Dreams may come from any of these places. The ones from the subconscious tend to make conscious feelings, ideas and thoughts that we are held beneath the surface of the conscious mind. Many times dreams have revealed to me suppressed feelings of anger, attraction, annoyance or joy. They literally make the feelings and yearnings conscious by creating scenes where I clearly see and experience the feelings and attitudes.

The dreams that come from the super-conscious or higher consciousness are dreams of guidance. They point us in the direction of our soul’s purpose and encourage us to move to fulfill it. These dreams may be filled with light and guides and reveal beauty and joy. These are the big dreams, the ones that we tend to wake us up at three a.m.  We remember them for a long time to come.

Dreams may also come from a soul to soul contact with a friend, foe or stranger. They can also include visitations from departed family and friends who wish to bring messages and console.

But not all dreams offer valuable information. Some of them are simply gibberish and come from eating bad food, taking medication or falling asleep with the TV on in the background.

Some dreams act out or reenact an event from the day. A common dream is to repeat a repetitive task while learning to play an instrument or type, for example. It seems as if the learning or studying for exams in dreams may actually aid learning the instrument or passing a test in real life.  These dreams are like rehearsing for the upcoming event.

If you’d like to begin remembering your dreams here are some tools.

1) Keep a note pad and pens by the bed and write down the images and scenes immediately. Moving will take you out of that dream consciousness and you may lose the images.

2) Seed your dreams. Before going to bed surround yourself with a protective prayer or visualize while light around you. Ask to dream the solution to a problem or ask for insight and understanding. By repeating this and adding, “I will remember my dreams,” the dream flow may open to your conscious mind.

3) Before going to bed review the dreams you wrote down. Begin to explore the meanings of the symbols that you discover by creating your personal dream dictionary. Explore the qualities of the symbols that arise. A bear may hibernate. It can be gently but it can also be very dangerous. By exploring the qualities or characteristics, you will gain insight into what the images mean to you.

Learning the language of the soul takes time and effort. But it will bring great rewards and satisfaction.

Bio: Debra Moffitt is author of Awake in the World: 108 Practices to Live a Divinely Inspired Life. A visionary, dreamer and teacher, she’s devoted to nurturing the spiritual in everyday life. She leads workshops on spiritual practices at the Sophia Institute and other venues in the U.S. and Europe. Her mind/body/spirit articles, essays and stories appear in publications around the globe and were broadcast by BBC World Services Radio. She has spent over fifteen years practicing meditation, working with dreams and doing spiritual practices. Visit her online at http://www.awakeintheworld.com.