By guest blogger Claire Perkins, 2005 CJEA graduate, dream guide and award-winning author of The Deep Water Leaf Society: Harnessing the Transformative Power of Grief.
www.ClairePerkins.com
Visioning® is great for manifesting your waking-life dreams. But did you know it works equally well for exploring and discovering the meaning of your nighttime dreams, too? Every night your dreams are bringing you guidance and wisdom, but discovering the meaning can sometimes be challenging. Collage is a perfect way to bring your night visions to life so that you can discover the wisdom they contain and apply it to transform your waking life.
Here are 10 easy steps to Dream Visioning
1.Get your dream journal and gather your collage materials together (paper, magazines, scissors, glue) in a quiet place where you can work undisturbed for 30 minutes to an hour or more.
2.If you have a written record of your dream (I strongly encourage keeping a dream journal and writing your dreams down regularly), read it to yourself. If you didn’t write it down, play the dream over in your mind—or, better yet, take the time to write it down now.
3.Close your eyes and place yourself back into the dream, as if you were reliving it. Pay attention to the main characters, the setting, and any emotions you are feeling within the dream.
4.Give the dream a title. Write it down. This is your focus phrase and will help to guide you as you create your Dream Vision. Invite your Dream Self to help you explore your dream more deeply.
5.As you begin to gather images and phrases from your magazines, stay in a meditative state. Don’t overthink it and don’t try to be too literal. Think of this as a continuation of the dream state (which is not logical, literal or linear) and allow the dream to unfold through the images you are drawn to. You may not find the “perfect” image to represent every aspect of your dream, and that’s okay. You can always enhance your collage by drawing in anything that feels missing. You may also find images that seem to have nothing to do with your dream yet “want” to be a part of your collage, and that’s okay, too. Remember to select at least one image to represent you—you as you were within the dream, or you receiving the wisdom of the dream, or both.
6.Arrange your images and phrases on your paper. Keep what resonates with the dream and release what doesn’t. Do certain images and phrases belong together? Do the words you’ve gathered create a message, story or poem? Is there anything missing that you want to add?
7.When you are pleased with the arrangement, glue it down.
8.Sit with the finished collage for a few minutes and then journal (dominant hand) about what you see. How does the collage make you feel? Does it remind you of any current situation in your waking life? Does it tell a story?
9.Which image(s) do you find most intriguing or want to know more about? Dialogue with the image(s), asking them questions with your dominant hand, and allowing the image(s) to answer through your non-dominant hand. Ask these key questions: Who are you? How do you feel? Why do you feel that way? What are you doing in my dream? What gift or challenge do you bring me? What can I do for you? Feel free to follow your own curiosity and ask any other questions you choose.
10.Journal again with your dominant hand. What is the message of this dream? What situation in your life does it seem to be speaking to? Were there any big “Ahas!” from the dialogue(s)? List three actions you will take to honor this dream – and then go out and DO them! It’s one thing to decipher what your dream is telling you, but the real power for change comes from acting on what you learned.
Example Dream Visions
The Big Wave
I am watching a huge wave break. The water comes all the way up into city streets. In a room, a small boy has peed himself. I think he must have seen or heard the wave crash and been frightened. He is holding a small fish in a baggie of water. There's a tiny eyeball floating in the water, too. I believe it is food for the fish.
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Hungry Lions
I am exploring ancient grounds – an abandoned estate of some kind. It is not in ruins, but is overgrown and neglected as well as deserted. I discover there are feeding stations in some locations. There are monkeys and there are lions. I go to one feeding station near the front of the house (it looks a bit like a metal water pump). I can read a label on it that indicates it’s for the lions. I give it a pump, out of curiosity, and a few old cheese puffs come out. The monkeys stay back and a lion comes and sniffs at the cheese puffs. I feel sad for the lions—they can’t eat food like this. It reminds me of a zoo where people come to gawk and make caged pets of these glorious animals. I’m a bit frightened to be so close to the lions, but feel it is up to me to feed them.
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Recurring Nightmare: I’ve Missed the Whole Semester!
It’s the last day of the semester and time for final exams or that major term paper is due. Except I realize that I haven’t been to class all semester long! It’s too late to withdraw and a failing grade, which I’m certain to get, will ruin my GPA and prevent me from graduating. I feel totally panicked and frantic.
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It’s the last day of the semester and time for final exams or that major term paper is due. Except I realize that I haven’t been to class all semester long! It’s too late to withdraw and a failing grade, which I’m certain to get, will ruin my GPA and prevent me from graduating. I feel totally panicked and frantic.
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You can visit Claire’s digital dream journal at http://www.polyvore.com/cgi/collection?id=389795
for additional examples of Dream Visioning.
