The Dream Sourcebook: A Guide to the Theory and Interpretation of Dreams by Phyllis R. Koch-Sheras Page B
Authors: Phyllis R. Koch-Sheras
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not only more obvious details such as dialogue and plot, but colors, sounds, and odors.
Feeling: Record the feelings you associate with the dream. Note how you feel during, at the very end of, and immediately after awakening from the dream. You may want to underline particularly emotion-stirring parts of the dream, making notes in the margins about how these moments made you feel.
Circle or highlight key words and symbols: Now that your dream is down on paper, take time to use your pen or colored markers to circle or highlight the key words, characters, and symbols in the dream. (You may have already underlined the significant feelings in the dream.) Note such things as names, places, objects, directions, sounds, colors, numbers, significant adjectives and verbs, and so on. These highlighted words will give you a place to start in analyzing the dream's meaning, and you can refer to them later when working on your dream index (see below). Develop a notation system that works for you, and use it regularly in your dreamwork.
Title: After you have finished, come up with a title for your dream, and write it at the top of the entry. If possible, choose a
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title that reflects the single most unusual or distinctive aspect of the dream (''Rat-Faced Mom," "Flunking the Test," for example). If your dream contained a particular message, you may wish to use it as the title ("Don't Step on Other People's Toes,'' "Let Her Go," and so on). Giving your dream a title helps identify key elements and makes it easier to locate your dream in your journal later.
Day's observations: In this section, note any events or thoughts from the previous day that stand out to you. You may not see a connection with your dream right away, but sometimes you'll find one. Usually, your dreams are related in some way to your daily life, and taking time to jog your memory about these associations is worthwhile. Note also any aspects that are different from your waking realitya house that is yours in the dream, but is much larger or smaller than your actual house, a woman who is your sister in the dream, although you do not have one. When these discrepancies occur, note them and comment on any immediate ideas or questions that come to mind. Stay open to all possible interpretations.
Action: No, this is not where you as dream director yell "Action!" and the dream begins again. This is a place for recording any action you might plan to take as a result of the dream. The action could be related to a dream message, or it could be in response to a memory in your waking life that came to you through the dream. Write down your plans to complete the action, and leave room to comment on the results of your action.
Index: At the back of your dream journal (or on index cards or on your personal computer), start a personal "dream index" of the key words, important characters, themes, and symbols from your dreams. After recording a dream (or at a later time if you wish) note the words you have circled, underlined, or highlighted, and enter them alphabetically in columns in the dream index.
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Next to the word, jot down the page or date on which the dream occurred, adding subsequent page numbers or dates each time that particular symbol recurs in a dream. This way, you can develop your own personal glossary of recurring dream symbols that will allow you to examine your dream symbols as they develop over time, giving you greater understanding of the ongoing messages in your dreams. Additional information about interpreting your recurring dream symbols is covered in chapter 6.
Translating into Dream Language
Once you have recorded your dream in full, you can begin to focus in on interpreting it more fully. You can start by learning a special way of talking about your dream. Based on the theory that all aspects of the dream are parts of the self, created and introduced into the dream by the dreamer, clinical psychologist and Gestalt therapist John Weir invented
Feeling: Record the feelings you associate with the dream. Note how you feel during, at the very end of, and immediately after awakening from the dream. You may want to underline particularly emotion-stirring parts of the dream, making notes in the margins about how these moments made you feel.
Circle or highlight key words and symbols: Now that your dream is down on paper, take time to use your pen or colored markers to circle or highlight the key words, characters, and symbols in the dream. (You may have already underlined the significant feelings in the dream.) Note such things as names, places, objects, directions, sounds, colors, numbers, significant adjectives and verbs, and so on. These highlighted words will give you a place to start in analyzing the dream's meaning, and you can refer to them later when working on your dream index (see below). Develop a notation system that works for you, and use it regularly in your dreamwork.
Title: After you have finished, come up with a title for your dream, and write it at the top of the entry. If possible, choose a
Page 129
title that reflects the single most unusual or distinctive aspect of the dream (''Rat-Faced Mom," "Flunking the Test," for example). If your dream contained a particular message, you may wish to use it as the title ("Don't Step on Other People's Toes,'' "Let Her Go," and so on). Giving your dream a title helps identify key elements and makes it easier to locate your dream in your journal later.
Day's observations: In this section, note any events or thoughts from the previous day that stand out to you. You may not see a connection with your dream right away, but sometimes you'll find one. Usually, your dreams are related in some way to your daily life, and taking time to jog your memory about these associations is worthwhile. Note also any aspects that are different from your waking realitya house that is yours in the dream, but is much larger or smaller than your actual house, a woman who is your sister in the dream, although you do not have one. When these discrepancies occur, note them and comment on any immediate ideas or questions that come to mind. Stay open to all possible interpretations.
Action: No, this is not where you as dream director yell "Action!" and the dream begins again. This is a place for recording any action you might plan to take as a result of the dream. The action could be related to a dream message, or it could be in response to a memory in your waking life that came to you through the dream. Write down your plans to complete the action, and leave room to comment on the results of your action.
Index: At the back of your dream journal (or on index cards or on your personal computer), start a personal "dream index" of the key words, important characters, themes, and symbols from your dreams. After recording a dream (or at a later time if you wish) note the words you have circled, underlined, or highlighted, and enter them alphabetically in columns in the dream index.
Page 130
Next to the word, jot down the page or date on which the dream occurred, adding subsequent page numbers or dates each time that particular symbol recurs in a dream. This way, you can develop your own personal glossary of recurring dream symbols that will allow you to examine your dream symbols as they develop over time, giving you greater understanding of the ongoing messages in your dreams. Additional information about interpreting your recurring dream symbols is covered in chapter 6.
Translating into Dream Language
Once you have recorded your dream in full, you can begin to focus in on interpreting it more fully. You can start by learning a special way of talking about your dream. Based on the theory that all aspects of the dream are parts of the self, created and introduced into the dream by the dreamer, clinical psychologist and Gestalt therapist John Weir invented
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