M Y A P P R O A C H
Dream Work Sessions.
Working with our dreams is a powerful and fascinating way to open to deep parts of ourselves. Dreams can be great teachers if we open to them in a fresh way, and over the years, I’ve worked with them extensively. It’s a powerful form of inner guidance. With the right attitude, we can learn the language of our own dreams, not someone else’s interpretations.
Dreams come from a place where nothing has just one meaning. They are enigmatic because they can be seen in many ways and hold many truths—and can even be contradictory. They don’t follow the laws of logic and reason, but go beyond those laws to a new kind of dream logic where it's not a problem for something to point in different directions simultaneously. That’s the nature of dreams. They can talk about the paradoxical. The oppositional.
To be with dreams, one has to be relaxed and flexible, not demanding a quick answer. Not demanding a clear meaning. They require a willingness to entertain different points of view, a willingness to look at things not just from a perspective that makes us comfortable, but from a perspective that makes us uncomfortable. Looking through both lenses can be beneficial. It can show you something redeeming in yourself, and also show you something you would normally overlook or feel shameful about. In working with dreams, you can work with shame, with feelings that haunt you but that you can’t resolve completely. It's a way to explore and soften how we feel about ourselves. We learn to be more generous with ourselves as we look at ourselves more clearly. We find that we are human and fallible and incomplete, and there is no shame in that.
If we have learned to love dreams enough to write them down regularly, then we will have a series of dreams to look at. We can see a lot more in a series than we can see in one dream. We will see certain motifs, certain situations that repeat or are reminiscent of other dreams. For example, one of my recurring dreams is of being lost —not knowing where I am, and somehow forgetting where I came from and where I’m going. The scenes can be different, with different people, and the feeling quality can be different. Sometimes I'm meandering and not feeling frightened. I’m noticing things, happy and free, and it feels fine not to know where I’m going. Other times, not knowing where I am or where I’m going can be very painful.
Archetypal images often show up in our dreams. Images of heroes and demons, angels and animals are reflected in the stories and symbols of cultures around the world. When they show up in our dreams, it can be illuminating to see if any of the stories from fairy tales or mythology might be true for us, too. It's one perspective we might use that can give us startling insights. One example is a dream of being consumed by fire — a terrible, frightening experience. But in the stories of some cultures, being burned by fire can represent being cleansed. Something is destroyed in us that needs to die, and something emerges out of the fire that is our new life. The phoenix is an example — a bird that is burned in flames and rises from the ashes. So a dream that on the surface appears to be horrific could be a sign of our transformation. If we didn’t know anything about the symbol of the phoenix, we might never want to write down such a dream, especially if the dream is filled with terror, and then we wouldn't get the message that whatever we were going through was part of a transformational process. The more we become familiar with the language of dreams — the personal language unique to us and the archetypal language shared with many cultures — the more insight and guidance we will receive.
This is the major way I feel I've grown and developed — by seeing the truth about myself that is given to me when I take the time to look at my dreams, to write them down, to be with them in a non-judgmental way and savor them as a mystery to be explored. I’m amazed by them, fascinated how some part of me tells another part all kinds of stories. I have no idea where the dreams come from. Is my mind creating all of this? It doesn’t seem possible. Some are so otherworldly, so bizarre, I can’t imagine how these are created. The creativity is enormous, much more dynamic and fascinating than anything in my waking life. When I’ve written a dream down and haven’t seen it in many years, it's startling. When I don’t know I’m the author of my dream, it can read like mythology, like a startling revelation. That doesn’t mean I know what it means. I’m just talking about the sheer mystery and power and fascination and creativity I see in dreams. To align with this, pay attention to it, is to align with a deep and mysterious source of creative power in our lives.
FREE INTRODUCTORY SESSION.
I offer a complimentary 30-minute consultation for us to feel into whether it is a fit for us to work together on your dreams. Just contact me with a brief note on what draws you to work with me at this time, along with your time zone, and I will email you with some options for meeting.
Dreams come from a place where nothing has just one meaning. They are enigmatic because they can be seen in many ways and hold many truths—and can even be contradictory. They don’t follow the laws of logic and reason, but go beyond those laws to a new kind of dream logic where it's not a problem for something to point in different directions simultaneously. That’s the nature of dreams. They can talk about the paradoxical. The oppositional.
To be with dreams, one has to be relaxed and flexible, not demanding a quick answer. Not demanding a clear meaning. They require a willingness to entertain different points of view, a willingness to look at things not just from a perspective that makes us comfortable, but from a perspective that makes us uncomfortable. Looking through both lenses can be beneficial. It can show you something redeeming in yourself, and also show you something you would normally overlook or feel shameful about. In working with dreams, you can work with shame, with feelings that haunt you but that you can’t resolve completely. It's a way to explore and soften how we feel about ourselves. We learn to be more generous with ourselves as we look at ourselves more clearly. We find that we are human and fallible and incomplete, and there is no shame in that.
If we have learned to love dreams enough to write them down regularly, then we will have a series of dreams to look at. We can see a lot more in a series than we can see in one dream. We will see certain motifs, certain situations that repeat or are reminiscent of other dreams. For example, one of my recurring dreams is of being lost —not knowing where I am, and somehow forgetting where I came from and where I’m going. The scenes can be different, with different people, and the feeling quality can be different. Sometimes I'm meandering and not feeling frightened. I’m noticing things, happy and free, and it feels fine not to know where I’m going. Other times, not knowing where I am or where I’m going can be very painful.
Archetypal images often show up in our dreams. Images of heroes and demons, angels and animals are reflected in the stories and symbols of cultures around the world. When they show up in our dreams, it can be illuminating to see if any of the stories from fairy tales or mythology might be true for us, too. It's one perspective we might use that can give us startling insights. One example is a dream of being consumed by fire — a terrible, frightening experience. But in the stories of some cultures, being burned by fire can represent being cleansed. Something is destroyed in us that needs to die, and something emerges out of the fire that is our new life. The phoenix is an example — a bird that is burned in flames and rises from the ashes. So a dream that on the surface appears to be horrific could be a sign of our transformation. If we didn’t know anything about the symbol of the phoenix, we might never want to write down such a dream, especially if the dream is filled with terror, and then we wouldn't get the message that whatever we were going through was part of a transformational process. The more we become familiar with the language of dreams — the personal language unique to us and the archetypal language shared with many cultures — the more insight and guidance we will receive.
This is the major way I feel I've grown and developed — by seeing the truth about myself that is given to me when I take the time to look at my dreams, to write them down, to be with them in a non-judgmental way and savor them as a mystery to be explored. I’m amazed by them, fascinated how some part of me tells another part all kinds of stories. I have no idea where the dreams come from. Is my mind creating all of this? It doesn’t seem possible. Some are so otherworldly, so bizarre, I can’t imagine how these are created. The creativity is enormous, much more dynamic and fascinating than anything in my waking life. When I’ve written a dream down and haven’t seen it in many years, it's startling. When I don’t know I’m the author of my dream, it can read like mythology, like a startling revelation. That doesn’t mean I know what it means. I’m just talking about the sheer mystery and power and fascination and creativity I see in dreams. To align with this, pay attention to it, is to align with a deep and mysterious source of creative power in our lives.
FREE INTRODUCTORY SESSION.
I offer a complimentary 30-minute consultation for us to feel into whether it is a fit for us to work together on your dreams. Just contact me with a brief note on what draws you to work with me at this time, along with your time zone, and I will email you with some options for meeting.
Free Introductory consultation.
I offer mentoring for anyone serious about the spiritual path.
In addition, I offer mentoring on the development of dissertations or books related to my specialty areas.
In addition, I offer mentoring on the development of dissertations or books related to my specialty areas.
Copyright © 2018 by Frank Echenhofer