Anna DeStefano's Blog

The emotion in our dreams is the key. Not what you see, or even what you remember when awake, but what you feel. Emotions are the common thread between the waking and the sleeping worlds. In my psychic fantasy novels, this is how scientists and psychics develop the brainwashing techniques that threaten to become global weapons. In real life, this is merely the power of our minds leading us through the work we need to do.

I’m on an emotional rant this week–most of my posts will touch on the psyche, I’ll just be coming at you from different directions. So be warned ;o)

Longing and disappointments and fear and hope and anxiety and excitement…and all of that is all of who we are, in our waking an sleeping worlds. 

Think about it–what’s the one dream you can remember most? Why is that dream so easy for you to recall, when others have slipped away?  Was it frightening? Special and supremely happy? Were you seeing someone again for the first time in a long time, or travelling somewhere meaningful, or facing your sworn enemy or struggling through your worst nightmare come true, etc.?

All of that is about the emotion still lingering, and bout how it was  still scaring or thrilling you when you woke.

It’s been largely accepted by scientists that dreams are a method for us to process emotional information (among other things).  Some go so far as to suggest you write a dream report immediately upon waking–and that you focus on feelings and emotions first, before getting to the lingering visible sights and symbols that remain.

The most common emotion experienced during a dream?

Fear.

Does this mean we’re being threatened by either the sleeping or the waking world. Not at all. Most likely, we’re facing something challenging that we’re not fully processing or dealing with while awake, and our dreams are taking us through that unwanted emotional territory. Naturally, there will be some resistance and anxiety.

Regardless of the symbols and threats in a scary dream, the basis for the vision is likely something quite simple and innocuous from your life. So trust what you’re seeing and feeling, instead of supressing or trying as quickly as possible to forget what your dreams reflect back to you.

What does that picture have to do with any of this? Nothing. But it’s a cute kittie and a GREAT poster, and I thought we needed a bit of an ice breaker ;o)

Now, where were we…

Are you dreaming of falling to your death? This startling scenerio (much like one depicting a less-threatening open doorway) can represent that there’s an opportunity waiting, through which you might begin an exhilarating and new part of your life. But you need to let go of an “old” part you to get you where you need to go–and you’re resisting. You must be willing to give up (let die) what is familiar before you emerge into what’s new. And your dream knows it, so it’s replaying a symbolic representation of that journey for you while you sleep.

Another common but disturbing dream–your teeth falling out or breaking off or being broken in the midst of a seemingly normal dream sequence.  The panic and fear after waking from something like this can lead you to believe something’s physically wrong with your or your  mouth or whatever. Instead, teeth in dreams tend to represent the barriers you’ve put up between what you need to say and those you need to speak with. So, when your teeth break off or are damaged in a dream, what this most typically means is that you have something important to communicate and it’s time for you to speak the truth. It’s time to share you wisdom and knowledge. Time to stop blocking yourself from sharing what needs to be said (often with whomever was depicted in that very dream, however they’re often symbolized in your sleeping world).

All of this, remember, is about drilling down to the emotions of what you’re dreaming and what they’re telling you about what you’re avoiding or fearing or feeling challenged by. THEN, I would encourage you to face that dynamic and conquer the emotion and let it drive you to move successfully forward in your waking life in whatever direction the dreams are leading you.

This is the central “decoding” method I use in Dark Legacy and Secret Legacy, by the way. This basic principle of dream science becomes a crucial method in both books for understanding the strange symbols and misfiring visions and obscure/dangerous clues my psychic twins must puzzle through in order to save their legacy, a lost little girl whose powerful mind is being manipulated far worse than theirs ever had been, and the Psychic Realm that is more at risk each day that they cannot control their gifts.

Yes, what I do is make believe. Yes, most of what you dream isn’t real, either. But there’s a key to that other place that is very personal and very true to you. Your emotions.

Dont’ be afraid of either them or what your sleeping mind does with them. Get to know yourself and the fantastical places your dreams take you to. It’s an enlightening and powerful journey, I assure you ;o)

Tags: Anna DeStefano, contemporary fantasy, creativity & inspiration, Dark Legacy, dream color, dream emotion, dream programming, dream science, Dream Theories, dreams, fantasy author, Legacy Series, lucid dreaming, Secert Legacy

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 10th, 2011 at 12:13 pm and is filed under Dream Theories, What About Everything Else?. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.