Dreams are like a window into our suppressed thoughts and feelings. Often,things appear in our dreams that we have pushed deep into our subconscious mind. Most people don’t pay attention to their dreams- but they can be a key to self discovery.
During a very difficult time in my life, I had an interesting dream. I had just been the victim of rape, and my marriage was crumbling. In this dream, I built a rickety raft of logs and twine. It did not look very stable at all. I went to a river, put the raft in the water, and climbed aboard. I made my way down the river for a while, and then came to a fork in the river. There were two ways that I could go:One way was smooth and peaceful, the sun was shining, and the birds were singing. The other way was dismal and gloomy. The water was treacherous-forceful rapids beat against jagged rocks. In the dream, I struggled with deciding which path to choose. It was so real-so vivid. I chose the harder path. I pushed off in my raft, braving the rapids, and steering my way through them the best I could.My raft was almost shattered to pieces. I fought the rapids for what seemed like an eternity. Eventually, I made it through. When I turned to look behind me, I saw all of the hurtful things from my past. I saw my old high school, many people, and the face of the man that raped me. When I looked ahead, I was almost blinded by the sunlight. I could feel it’s warmth on my shoulders. I sailed my raft into the sunlight, and then I woke up.
I was blessed to be given an understanding of this dream. The river represented my life. My rickety raft represented the fact that I was not well prepared for the things I was facing at the time, or the battle ahead. In my dream, I chose the dangerous rapids-which meant that I would choose the harder path in life. Getting through them was a tremendous struggle. I understood this to mean that I had a struggle awaiting me in my future. At the end of the rapids, however, was “the light”. I had successfully conquered my past, and found my way through the struggle. I took this to mean that I was being reassured that I would make it through-and that I would be alright.
That was two years ago. I am now triumphantly emerging from the battle I dreamed of. It has been the most trying, turbulent time of my life. At times, I didn’t think I would make it, but I have. I have been able to put my hurtful past behind me almost completely. I have begun to heal, and was only able to do so because I had to face my past hurts.
The point of this illustration is that our dreams can certainly tell us things about ourselves, if we will only listen. The majority of us repress traumatic events, anger, jealousy, bitterness, and even our innermost desires. We repress feelings about ourselves-insecurities, fear of failure, etc. All of these feelings resurface in our dreams. I believe that dreams are given to us as a way to help us grow as human beings- a way to better understand ourselves and what we are made of.
