Studies of waking memory show that we mentally file new information
with bits of similar information as well as with their opposites; that
is, we sort a new fact not only by what it is but also by what it is not.
Thus, it's no surprise that we dream about winning the lottery when we're
worried about not being able to pay the bills, or about striking out at
bat at age 10 just after receiving a big promotion. The following list
comprises some of the most common dimensions we see in dreams in our
lab:
o Safety versus danger
o Helplessness versus competence
o Pride versus shame
o Activity versus passivity
o Independence versus dependence
o Trust versus mistrust
o Defiance versus compliance
While each dream in a series may have several dimensions, the same
few dimensions are usually expressed repeatedly in a single night. Some
parts of a dream may reflect the positive pole, and others the negative
side. A dream expressing feelings of danger, for example, may precede or
follow one expressing feelings of safety. Honing in on any one concept
that a dream presents and stepping back to ask, "What is its opposite?"
may open our eyes to important issues we wouldn't otherwise see.
Rewriting dream scripts: The RISC method
The premise of dream therapy is straightforward: If bad dream
scripts make you awaken discouraged and downhearted, rewriting the
scripts to improve the endings should lead to better moods.
Dream therapy has just four steps that you can learn on your
own:
o RECOGNIZE when you are having a bad dream, the kind that leaves
you feeling helpless, guilty, or upset the next morning. You need to
become aware while you are dreaming that the dream is not going
well.
o IDENTIFY what it is about the dream that makes you feel bad.
Locate the dimensions that portray you in a negative light-as, for
example, weak rather than strong, inept rather than capable, or
out-of-control rather than in control.
o STOP any bad dream. You do not have to let it continue. You are
in charge. Most people are surprised to find that telling themselves to
recognize when a bad dream is in progress is often all it takes to
empower them to stop such dreams.
o CHANGE negative dream dimensions into their opposite, positive
sides. At first, you may need to wake up and devise a new conclusion
before returning to sleep. With practice, you will be able to instruct
yourself to change the action while remaining asleep.
The first letter of each step forms the acronym "RISC" to help you
remember that the idea is to 'risk" stepping in to change the endings of
your dreams and to work toward a more positive self-image.
Altering the outcome of a dream is a tall order, but our studies
show it's an achievable goal. There's an active give-and-take between the
conscious and the sleeping mind. Even if you don't change a particular
dream while asleep, your waking exploration of the depressive elements of
your dreams, and your awareness of what you can and should change, may
have a payoff. People who devise several possible solutions to familiar
dream dilemmas report that they often manage to incorporate some of these
new waking attitudes into their dreams.
The definition of a "better" ending sometimes proves surprising.
One meek young man often had a nightmare in which a bus ran him down.
When he changed this dream, he gave himself a machine gun so that he
could attack the bus and shoot its driver. He felt much better afterward
and never had the dream again. Why not? In his dream, he could retaliate
aggressively against the bullies who had picked on him when he was a
youngster and destroy them. His dream success rebuilt some pride he
sorely needed.
Such success reverberates with waking life. Becoming more active in
dreams helps people to become more positive about the future. A
successful night of dreaming produces immediate benefits for mood in the
morning. Stopping a bad dream and changing it lifts the spirits. People
gain a sense of empowerment from knowing they are not at the mercy of
their bad dreams. Then, as they begin to change the image of a rejected,
helpless self to one that is more in control, waking behavior begins to
improve. They start to try out the new roles, the underdeveloped, better
aspects of themselves, that they first practice in dreams.
Dreams Of Illness
Do dreams serve as a seismograph for illness, registering
subterranean tremors long before the earthquakes of noticeable symptoms
jolt our outer surface? Much as some women dream they are pregnant before
their condition is confirmed, can dreams tell us that an illness is
developing in our bodies even before we experience symptoms or before our
doctors can detect signs of the illness? If so, we could use our dreams
to obtain treatment earlier and perhaps to improve our health.
Tags:
assortment,
axe,
crabs,
crises,
crowd of people,
dream,
dream interpretation,
dreamers,
earthquakes,
family members,
first clue,
home economics,
horror movie,
landmark study,
laundry,
living room,
nightmares,
old mother,
pipes,
plumbing,
railroad switch,
sense of self identity,
sleep,
unconscious,
underwear
