Volume CLXXI – Nightmares Claim our Attention

Dear Dream Tending Community,

Nightmares are often the most alive of dream images.  They bring awareness to everything from unsettled aspects of our personality to early traumatic experiences. They picture dysfunction in our relationships, the onset of illness, or even reactions to media we watched just before going to bed.  Other times they may be graphic reminders of environmental destruction, like the consequences of global warming or the seemingly omnipresent devastation of war.

Yes, the world is always dreaming and the images appear in our dreams.

Last week, I offered a workshop on tending the challenging, often horrific, images of nightmares. Folks who attended asked, “What can I do? What can I learn from these ‘horrors’ of the night?” Participants shared the obvious. When a nightmare comes, I wake up clenched, sometimes in a sweat, almost always in a state of alarm and agitation. Several asked, “When tended, are there constructive insights, new perspectives, even generative sparks that can be gleaned from working with the scary images of dreams?” Those in attendance shared themes of monsters, being chased, falling, tidal waves, dying, and more. The energy in the room was guarded, yet alive with hopeful expectations. It makes sense. In the world of today, many are living on the understandable edge of apprehension.

With that in mind, I’d like to share one insight: when waking up from a nightmare, rather than starting with, “What do these images mean?” Ask, “Who is visiting now?” 

Engaging with Nightmare Figures Activity: 

• Feel the protection of your inner support and your inner community of allies and notice who or what is making a visitation.
• Then, make a quick sketch or doodle of the figure(s). Place the figures in front of you and create some distance.
• The distance offers a reminder that you are not being possessed, and creates space from identifying with the scary images. From here, now that there is a healthy distance between you, one can begin the process of engagement.

Know that this activity takes time and practice. Yet, what we found, even in one day of working in a supportive community, is that something different started to happen. Reactivity and fear began to change into proactive interest, and then curiosity.

With support, meeting nightmare figures or imagery with curiosity opens new possibilities, where greater generativity can then emerge.