Author: Susan Schulte

If you have read my other blogs, you know I think highly of the writing of John A. Sanford, a Jungian analyst, writer, and speaker, who also was an Episcopal priest for 19 years. In his book Dreams and Healing, Sanford writes: “Dreams also help us by showing us what it is upon which we should focus our attention. It is easy to be overwhelmed by our fears, the confusion of life, and the myriad small and great worries that beset us. A dream gives us an image of what it is we most need to ponder. In this way dreams can lift us beyond the narrow confines of our ordinary conscious life, and present us with a larger picture.”

I have found this to be true. In my experience, and based on reading I’ve done, some dreams are more clearly meant to direct a person to take some type of action. And when a person has a dream like that, trying to take the steps toward accomplishing what the dream is directing is what matters most. As Sanford says, that is where we should focus our attention. Because dreams when properly understood help us to learn about ourselves by bringing unconscious content to consciousness, each person becomes more whole as he or she tries to follow dream direction. This takes courage because we don’t necessarily know what will result from following dream direction.

A number of years ago I had a dream where several women were busy packing my belongings, putting them into boxes and sealing the boxes. For a few months before having that dream, I had thought it might be time to move to a different city, and this dream confirmed that yes, I needed to move. I didn’t particularly want to move; it would be costly, I would need to find a job, I would be leaving friends I cared about. But this dream was so clear in its meaning that I knew I would be going against what was right for me if I didn’t follow the dream’s direction. And I’m happy to say I have never regretted moving to where I live. My family and I benefited in many ways because I followed the direction of the dream.

Author and Jungian analyst John A. Sanford begins his book Dreams and Healing with these words: “Suppose someone told you that there was something that spoke to you every night, that always presented you with a truth about your own life and soul, that was tailor-made to your individual needs and particular life-story, and that offered to guide you throughout your lifetime and connect you with a source of wisdom far beyond yourself. And, furthermore, suppose that all of this was absolutely free. Naturally you would be astonished that something like this existed. Yet this is exactly the way it is with our dreams.”

I am thankful that when I saw a therapist many years ago to help me with some difficulties going on in my life that I was introduced to dream work. Before that I had never given much thought to dreams and didn’t recall having dreamed very often. In the years since learning about dreams as a source of guidance and information about myself, writing down and paying attention to my dreams has been an essential part of my life. In writing that dreams present each person with a truth about his or her own life and soul, Sanford is pointing out how each person’s dreams are unique to that person, just as each person is a unique individual different from every other human being. Each of us was created with certain potentials, and the symbols within and stories of our dreams can guide us toward reaching those potentials. I have also found that making the effort to record and pay attention to my dreams adds a sense of purpose to my life so that even at those times when what the dream is created to tell me isn’t clear, my being open to the dream’s message also matters.

I recently had this dream: On a stretch of wide sidewalk in the downtown area of a large city, two raised bed garden spaces have been built that have cement walls. They are each at least 10 feet by 20 feet and raised about two feet above the sidewalk that surrounds them. The cement walls are several inches wide, wide enough so that people may sit at the sides of the gardens. Someone had donated many plants to put in these spaces, and I see that a woman I know is putting the plants in the gardens. Each plant is already fairly large, about a foot tall, and the woman just needs to take each one out of its container and set it in the space, the soil from each container staying around the roots of each plant. Once all the plants are placed, someone will only need to fill in between them with more soil. About two-thirds of the plants are decorative, with flowers and various sizes and shapes of leaves. The other plants are vegetable plants–bell pepper, tomato, and others. I think how it’s such a nice idea to have both types, so a person passing by may take in the beauty of the decorative plants and also enjoy fresh vegetables from the vegetable plants.

When I woke up and remembered this dream, I felt a sense of peace and contentment, similar to how I would feel if I saw the scene in the dream in outer reality. How wonderful these garden spaces have been built so that there are living plants amid the concrete of a busy city. Plants not only add beauty, they also make the air healthier by providing oxygen. So in thinking about my dream, my associations are to beauty and good health.

I had this dream during a time when I was feeling some stress and sadness about a situation in my life. This dream brought me comfort and helped me feel more hopeful. In his book Meeting Force with Silence, Jungian psychotherapist and author Terry Chitwood writes: “Dreams are your friends. They are your guides through the struggle of life. When you need help, they give it. When you are lost and confused, they show you a way out.” This dream felt like a friend to me.