Introduction to Dream Watching

Tony Crisp

Let's get straight to the point

Even if you never get around to doing any dream work or waking dream exploration, it is wonderfully helpful to clearly acknowledge that your conscious personality, thoughts, beliefs and way of life, may be out of harmony with your deeper and life giving self.

This is not about a belief, such as a belief in God. Remember that dreams arise, your existence arises, from a process you may label in some way but barely know about. You do not have to believe in your existence. You are convinced of it because you exist.

Do you think you know everything about whatever it is that causes you to exist? For instance although we now know a great deal about life processes in biological science, that science still sees life as a mystery. Can you take that attitude to your own origins? Can you accept that at the base of your being is a mystery?

Try this simple approach to get closer to this. Sit quietly where you will not be disturbed for a minute or so. Close your eyes, become aware of your breathing, then put your hand under your clothes so you can feel your heart beating.

There you have it. The conscious you is touching and directly experiencing in a quiet moment how that mystery we call life is right there in every moment of your being spontaneously giving you exisence. You can feel it moving right under your hand. You know it is not your conscious will, knowledge or beliefs that are pulsing that beautiful movement. Right now life is breathing you and beating your heart. And that is just the very evident surface signs of what it is doing. Feel it! Do you really fully understand that? Isn't that an amazing miracle and mystery? Wouldn't it be wise and wonderful to get to know that mystery directly and more fully?

Dreams are part of that mystery. They are a way it speaks to us from its depths.

Dreams are like any other language - if you don't understand it, the sounds or words appear to have no meaning at all. So learn something about the way dreams use symbols as language. Read Language and Dreams. If you want to, you can look up your dream symbols in the Online Dream Interpreter. But that may not give you enough depth of understanding. However, the many links below give you access to direct ways of understanding your dreams and amplifying anything you gain from the online dream dictionary.

Dreams often show us what the events we witness around us are leading to. See: Vision in the River of Dreams; Groundswell; ESP in Dreams.; Prophecy.

Dreams have structures and dimensions you will not see unless you know how to look for them. When you know how to recognise these it gives you an almost immediate insight into your dreams. To understand and use these structures read Dream Processing.

One of the greatest ways of exploring your dreams is working with a partner. To learn this read Peer Dream Work.

Dreams are worth taking time with, so look at Creative Relationship with Dreams.

Some of the best general guides you can have are the books Dream Dictionary and Your Dream Interpreter. Not only do they have a full list of dream symbols, but they tell you how to work with your dreams, their feelings and drama. Buy Dream Dictionary from Amazon UK or from Amazon USA Buy Your Dream Interpreter from Amazon UK or from Amazon USA

If you write your dreams down, the words you use to describe them give vital clues as to the themes and expressed drama of your dream. To use this approach see Using Key Words.

The dreams that often disturb and puzzle us are nightmares or dreams that make us anxious, or we die or meet death in some way. To gain insight into these dreams and transform them see Nightmares and; Dreaming of Death. Our Dream animals also fascinate us and Animals in Your Dreams throws light on them.

Recurring dreams, even if they do not make us anxious, are also puzzling and can give a great deal of useful information once we understand or change them. See Recurring dreams.

The state of mind and body in which you experience dreams is very different to waking life. Understanding this difference and making powerful use of your dreams can slowly transform your life. See Secrets of Power Dreaming.

Dreams express extraordinary creativity and imagination, yet we may lack this in waking - why. The Magical Dream Machine explores this enormous creativity of dreams. Also see Art and Dreams.

Active Imagination is an approach the psychiatrist Carl Jung used. It is a way of entering the dream imaginatively and allowing its own feelings and energy to develop. This enables an enormous increase in the insights you arrive at and the healing influence of your dreams. See Active Imagination.

How Do We Know What Dream Symbols Mean - A look at how we see and use symbols in our everyday life.

Tony's in print Books in the UK or USA

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