Deciphering yourself through Dream Messages

I had an incredible dream last weekend...

For years I’ve had this occasional recurring horror dream where I’m in a building with a powerful dark force.

Sometimes there are other people there, sometimes I know some of them, sometimes I’m alone. It’s always a different building – sometimes a house, or a derelict warehouse etc.

The invisible, (what feels like a) terrifying demonic force is physically dragging me – like I’m being pulled – towards a door or corner in the space, and to try to run away feels like moving through molasses.

It’s frightening, I’m angry. I yell and throw things and try to stay in control.

So on the weekend I had this dream, and something was different.

I wondered to myself (in dream land), ‘what would happen if I allowed myself to be pulled into this vortex?’

And I did.

I found myself in a large room with a shallow indoor swimming pool, physically fighting with a woman.

I’m angry again, shouting, running around her to find a better angle of attack and keep myself at a safe distance.

Scratching, biting.

It’s mainly me driving the aggression, she’s retaliating but I’m really angry.

When I kick or hit her, chunks of her flesh come off her body, and gradually she becomes less and less recognisably human…

I found myself standing just outside the edge of this pool, her in the water facing me. We’re eye to eye, about 40cm away from each other, and we pause and take each other in.

I felt a wave of compassion wash through my body, and this woman transforms in front of me into a little girl around 5yo.

She’s scared, she wants comfort.

I pull her close and hold her and we both cry.

✨ ✨ ✨

Carl Jung says;

“The general function of dreams is to try to restore our psychological balance by producing dream material that re-establishes, in a subtle way, the total psychic equilibrium.”

I woke up from this dream still awash with compassion and love.

Moved. Challenged.

I’ve spent years running from the dark force in that dreamscape.

And for a while now I’ve been excavating and bringing to light the part of me that really turns on myself when I’m scared.

I’ve developed more and more capacity to be present with this part of myself and witness it rather than believing it’s version of reality, but it’s strong.

This part of my psyche is violent, harsh and punitive.

The strength of this pattern, and how engrained in my system it is tells me its old.

An ancient protective mechanism that for a few years now I’ve been dismantling and climbing my way free of.

Underneath? A scared, sensitive little girl who feels deeply, needs reassurance and to be held, seen and loved.

The relationship a woman has with her ‘inner little girl’ makes up so much of how she moves through the world, how she feels about herself and her mental, emotional and spiritual wellbeing.

Over time, as I’ve build a healthier relationship with my own little girl, I’ve learned to embrace and welcome my tenderness, speak up for myself in new ways, and also, let the light of her innocence and joy shine into my life and relationships.

My dream felt like such a powerful metaphor for this dynamic in my inner world.

It showed me that there is still some real strength and ‘fight’ in my violent protective mechanism.

I also saw and felt the deep love and compassion I’ve built for my inner little girl, and all that she represents – I couldn’t have found her and held her like that in the past.

In reflection on dream messages and your inner little girl;

Do you dream? What have you dreamed about recently and what balance might that dream have been trying to restore in your psyche?
What do you notice when you imagine your inner little girl? What thoughts, feelings, physical sensations or images arise for you?
What could having a healthier relationship with her look like? What does she need from you?
What gifts would this bring into your life, both personally and professionally?

Never underestimate the power of your past. Because it’s not in the past. It’s here in this living moment with you – woven into your responses, choices and perceptions; baked into your nervous system and psyche through and reinforcement and repetition.

That doesn’t mean your past has to define you, not at all.

Though, you’re lying to yourself if you say ‘its in the past’, yet have done no work to clear the ripples of that past from your system to create space for something new.

Yesterday, in a session with my coach, I went ‘back in time’ to the end of 2020, when I went through an experience that was somewhat challenging for me.

Here is a sublime example

Despite acknowledging the challenge at the time, I realised looking back that I hadn’t fully resolved or digested what happened there.

Part of me stayed frozen in that experience, and on the subtlest of levels, I have gotten in my own way unconsciously ever since.

That past experience was with me in every moment. It informed my capacity and energy levels, choices and perceptions.

And this is how the past shapes us – you have experiences that your system ‘learns’ from, and you then – often completely unconsciously – adjust accordingly to avoid repeating painful or difficult events.

We are such clever adaptive creatures.

But, those ‘adaptations’ will inadvertently shape your behaviour, attitudes, thoughts and feelings in a way that can begin to inhibit your ability to fully show up for your business or career, relationships, and life in general.

If you bring the process of ‘learning’ from these past experiences into consciousness, you gift yourself the chance to mine the gold from the past, get the learnings and gifts link example: and then move forward with your life.

„ QUOTE DESIGN: I CALL THIS PROCESS ‘DIGESTING’ YOUR PAST EXPERIENCES, AND HAVE SPECIFIC PRACTICES I TEACH TO SUPPORT YOU TO DO THIS.“

I call this process ‘digesting’ your past experiences, and have specific practices I teach to support you to do this.

The challenges of the past – and your adaptations – can become like a cage you find yourself living in if you’re not aware, but this digestion process ensures your continued liberation…

Which past experiences do you need to free yourself from?

We are such clever adaptive creatures.

If you bring the process of ‘learning’ from these past experiences into consciousness, you gift yourself the chance to mine the gold from the past, get the learnings.