For instance, the diffuse anxiety can be converted in the dream to a tangible evil figure or force. This evil can be confronted and defeated, or it can be evaded or become the source of ridicule or humor (becoming a clown or blustering ogre). In this way, anxiety is eliminated or reduced when we awake. Alternatively, anxiety remains in full force during the dream; however, when we wake up, there is a realization that whatever occurred during the dream that made us anxious does not exist in our waking life. In the dream, we might have been childlike in our fear of the “boogie man” but then we wake up, safe in our bed, and realize that we are no longer a child. As was the case with Bonaparte’s Walhuter dream, the dreamer feels “relief.”
As I have already mentioned, I personally often have dreams in which my travel plans are messed up or I am stranded in some strange land where I do not speak the language. I am very anxious. I feel disempowered and hopeless. Then I wake up and realize that I am safe in my bed at home; furthermore, having retired from my teaching and consulting work, I feel “relief” knowing that I am no longer “in the business” of traveling all over the world. My anxiety regarding travel has been “metabolized” by setting up a stark contrast between the anxiety-filled events and circumstances portrayed in the dream, and the much safer and more secure circumstances which typified my current, waking life.
I personally often have dreams in which my travel plans are messed up, or I am stranded in some strange land where I do not speak the language. I am very anxious. I feel disempowered and hopeless. Then I wake up and realize that I am safe in my bed at home; furthermore, I am no longer “in the business” of traveling all over the world. My travel anxiety has been “metabolized” by setting up a stark contrast between the anxiety-filled events and circumstances portrayed in the dream, and the much safer and more secure circumstances which typified my current, waking life.
It should be noted that the dynamics occurring when trauma is not fully addressed may actually be one way (and probably the most emotionally intense way) in which we react to uncompleted tasks. Eugene Gendlin (1986, p.152) writes about the lingering impact of ‘unfinished events.” Gendlin suggests that when we remember an unfinished event, then we are likely to find additional psychic material “crossing” with our memory of this event. Our dreams, in particular, are likely to expand as we introduce the unfinished event into the dream. For me, it is often an unfinished writing project: the page that is half empty either because the inspiration disappeared or time ran out. In my dream, I am completing this project, making use of words, concepts, and experiences that often are only tangentially related to the project on which I am working.
Supportive Dreams
While many dreams challenge us through offering vivid imagery of past traumatic events or the potential of future events, and through offering us insightful but perhaps disturbing portraits of important people in our current (and past) life, there are also dreams that provide us with guidance and support so that we might effectively address the challenging dreams. Sometimes, the support arrives within the challenging dream and at times in a dream that occurred during the same night as the challenging dream.
