Today, our Open to Hope podcast featured Carla Blowey, a certified Dream Work Facilitator who works with the Marin Institute for Projective Dream Work alongside its founder, Jeremy Taylor. She is the author of “Dreaming Kevin: The Path to Healing.” Carla presents dream programs for individuals, groups and national bereavement organizations on-site and online.
COVID-19 Dreams
My daughter and co-host, Heidi, shared her own experience with COVID-19 and the accompanying dreams of a dark cloud or entity chasing her in her dreams both before and over the course of having the virus.
This may be similar to what others are experiencing during this unprecedented and uncertain times where we fear for our own health and wellness as well as those of our loved ones. Also, job loss, uncertainty around when life may return to some normalcy, and the mandate to isolate at home have all raised our emotions and potentially contributed to more vivid dreams and what some might call nightmares.
What Our Dreams Tell Us
Carla shared many insights on what our dreams really mean during this pandemic and throughout our lives. Dreams are placeholders and ways to reconcile and assess our personal associations.
The symbols within our dreams are often about what we don’t know or don’t want to acknowledge. The characters within those dreams can also represent aspects of ourselves and connect to those uncertainties or unacknowledged things.
Heidi’s COVID-19 Dreams
In Heidi’s case with the dark cloud and sense of an intruder, Carla noted that this intruder represented the loss of control Heidi was feeling both before and during her COVID-19 outbreak. Over the course of the three weeks that she had the virus as well as before when she had anxiety about getting it, Heidi’s black cloud kept appearing.
She felt like it was impossible to control what happened to her, her family, and those around her. On a deeper level, the intruder was tied to the previous grief she felt over the loss of her brother, Scott.
How to Handle Our Dreams and COVID-19
Rather than fear our dreams, the better approach is to look at these visualizations as an opportunity to shift perspectives, diffuse our focus on fear, and be open to transformative change. Rather than looking at any of these as “bad dreams” think of them as dramatic events meant to grab our attention and force us to deal with our fears.
Very much like what we are going through with COVID-19, both that situation and our dreams are moments where we can raise our consciousness and awareness about humanity, compassion and kindness, our priorities, and ourselves. This can be the time all of us return to making an effort to pursue spiritual growth. In this way, our dreams become a tool for healing and a way to connect to a deeper part of ourselves.
Tracking and Connecting with Our Dreams
During the podcast, Carla suggested that we acknowledge these dreams. We need to learn the dream language related to what we are experiencing so we can understand that part of ourselves better.
To get the most from these dreams, it’s important to record them. Keep a notebook and pen next to the bed. At night, wake and write down what we experienced. Otherwise, we may forget what the dream included by waiting until the morning.
Going over what we write down can help us understand what it is that we have been struggling with so we can address those fears or that anxiety during our waking moments. In turn, acknowledging these feelings in an awakened state may help us calm those fears and anxiety, which then lowers the likelihood of having those same dreams.
The Full Podcast
Watch the podcast in its entirety by clicking below:
Tags: COVID-19 dream interpretations, COVID-19 dreams, COVID-19 fear
