Anita Marković

September 5, 2020
Dreams as a window to the world of change
Source: Najmagazin

I prefer to present myself as an integrative therapist using different approaches in my work. I have built my knowledge and experience base by working as a Master of Special Education with children and their parents. However, my desire to improve and expand the fields of my work and expertise influenced me to upgrade my professional identity. I have become a dream interpreter using the dream interview method, a transactional analyst in the field of psychotherapy, as well as a certified therapist applying the spiritual/energy healing techniques of ThetaHealing, Timeline Healing, and Soul Realignment.

Dreams play an important role in my life, being "a royal road to the unconscious", according to Freud. Twenty years ago, I was attracted by dream analysis in the desire to interpret the messages of my unconscious and learn something about myself from a completely different perspective. In fact, I clearly remember my dreams all my life, so I have had my dream journals since childhood. Today, I can boast of a large collection that includes more than five thousand dreams recorded. The key dreams are exactly those I have devoted my time to in the process of dream analysis so that I could integrate knowledge and insights into my daily life.

All people dream and the only question is whether they pay attention to their 'night-time friends' and whether they are open to learning more about themselves and their lives through their dreams. There is also a significant physiological aspect of dreams, but I won't deal with it now. Here I would rather focus on their significant symbolic value, which we can uncover by dream analysis and thus gain some strong insights that can lead us to the necessary changes in life. In this way, we as personalities are getting closer to our greatest potentials and to an exit from the script, which in the terminology of transactional analysis means a life scenario that we unconsciously live following the early decisions we made in childhood which prevent us from being attuned to our life here and now.

In my work, I apply the method of dream interview designed by my mentor Dr. Gayle Delaney, winner of the Lifetime Achievement Award in the field of dream analysis. It is extremely important to understand that the dreamer can get a whole new perspective on himself through a thorough analysis based on a detailed interview about the meaning of each symbol in the dream. The content of a dream is bridged and then connected with real-life events by precisely asked questions. The interview method consists of five clearly defined phases, which must be carried out so that the dreamer could successfully "translate" the symbolic, and at first glance often incomprehensible and sometimes paradoxical, story of his dream (and it should be known that all dreams, without exceptions, are powerful and timely information about key aspects of the dreamer’s life at that point in his life) into something that provides additional meaning to what is happening in his life.

By following these five phases in the interview process, the dreamer is given an opportunity to make contact with his internal conflicts and parts of himself that cannot easily step out of dysfunctional behaviors, thoughts, and feelings. At the same time, there is an opportunity for empowerment by facing those parts of ourselves that carry the driver energy, and are often hidden from our conscious insights. They actually need to be reached in order to successfully overcome the so-called inner saboteur and let the dreamer be guided through life by this very wise aspect that knows exactly how to lead the dreamer to the desired goal in the most appropriate way.

The dream interpretation process itself includes an approach to the dream structure, its events, and feelings. An important part of this procedure implies extracting information, i.e., anamnesis when the dreamer is conscious, which is based on a detailed description of the content of the dream and its symbols. In the recapitulation phase, the dreamer gets a great opportunity to face the dream content from a completely different perspective, listening to the carefully arranged story of his descriptions. Only then does the possibility open up to connect his descriptions with those events that actually take place in his everyday life. This can be called the "a-ha!" moment when it becomes clear to the dreamer in what way the whole dream is in perfect connection and harmony with what he lives, whereby he is provided with an unconscious anamnesis. By taking a deeper look at the dream story, the dreamer can then learn more from his best friend and advisor – his unconscious – and find out where room for correction or a possible solution to a given dream topic is.

Making corrections or changes in your life is not often easy and requires time and trust in the process, in order for the dreamer to live in harmony with his deepest potentials. Therefore, it is sometimes important to pay attention to a series of different dreams that actually deal with the same topic. It is important for the dreamer to give himself time to be able to integrate powerful instructions on how to bring change about, which is normally reflected through the dream symbols that carry extremely strong energy. They prepare the dreamer to take the key step and make new decisions with which he as a completely healed person can move on in life regarding a specific issue or its aspect which should have been established as dominant in the dreamer's life.

Sometimes our dreams can be prophetic and even contain an element of precognition, predicting accurately, and sometimes down to the smallest detail, some events significant to us in the future. Jung himself said that such dreams are rare, which additionally draws the attention that should be paid to them. From my personal experience and practice, I can notice that dreams themselves "play" on several levels, so that the messages and morals the dreamers can receive by their dreams analysis can be applied to different segments of their lives, where they often indicate some hidden regularities of which we were usually unaware. Undoubtedly, there is a great truth about that a well-interpreted and well-understood dream decisively leads us with its energy toward important changes, which further direct us towards authentic living. Then we are able to make choices tailored to our soul and get rid of the constraints of the parts of ourselves that are outdated and have "expired", which is one of the most wonderful experiences that, thanks to dreams and interaction with them, we can give ourselves.

Anita Marković
Psychotherapist