Your Dreams: A Life Therapy Perspective, Part 2 of 3

In Life Therapy, not all dreams are the same. There are at least seven different types. The outstanding feature of a dream determines its type. The types include—

Process dreams: Process dreams feature events of the previous day or two. They’re generic, neither remarkably good nor bad. Your emotional responses are mild. They’re forgettable.

They’re often narratives about difficulties getting where you want to go, falling, being busy, going different places, or being in crowds of strangers. They might or might not give you insight from reflecting on them.

Pleasant dreams: You wake up smiling after pleasant dreams. They feature pleasurable stories about things in safe places, being loved, sexual pleasure, receiving help or gifts, and other enjoyable experiences. They stir up emotions of contentment, gratitude, desire, and gladness. Milk them. Get every drop you can out of them.

Nightmares: You wake up feeling troubled after nightmares. Sometimes they shock you awake. Some are toxic and infect you the rest of the day.

They feature troubling stories about being threatened, wronged, doing wrong, not getting what you desire, being repulsed by horror, and tragic loss.

They stir up intense and painful emotions of fear, anger, guilt, disappointment, disgust, and sadness. They’re also mentally confusing and difficult to understand.

Message dreams: Message dreams feature stories in which you receive information. The information might be an insight, guidance, or foreknowledge.

• The insight might be an answer to a question, solution to a problem you’re struggling to solve, or knowledge of something that just happened to someone you’re emotionally connected with.

• The guidance is often a directive that either warns you against or encourages you to take some specific action.

• The foreknowledge gives you preview of events to come. Like many insight dreams about something that just happened, foreknowledge dreams are often about someone you’re emotionally connected with.

Visitation dreams: Visitation dreams feature narratives of visits with people you know. You usually have a strong emotional connection with them: family members, lovers, close friends, or pets. Often those who visit you are deceased and come to comfort you. 

Recurring dreams: The outstanding feature of recurring dreams is their recurrence. You dream the same dream two, three, or more times. Rarely, if ever does a process dreams recur. A recurring dream is usually a pleasant dream, nightmare, or message dream. But it is the same every time. 

Lucid dreams: Any of the above six types of dreams can be lucid, but the outstanding feature is how vivid and realistic it is. Regardless of the story, it is like it is actually happening at the time.