Dreaming Through the Pane
Looking into the Window of the Unconscious Mind, Creativity, and Healing
Artwork made by artist, Emily Rose
In my house, interpreting and harnessing the power of dreams to foresee the future, receive visions, develop a deeper understanding of ourselves, and heal from old wounds continues to be a part of my everyday life and my family’s cultural fabric. Today, I use my dreams as a medium to boost my imagination and self-expression and promote overall healing. According to Carl Gustav Jung, a Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who founded psychology, dreams served as a window into the unconscious mind. We can dig deeper into our unconscious, discover more about who we are, and broaden our awareness by exploring the insightful messages we may uncover in our dreams. These messages are more accessible while we dream and present themselves as symbols and archetypes that, once analyzed, can help us gain a deeper understanding of ourselves and make better choices to improve our lives.
For a majority of my life I shared a room with my older sister. We slept and prayed together every night, and every morning we would share our dreams with one another. Whenever I needed help deciphering my dreams, I would ask my mother first. If she did not know, she would ask her mother. If her mother did not know, I would ask another relative or make my own interpretation. In my family’s oral history of dream interpretations, dreams of poop represent fortune; pregnancy means new life, dirty water and bugs represent gossip and bad luck, and death represents a long life. Over time I started to create my own meanings and wrote them down in my dream journal. This habit soon became a part of my art practice. Whenever I don’t have the answer to a question I have, I go to my dreams. I ask, “what colors should I use for my painting? What should I name my new project?”And so on. Some nights I keep my dream journal next to me to help capture any visual, auditory, or emotional sensation I’ve experienced from a dream. Once I dreamt of a painting I’d made in a dream. It was so strong and vivid. I woke up and immediately drew what I could remember. According to Dr. Robert Stickgold, professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, "We solve problems while we're asleep" (Calechman, 2021). 1The brain is making connections during the night, which is why we wake up with a different perspective and/or a better mood (Calechman, 2021).2 An example of this is guitarist Keith Richards, who wrote one of the Rolling Stones' biggest hits in his sleep.3 One of the greatest scientific discoveries, Einstein's Theory of Relativity, came to him in a dream about cows and so on.4
As a young child, I had very vivid and intense dreams. Some of the dreams come from the scary movies my family enjoyed watching, like The Ghost Ship, The Chainsaw Massacre, The Ring, Jeepers Creepers, Candyman, The Grudge, The Hills Have Eyes, and so on. To feel included in my family’s activities, I would endure hours of scary movies throughout my life. Until one day I saw The Chainsaw Massacre, and it changed my life in all the worst ways. That same night my eldest sister teased me and asked, “If you could save me or your other sister, which one would you save?” I immediately broke down crying because I wanted to save them both from the monster in the movie but knew I had to pick one person. My eldest sister apologized and called over my other sister to join her in a prayer to help me fall asleep. I peacefully fell asleep with two of my sisters with their limbs intact.
A few days later, after the movie, I had to take the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System test, which is commonly known as the MCAS. I could not focus on the first day of testing. I could not get one of the characters from the movie known as LeatherFace out of my mind. I keep experiencing flashbacks from the movie, such as the scene where the father commanded LeatherFace to remove his leg with the chainsaw, which made my chest hurt. Over the next couple of days I was scared and miserable. I told myself that I could not keep living like this. Later that evening I was finally able to fall asleep. During my dream, I remember standing in front of LeatherFace in a white infinity room. A feeling of sadness suddenly overcame me. At that exact moment I realized that he was not a monster that the movie had propped him up to be, but his parents who were the true villains. My whole perception of him immediately changed, and I wanted to comfort him. I said, “I know that your parents put you up to this, but you are not a monster.” I held out my arms, and we embraced in a long hug. I felt safe and finally at peace. I’ve made a new and unexpected friend. When the dream ended, I woke up, and my anxiety was gone. I no longer feared LeatherFace. I returned to school and finished the MCAS in peace. This is one of the many examples of how dreaming has truly helped me heal.
As an adult, I keep a dream journal of all of my interpretations. During these trying times, my dreams are a friendly reminder to take care of myself. In the past couple of months I’ve had the worst nightmares. In one nightmare I lost my face. I did not have eyes, a nose, or a mouth. I woke up drenched in fear. I did not look into the nightmare as I desired to forget that it ever happened. Looking back at this time I believe that this dream may have symbolized an uncertainty about my own identity, relationships, or the future. In another dream, I had to remove a block of glass out of my foot. The glass represented many things, such as challenges and obstacles I was facing in my life and experiencing something emotionally painful. Recently, in a dream, my sister had to help remove sewing needles from the inside of my elbow. When I woke up from this dream I remembered how much fear and anxiety I’ve felt in my waking life and believed that the thin, sharp, long needles represented uncertainty, and vulnerability, which required my attention. In another dream I dreamt of crickets crawling throughout my hair. Crickets are typically considered gold luck because they represent fortune and abundance in certain cultures, but in my dream it did not feel good. While journaling I uncovered feelings of guilt, stress, and being overwhelmed by small problems in my waking life. Looking back, I failed to realize that each dream represented a suppressed emotion or unresolved issue in my waking life that I did not process. This would eventually lead to the built up of unprocessed emotions.
Last month I experienced something very painful. The emotional wall I’ve built in the last couple of months collapsed and nothing could stop me from crying. I was experiencing a lot of stress and anxiety, but did not take the necessary steps or carved out any time to process my emotions regularly. Due to our very fast-paced and hustle culture I stopped feeling my emotions to just get by. Leading up to this moment, my dreams were providing so many signs, symbols, and guidance to help me address and/or resolve the anxiety and stress. When I experienced that very painful moment I broke down into tears replaying all the painful memories I had built up. By not realizing this my dreams were finding a way to gain my attention. After that day I had to reevaluate my current situation in order to help me process and accept what had happened.
Within a couple of weeks, I had a good dream. I was underwater in a pool with the individual who hurt me. They held a middle-sized manta ray. In various cultures, manta rays symbolize serenity, freedom, guidance, protection, and connection to the ocean and spirituality. Many years ago, my father and uncle took my sister and me to the beach. The water was murky, and I couldn’t see my feet. This did not stop me from walking deeper into the water. With each step I took my feet landed on a very soft surface but it wasn’t sand. At the time I did not know that I was stepping on baby manta rays. By the fifth or maybe sixth time I stepped on the baby manta ray, I received a painful shock through my right leg. I collapsed in the water, unable to move. My father and sister quickly came to my rescue and dragged me out of the water. As frightening as this may sound, I was not entirely scared. I wish I could have seen the manta rays to avoid hurting them and continue to play at the beach.
In my dream, I slowly approached the beautiful winged animal. I wanted to feel the soft skin of the ray without harming it like last time. I no longer was afraid of this person and woke up feeling refreshed. This dream and memory of the baby manta rays brought me closer to peace. Although the person did not apologize for the harm they caused, I was able to gain a different perspective and develop a sense of peace. I learned how to accept what happened by processing my emotions, which has broadened my awareness by exploring the insightful messages in my dreams and waking life.
Calechman, Steve. “Sleep to Solve a Problem.” Harvard Health, 24 May 2021, www.health.harvard.edu/blog/sleep-to-solve-a-problem-202105242463. Accessed 13 Mar. 2025.
Calechman, Steve. “Sleep to Solve a Problem.” Harvard Health, 24 May 2021, www.health.harvard.edu/blog/sleep-to-solve-a-problem-202105242463. Accessed 13 Mar. 2025.
History.com Editors. ““Satisfaction” Comes to Keith Richards in His Sleep.” HISTORY, Apr. 2010, www.history.com/this-day-in-history/satisfaction-comes-to-keith-richards. Accessed 13 Mar. 2025.
Gorvett, Zaria. “What You Can Learn from Einstein’s Quirky Habits.” Www.bbc.com, 12 June 2027, www.bbc.com/future/article/20170612-what-you-can-learn-from-einsteins-quirky-habits. Accessed 13 Mar. 2025.
Additional Resources
Kershaw, Sarah. “How Gandhi and Paul McCartney Used Dreams to Solve Problems and Surface Great Ideas.” Washington Post, 16 June 2015, www.washingtonpost.com/news/inspired-life/wp/2015/06/16/how-gandhi-and-paul-mccartney-used-dreams-to-solve-problems-and-surface-great-ideas-and-how-you-can-too/. Accessed 13 Mar. 2025.