Connect each dream image to a part of you

Ask which force, attitude or part inside you each dream figure is acting out.

Por que funciona

Johnson calls this second step the one that decides whether you find the wisdom in a dream. An inner dynamic, in his sense, is any energy system that lives and acts inside you. Reading a dream figure as one of those (the stern official as your own rule-keeping, the reckless driver as a part of you that wants to move faster) turns the dream from a story about other people into a picture of forces in yourself, including disowned ones you would not name when awake.

Como fazer

1. Pick a figure or image from the dream that stood out, especially one you disliked or were drawn to.
2. Ask: where in my life right now do I act like this, feel like this, or push this away?
3. Give the part a plain name (the rule-keeper, the runaway, the one who will not be hurried) and write one sentence on how it shows up in your days.
4. Repeat for two or three other images, then notice whether any of the parts are in conflict with each other.

Evidência

Connecting images to inner dynamics is the second of Johnson's four steps. A related idea has been tested inside Hill's model: in a study of 105 volunteer clients who each had one dream session, half were randomly assigned to an interpretation of the dream as parts of the self and half to an interpretation linking it to waking life. The two kinds of interpretation did not differ in session outcome, which the authors read as meaning therapists can use either. (anecdotal)

The randomized study tests a therapist-led, single-session version of the "parts of self" reading within Hill's model, not Johnson's self-guided step; it supports it by analogy. It also found no advantage for the parts-of-self reading over the waking-life one.

Fontes

• Johnson, R. A. (1986). Inner Work: Using Dreams and Active Imagination for Personal Growth. Harper & Row.
• Hill, C. E., Kelley, F. A., Davis, T. L., Crook, R. E., Maldonado, L. E., Turkson, M. A., et al. (2001). Predictors of outcome of dream interpretation sessions: Volunteer client characteristics, dream characteristics, and type of interpretation. Dreaming, 11(2), 53-72.

Erro comum

Reading every figure as being about the real person it resembles. A dream about your boss may be about your boss, but Johnson's step asks first what part of you the boss figure is carrying.