Acting Your Dreams: Using Acting Techniques to Interpret Your Dreams (6 page)

Paraphrasing

Paraphrasing is
putting somebody else’s words into our own. Sometimes when we read a quote that
we find thrilling, we want to tell our friends. But unless we remember the
quote by heart, we end up paraphrasing. The same is true when we try to quote
our favorite lines from a movie.

Sometimes as we’re
studying dialog or monologues, it helps to paraphrase them just a little bit.
This will help us understand what they are really saying. When I was learning
how to do Shakespeare, my teacher had us all take the play we were working on
and paraphrase it. That exercise alone did more to help me understand the scene
and the character than anything I had tried up to that point.

The same is
true of dreams. Sometimes the Dreamwright has used some form of word or
sentence structure that has us baffled. There is no need to be frustrated by
this. Simply paraphrase the words in such a way as to maintain the idea of
what’s being said. You’ll find that you are suddenly more aware of what was
intended. But be aware that whenever we paraphrase we have a tendency to put
our own verbiage and our own ‘stuff” over the top of it. Once you’ve
paraphrased the sentence, go back and repeat it exactly as it was written. This
will help keep you true to the Dreamwright. After all, we’re not trying to take
liberties, we’re simply trying to understand the Dreamwright.

Context

This is a very
important word and should always be kept in mind whenever we work with our
dreams… or with anything else for that matter. Context, simply speaking, is the
stuff that surrounds a given word or phrase that will add more information to
what is being said. For example, look at the phrase “If your right hand offends
you, cut it off.” If we take this phrase out of context we can do some serious damage
to ourselves and others. And I’ve heard of people who have done just that.

As we study our
dreams, we must take what is being said in context. I have a friend who calls
his wife Toots. To some ladies this is an insult. But in the context of their
relationship, Toots is one of those special things that she loves to hear
because it reflects his personality and his love for fun and silliness. She
loves to be called Toots by him. But out of context, this phrase would be an
insult. Me, or any of our other friends would never dream of calling her that.

Some of us have
made statements and had those words taken totally out of context. This happens
to celebrities and politicians all the time, and is a good example of why
context is so important.

So we need to
ask ourselves: “should what is being said be taken literally or figuratively?”
In the case of dreams, both could probably be true. That takes us back to the discussion
on paradox. Before we make any decisions, we must look at the dream in context.
Why did you choose a tutu for your elephant? In the context of your dream,
perhaps you’re a dancer who’s been struggling with diet issues. By using this
imagery, your Dreamwright could be poking fun at your issue in such a way as to
tell you to “have fun with your new choices.” Only the context of the other
events in the dream will tell you for sure.

In the context
of the dream example, a black dump truck would mean very little, but since the
dream involved imagery from the movie Goldeneye, then the dump truck
represented another near-miss for James Bond as he had to try to escape this
deathtrap. Again, the context is important here as it could represent something
that to me would be a ‘deathtrap…’ figuratively speaking.

Mission #10

1.
     
Pick out certain
words and phrases that have a strong emotional impact in your dream and write
them down.

2.
     
Write down the
denotative meaning of the word or phrase.

3.
     
Write down any
connotative images that come up when you read the word or phrase.

a.
      
I had a lot
of fun with the phrase “Is Jacob Well”. First of all it was a pun as there is a
place in Israel called “Jacob’s Well”. Secondly, in the context of the dream it’s
a secret code. Thirdly, the word well can have several meanings, and by looking
at it both connotative and denotative I learned a lot. Fourth, my name is
Benjamin. Benjamin was the youngest son of Jacob. He was also Joseph’s favorite
brother. Joseph, if you remember was the dreamer. He dreamed big dreams about a
destiny that he would one day fulfill.

4.
     
Take any dialog from
the other characters in your dream and paraphrase them.

5.
     
Once you have done that, reread the
dialog exactly as it is written.

6.
     
Take note of any
thoughts and insights that you experience.

7.
     
Draw pictures of
images that may pop into your head as a result of some of the words.

As I stated
earlier, words create emotion. If I tell you to shut up, that’s probably going
to make you angry. If I tell you I love you, that’s probably going to create
happiness. Below is a list of some of the most common and recognizable
emotions.

Anger

Joy

Sadness

Depression

Frustration

Elation

Anticipation

Fear

Courage

Giddiness

Annoyance

Apathy

Hopelessness

Agitation

This is by no
means an exhaustive list. You’ve probably got your own list that wasn’t included
here. It’s good to be aware of any and all emotions that you may find yourself
experiencing on a daily basis because your Dreamwright will make full use of
these.

Most of us
don’t fully recognize or understand our emotions. We can be so unaware that we
generalize those emotions we don’t understand, and categorize them into
something else. A good example would be someone who’s bored. Because this person
doesn’t have a keen awareness of the emotion boredom they translate that
emotion into depression. So now they’re depressed. Someone else could be
frustrated, but because they didn’t understand the feelings of frustration,
they translate that into anger. For someone who can’t handle the idea of being
depressed, they turn their depression into tiredness, and they sleep.

Most of us have
two or three really strong emotions that we use all the time, and tend to avoid
others, either by brushing them aside or by generalizing them into our “favorite”
emotions. Some emotions are so similar that we often don’t understand that
there is a difference. For example, frustration and hopelessness are very
similar, but they are different emotions. Frustration as an emotion, is
experienced when we know that something can be done but it’s not being done to
our liking, or being done fast enough. Hopelessness as an emotion is experienced
when there truly is nothing else that can be done, and we must surrender that
idea and move on. Examples of these two emotions can be found in relationships.
Frustration is when you know that there’s hope for the relationship but it’s
not happening as quickly or as smoothly as you would like. Hopelessness on the
other hand, happens when you realize that the relationship truly is over and
it’s time to move on.

The emotions
anger and fear are very similar. Anger usually arises when some value or
boundary has been violated. This violation may be real or perceived. In either
case, you use anger by preparing to defend your turf. Fear, on the other hand,
is an emotional response to feeling that some part of your boundaries is being
threatened. We’ll go back to the relationship metaphor again. When your lover
violates your boundaries by failing to respect your wishes, that is anger. When
you feel that somehow your lover could physically or emotionally hurt you,
that’s fear.

We create all
emotions, usually in response to a real or perceived experience. If you’re
walking down the street and a car is coming toward you and you jump out of the
way, that’s a real threat. If I throw a stick at you and tell you it’s a snake
and you scream, that’s a perceived threat. Either way, the mind doesn’t know
the difference and responds based on the information it has. That’s how we
create emotions.

Our Dreamwright
is aware of this and will force us to deal with emotions that we either won’t
face in waking life, or we aren’t aware of because we’ve generalized them into another
emotion. That could be why so many of our dreams become so emotionally charged.

Definition
of Emotion

Emotion and
action are tied together. Emotion can best be described as “Energy in Motion.”
E=Motion. Another definition of emotion could be a mental and/or physical
reaction experienced as a strong feeling that involves physiological changes
that prepare the body for immediate vigorous action, or a state of feeling.

Or another way
of saying it is, emotion is motivation…

·
        
If we Hate something
(Hate is an emotion), we are repelled from it and don't do it.

·
        
If we Love something
(Love is an emotion), we are drawn to it and therefore do it.

·
        
If we Fear something
(Fear is an emotion), we run from it.

Therefore,
emotion becomes a powerful tool for our Dreamwright. It is not enough to simply
note that we were angry during the night, but we must also be aware of the more
subtle emotions surrounding known emotions. For example, let’s say you had a
dream that you were trying to get into a room, but no matter how hard you
tried, you could not get the doorknob to turn. In your dream were you angry
because you couldn’t move the doorknob, or were you frustrated because you knew
that it could be done, but you weren’t able to? It would do us good to begin to
learn more about our emotions and the subtleties that surround them. Then we
can gain a fuller understanding of which emotions we’re truly dealing with and
see where we’re substituting one emotion for another.

If you find
that there’s an emotion you experience often, it might be a good idea to see if
you’re generalizing several other emotions into this one. If there is another
emotion that you simply refuse to accept in your waking life, you might find
that your Dreamwright will often write that emotion into your Dreamplay. This tendency
of the Dreamwright can be frustrating in waking life, but it’s nothing to
despair about. It simply means that your Dreamwright is trying to bring balance
into your life. Look hard at the emotion, and you may discover that the emotion
you thought you were experiencing isn’t the emotion you felt at all.

Mission #11

1.
     
What is the overall
mood of the dream? Is it happy? Sad? Satirical? Angry? Vengeful?

2.
     
Is this an emotion you’re used to having
during the day?

3.
     
Is it possible that
the emotion in the dream is really a generalization of one or more additional
emotions?

4.
     
In what ways is the
emotion of your dream really motion? (Remember that even a lack of motion is
motion.)

5.
     
How many emotions
would you say you experienced in the Dreamplay?

6.
     
How strong were the
emotions?

7.
     
How do you feel
about those emotions in waking life?

Substitution is
a mental means whereby an object, a situation, or even a person can be
transformed or substituted for something or someone else in a movie or a play.
An example of a very subtle substitution would be the security blanket. The
security blanket represents the substitution of some feeling of comfort or
security, substituted in the physical blanket. Another form of substitution
familiar to many of us is the substitution of hunger for another emotion such as
boredom. We’re bored and so we eat. That gives us something to do.

Your
Dreamwright loves substitution. When we look at our dreams, we will discover
that the Dreamwright will often times substitute one prop for another, one
emotion for another, and one character for another. That is what dream
dictionaries attempt to explain rather simply. For example, they try to tell us
that a serpent in our dream really represents our sexual impulses. They attempt
to make the process of substitution simple. All we have to do is look up the
object in a dream dictionary and we have our answer. The problem with this is
that each one of us is going to make different substitutions while using the
same imagery. To some dreamers, a serpent showing up could quickly turn even the
most benevolent dream into a terrifying nightmare. For others, the serpent
could represent something deified. A dreamer may have a fantasy of owning a red
sports car, so when a red sports car shows up it could easily represent the
dreamer’s dream car and not necessarily what the dream dictionary might call
“sexual prowess.”

We must be
aware of substitution. It will affect everything in the dream from the cast of
characters, to the props, right down to the colors and the choice of the
setting itself. Everything is there for a reason, whether it represents itself,
or something else. That’s why dream analysis is necessary, to ferret out these
things and find out what they’re trying to tell us.

Mission #12

1.
     
Look at the images
in your dream one by one. Start with the cast of characters. Go through props,
and then colors and emotions. Ask yourself what each of these things is in real
life. Pretend that you’re talking to someone who doesn’t know what a snake is,
for example.

2.
     
Is each one of these
characters behaving the way they normally would in a real life situation? For
example, was the snake in your dream doing something that snakes normally do?
Was it crawling and slithering on the ground? Was it resting on a rock?

3.
     
If it wasn’t doing
what it normally does, then what was it doing that makes it different? For
example, was the snake singing and dancing around. Was it ticklish? Was it
meaner than you would think a snake should be? Was it nicer than you think a
snake should be? Is this a substitution for how you feel about someone close to
you?

4.
     
Notice the emotions
of your dream. Is the emotion you experienced a normal emotion for the
circumstances? Did you overreact or under react to something?

5.
     
Notice the colors of
your dream. Are they what you expect? For example, is the sky blue or did you
notice that it was a purplish green?

6.
     
What are your waking
life feelings toward each one of the characters and images and feelings in your
dream?

7.
     
Is that consistent with how they played
themselves in the dream? For example, if you’re terrified of snakes, yet
there’s one in the dream that you seem to dote on, that inconsistency could be
a sign that you have made a substitution. Or if you passionately hate the color
red, but in your dream you paint an entire room red, then you’ve got a good
indication that there’s some substitution going on.

8.
     
Look for something
that in general may have been substituted for something else. For example, if
you dream about being stuck in the middle of the ocean and you feel like you’re
drowning, could this be a substitution for a situation in your life. Are you
overwhelmed? Do you feel as if you’ve gotten in over your head?