In dream, the final unit of the Who am I course, the assignment was to make a dreamcatcher. Before creating it, we were asked to tell someone our dream that we really trusted. They would then interpret the dream, pointing out symbols that we dismissed as unimportant. I thorough enjoyed this exercise. It was very insightful to see my dream from another’s point of view.
A dream catcher catches out negative dreams, ensuring that the dreamer dream positive dreams. It is made of various materials and have different elements which symbolizes positive elements and negative elements. I used the following materials to make my dreamcatcher. I used tissue paper, glitter, string, glue, clear tape, a mantra, feathers, a metallic bird, and a butterfly. Here, you can read my dreamcatcher narrative.
The center of my dreamcatcher symbolizes my father. He was the world to me. He was everything to me. I view my life with him as a different lifetime. I illustrated this by using a picture of me as a little kid with his arm around me. I’m the happiest kid in the world; I have a toothy smile etched upon my face and my dad is wearing a very warm smile. When I look at the picture, I’m looking at a snapshot of a different life.
I incorporated many positive elements into my dreamcatcher. There is a tiny red string that is connecting the heart of my dad to mine. This represents our very strong bond. We loved each other very much. The red thin string that splits the dreamcatcher into segments represents love and happiness. The white butterfly represents change. It’s very important to have the ability to accept the changes in our life despite the difficulty of them. It is easier said than done. But, I’m working very hard to move forward with my life. The butterfly also represents a different lifetime. It stays in one place for a fleeting moment. People admire how beautiful it is. In the blink of any eye, it has flown elsewhere. Similarly, my life with my father was short-lived. He passed away when I was just 14 years old. Although he has departed this world, I will always cherish the precious moments that we shared together.
I included a mantra about my dad in my dreamcatcher, which symbolizes hope and moving on with my life. I say it two to three times a day with a picture of him front of me. It helps to alter my thinking about my father. Instead of remembering him as been very sick with Cancer, I’ll eventually remember him with a big smile on his face.
The metallic bird represents the longing for harmony in my life. It’s very hard for me to attain harmony in my life without my father. It also symbolizes freedom. I want to eventually lift my pain and grief from my heart. The feathers symbolize reality. When I’m in my dream, I don’t want to be conscious that I am dreaming. I want my dream to be so real to the point that I am convinced that my father is alive again. The feathers also symbolize freedom. I want so much to be free of pain. The white glitter represents purity. My dad was very pure. He was almost a son of God in a sense. It also represents goodness. He had a really good heart and strived to do only goodness in this world.
I want my dreamcatcher to block pain and sadness. These are represented by the blue string that divide the dreamcatcher into segments. The last thing that I want to dream about is seeing my dad suffering and being helpless. I don’t want to see him day after day losing the battle against cancer.
In the “If this were my dream” exercise, my friend provided me with insight into what my dream was telling me. In my dream, my dad and I went separate paths. I kept moving along the path alone. She interpreted this as moving on with my life. If I could stay in the dreams with my father, I would choose to never wake up. When I dream about him, I am sometimes convinced that he is really in my life again. If my father was still in my life when I woke up, I would be so happy. I think about him everyday. The conscious part of my mind perceives the positive and negative memories of him. That longing and love for him manifest themselves in my dreams. Although I may not feel the loss of him everyday, it is buried within my unconscious.