Tending Day Dreams by Stephen Aizenstat

 JW: I attended his Dream Tending workshop many years ago and learned a great deal. I don't particularly think we need this for our journey but I thought the part about tending day dreams was useful

Dear Dream Tending and Deep Imagination community, On this second Tuesday of 2023, let me wish you a fulfilling New Year. And, too, I want to encourage you to set an intention for this year. Bring your continued attention to tending dreams. This year, our Dream Tending community will attend to both nighttime dreams as well as daytime dreams—waking dreams. When an event or experience captivates your curiosity, notice what about it is dreamlike. Open your curiosity and pause. Bring your witnessing presence into relationship with the unfolding phenomena. In this way, you enter and engage the fields of imagination. Notice what is unfolding: the figures, the landscape, the emotions, and the actions. Don’t lead or problem solve. Your curiosity to detail will support your patience.    Next, write or sketch what you have experienced. This experience is sometimes called a reverie, or a vision, even a revelation. Work with the Dream Tending skills that you are familiar with. You can find the skill-set at dreamtending.com. You may very well discover that this experience has qualities of “guidance.” At the dawn of this new year, l want to support you in allowing the deep imagination of guiding dreams to assist in your authentic life journey.    Warmly, Steve Stephen Aizenstat Ph.D. Clinical Psychologist/Marriage Family Therapist/Credentialed Teacher/Professor and Dream Tender Articles: Amplification: Discovering the Archetypal Depth https://dreamtending.com/blog/amplification-discovering-the-archetypal-depth/ The genius behind the methodology of amplification is Carl Jung, a Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who founded analytical psychology. Jung felt that dream images are much more than just repressed infantile wishes and drives, more than connections to the circumstances of the day. They originate, he said, in the collective human psyche and can represent universal archetypes. That is, dream images are similar to the characters and themes found in fairy tales, mythology, religion, and world literature. They are archetypal in that they can tell you something of the grand story in which you live. (more at link) Association: Finding the Hidden Connections https://dreamtending.com/blog/association-finding-the-hidden-connections/ When I started studying psychology, particularly dreams, something came alive inside me. I remember the reading list in Psych 101 included Freud’s The Interpretation of Dreams, in which he suggests that dream images are more than what they appear to be. Freud’s method of association signaled the beginning of modern dreamwork. So, I believe starting here is a good idea. He said that the images in dreams are representations of latent wishes or repressed aggressive sexual drives, which are too disturbing for the conscious mind to encounter directly. (more at link) 9 Important Terms to Understand the Meaning of Dreams https://dreamtending.com/blog/most-important-terms-meaning-of-dreams/ Dream Tending — what does that even mean? When you first start reading about dreamwork through tending your dreams, it can feel like you’re reading in a foreign language. Even if you’re well-versed in the psychology of dreams, the concepts and terminology of Dream Tending can be confusing at first. A basic understanding of these important terms can help you understand the core concepts of Dream Tending and the theories behind the practice. (more at link)