We are at the foot of some cliffs, on a beach. We’ve been discussing something with a man who stands nearby. Looking around in an interested way, we notice a cave on top of the cliff. It seems familiar. As we continue to look, we see the stairs up to it have been removed, and we remember – we used to go up there! We’ve been there before, many times! It used to have a precarious staircase, and path up and into the caves and rocks. Now, it is closed for safety, the man confirms.
Sometimes we are lucky enough to visit locations multiple times over the course of years. I say lucky, because it helps build skill and awareness, returning to a dream and noticing what you didn’t see the first time; what has changed, what action did you take before which you’d like to change now; it gives you a redo of time.
In life we don’t seemingly get to do redos, although we are presented with the same pattern til we get it. In dreams, however, sometimes you get the same story, characters and location, and really get to practise and master this scene, situation, pattern or skillset.
Sometimes, such as in “chase dreams”, once you confront the chasing character, you never have the dream again. But in these “changing places” dreams, I have found that maybe it’s not just about what you did differently in the dream, but that the dream is able to share with you what you have changed in your waking life, by changing a well known or familiar place.
The actions you take within this scene are sometimes the same, sometimes similar with differences, but the place is the constant. Over the years you get to know this location, and remember it when you come back to it in dreams.
Take the example from the top of this entry. I will build on it to represent how it used to be in repeated dreams.
The scene was a dangerous cliffside approach, up many stairs, across difficult paths, towards a dark and unpleasant feeling cave entry. This is the scene of the familiar, repeating dream. In this dream, we can remember that we always walked up this path, there were always many tourists around playing on the rocks in dangerous locations above the water, and in the dream the feeling was nervous, excited, ambivalent. The weather usually got bad and we had to rush off at the end.
Then, one night you are back in the location, but perhaps engaging with it from another viewpoint – in this case, from down on the beach, looking up at the clifftop cave. The weather is pleasant, you have a friendly face nearby, you’re aware of your surroundings. You’ve noticed the change, and the dream has confirmed it with you, through the man speaking that yes, this location has been closed.
So what do we make of this? First up, can you think of any dreams you have had which do this? It might be easier to consider with a real dream series you’ve experienced. It would be a good time to quickly note down this series as it comes to you, a bit like the detail sketched out in this example.
Next, if you can recall, how did you feel in the first location over multiple times?
Was there a particular action or event which happened repeatedly? (Like you had the same conversation, you got lost, you climbed the mountain…)
How did you feel after these dreams when you woke up? For a dream to be repeated, it has a strong enough message, and often carries an emotional/sensate charge which is memorable.
If you are still, over time, revisiting the same place and it hasn’t changed for you, put a mental pin in it. Just the fact that you’ve noticed you’re revisiting this place and what you’ve done and felt, will be noticed by the dream mind.
If you have had this repeated dream location change for you, like the example, where you’ve come back and it’s all different, make a note of the changes. What were the scene changes? The character changes? Time of day, weather, mood. How did you feel in the changed location dream? What stayed with you?
So now, to consider why this repeating, powerful scene changed, we look to your waking life. Have you recently had any changes of mind, heart, perspective, experiences which have made a change on your inner landscape?
Sometimes this is not clear. Sometimes it does feel clear. Just asking the question is also enough, and noticing anything as you go about your days and dreams which might provide an answer or a facet of knowledge about the change.
I have had dreams of both types – where a “message” was really clear, and where it wasn’t so clear. With the clear one, it doubly resonated and made an even bigger ripple in my new outlook once I’d noticed the correlation with the location’s change and my mental shift.
Have you had dreams like this? I would love to know your experiences, you are welcome to share in the comments.