Dreams Vary in Types and Styles

First brush of snow at nearby pond.

The more years spent delving into the world of dreams—my own and sharing with others—the more fascinating it is to hear your different experiences of the dreamscape.

Recently, when giving a talk on dreams, I mentioned that while there are various documented types of dreams, it’s important to note that we each express our own style in this realm. By getting to know your own inner space, we learn to appreciate what is revealed in our dreamscape. And understandably we gain confidence in sharing what we experienced there if we choose to do so.

This observation generated a great conversation. The participants were very interested in discussing types and styles of dreams more deeply. Some said they had never thought about dreaming in this way. They found it very helpful to know they can be themselves in the dreamscape. Dreams are not a one size fits all. In this article I’d like to offer a brief overview about unique expressions of dreams. For some of you this is a review, but worth repeating.

The baseline for me is that dreams are available to everyone. We all dream. Importantly, they are a doorway to knowing ourselves better. They are a way that we can listen more deeply. Dreaming—in whatever form we experience them—provide an opportunity to tap into inner wisdom. It’s a portal into our unique GPS, an important internal guidance system.

Types of dreams

When we speak of types of dreams, the research goes back thousands of years. Not just modern hypotheses, types of dreams have been evident since ancient times. In my book Soul’s Homecoming, An Empath’s Guide to Inner Wisdom I wrote about dream types. An excerpt follows.

When we think of night dreams there are typically some basic types: Standard dreams, recurring dreams, lucid dreams, healing dreams, as well as nightmares. So called standard dreams tend to reflect our physical well-being or personal concerns or experiences of joy. Anxieties, fears or other emotions that arise in these dreams are common themes with many dreamers.

Even the healthiest person will have nightmares. Even so, nightmares could be an indication of something that needs to be addressed. These dreams can recur again and again guiding us to resolve a question, a concern or fear we are experiencing.

Besides the scary nighttime dramas, there are also lucid dreams and healing dreams. Lucid dreaming is interesting in that you are both dreaming and aware you are dreaming at the same time. [Lots of research has surfaced about lucidity in recent years.] Healing dreams bring both awareness and peaceful resolution in the dream story. Upon awakening there is a sense of completion. Precognitive dreams are less common but those who have them awaken with a sense of anticipation about a future event or a deep wisdom about what lay ahead.

There’s a great article called 7 Fascinating Types of Dreams: dreams are often keys to insight and empowerment. Posted October 11, 2020 by Preston Ni M.S.B.A. on Psychology Today website. The author has different descriptors for dream types that I named above but the explanations are comparable. I like that he goes into more detail about what he calls “supernatural” dreams.

What’s Your Style

On a walk in the woods I came upon this grotto.

Interestingly, even with our knowledge of various dream types, we will often assume that dreams primarily come in a narrative form. A dream can reoccur, it can offer a healing message, it may cause nightmarish anxiety, or it may offer us an opportunity to reenter the dream anticipating some resolution. Yet, we still expect it to express itself in a story format. This is not true for everyone.

Have you ever said that “my dreams don’t make sense?” I’ve heard this numerous times. Perhaps it is because we are trying too hard to fit what is happening in the dreamscape into a linear story format: a beginning, middle, and end that progresses in a logical order of events.

What if your dreams are primarily about nature with animals…just that. No obvious meaning. What if colors or landscapes present as primary characters. Do you wake up “only” remembering feelings and emotions.

What about waking up and recalling a snippet of a dream with vivid images. It may not make sense to your waking world but in the dreamscape the images were clear. Perhaps these images had characteristics such as tall, strong, expansive, wonderous, adventurous, caring, intuitive, or sincere. That’s all you remember, just the character traits.

Or dialog and music. I’ve awakened slowly from dreaming. While still resting in the liminal space before fully waking, I clearly hear a song. Similarly, I’ve had dreams where I recall a dialog between dream figures but not much else.

Furthermore, dreams don’t just happen at night. Cited research, including the excerpts from my book, all speak of dreams as a nighttime sleep activity. I confess that when I began my focus on the dream world I mostly had this mindset. Yet, some of us more often have dream-like experiences that happen while we are awake. It could be feelings from your meditative walk in nature; insights while in a creative flow; doing journal free writing; or an awareness from centering prayer or shamanic type journeying.

There are so many expressions each of us has when we tap into our own style of dreaming. The more we embrace our own style, the clearer our inner wisdom.

The Dreamer’s Inner Guidepost

Inner wisdom is a guidepost we all possess. The older I get the more essential tapping into this wisdom can be. Sometimes wisdom appears as a clear sign to follow. Other times wisdom is muted by all sorts of distractions.

In my book I wrote about dreams as a way of listening to wisdom. It’s a sacred journey we are on and dreams are an important doorway into this realm.

Carl Jung said, “The dream is the small hidden door in the deepest and most intimate sanctum of the soul.” His words remind me of the lyrics in Leonard Cohen’s song Anthem when he wrote: “Ring the bells that still can ring / Forget your perfect offering / There is a crack, a crack in everything / That’s how the light gets in.”

I believe that dreams are one of the best ways to approach the light behind the hidden door while on the journey toward Inner Wisdom.

Blessings