Dr. Lee Haworth's Weblog

Studying at the Martin Luther King School of Spirituality

drleehaworth — Sun, 03 Apr 2011 02:35:51 +0000

In the dream, I am going to New Orleans and earning an advanced degree at the Martin Luther King School of Spirituality. My dream colleague is an earth scientist and has just returned from Africa with an earth sample.

In the morning I awoke with a crook in my neck, which I blamed Daylight Savings Time and the previous night’s bad television. I had been viewing the devastation of Japan’s earthquake. Then I remembered this dream, of studying at the Martin Luther King School of Spirituality. A smile came to my lips. I almost brushed aside the memory of an individual telling me of his trip to Africa to get an earth sample, but I realized this dream detail was important.

I had been reading Linda Hogan’s Memoir, The Woman Who Watches Over the World. She describes the time her daughter drove to New Mexico in the middle of the night. She drove several hours before turning on a dirt road, not knowing where she was or why she gathered a container of earth and brought it home. Later she found she had gone to Chimayo.

Chimayo, it turns out, is a famous place of healing earth. “There are places that beckon,” Linda Hogan writes, “as iron to magnet, a geology that calls us with its properties, a geography of healing.” Her daughter had gone not to church, but to the source itself–a site deemed sacred by people who have inhabited the land tens of thousands of years.

Certainly earth from Africa serves as a reminder to cherish the heartland from which all humanity evolved. And the location of the dream, New Orleans, evokes a well loved geography which has also suffered catastrophe, and flooding (as Japan did after the tsunami).

The power of Martin Luther King and his representation in the dream offered me hope at a time of real disaster. Martin Luther King had a dream, and he was effective as an agent of increased consciousness. His ability to create lasting change for the good is important to remember at a time when so much of what is in the news can leave one feeling helpless.

The morning after watching news of Japan’s Earthquake and tsunami I awoke with a crook in my neck, and by the afternoon the pain had meaning. I took it as a talisman of a dream healing, a token from my dream study at the Martin Luther King School of Spirituality.

Striking Back at the Green Monster

drleehaworth — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 23:40:09 +0000

In Patricia Garfield’s book, Your Child’s Dreams: Understand your child better through the world of dreams, the following dream is reported (the dreamer was an eleven year old girl):

I found a cave and went into it and kept going through it and it seemed like there was no end to the cave. It was cold dark and scary. Suddenly there was a huge green monster following me. Then I grabbed my stick and hit him on the head. So he just fainted. Then my dream ended. See my website for more information regarding Dr. Lee Haworth, Licensed Psychologist in Concord, California.

Psychologist and Dream Author Patricia Garfield, Ph.D. asserts that how the dreamer responds to being chased or attacked is crucial. Ability to take action and get help in the midst of a scary dream (or life situation) is important; it is the foundation for all therapy. Unless we learn to face the things we are afraid of in waking life (or at least learn to accept and tolerate them), we live in fear; we constrict our choices by avoiding fear-producing people and situations.

Children who learn to respond to the aggression that is directed at them in dreams by being appropriately a assertive, are building a valuable skill to cope with life. Instead of fearfully retreating or hiding in their dreams, they gain confidence in their ability to better their lives. This dream skill carries over to the waking state, enhancing its quality.

As you gather your child’s Chase or Attack dreams, Dr. Garfield states, be sure to observe the outcome and any attempts, no matter how small, to cope actively with the terrifying element. I agree with Patricia Garfield that any such effort must be encouraged, and work with children who come to see me by doing so. See my website for more information regarding Dr. Lee Haworth, Licensed Psychologist in Concord, California.

The Fallen Idol

drleehaworth — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 15:52:31 +0000

I am encouraging Bev to climb up on a standthat is something like a pedestal for a statue. She doesn’t really want to, but she complies. I keep asking her to raise her arm higher, like the Statue of Liberty raising her torch. Suddenly she begins sto teeter and fall off. I am terrified that she might get hurt or killed, but I’m paralyzed and can’t do anything to stop her from falling.

This is a dream of a man recounted by Alan Siegel in his book, Dream Wisdom: Uncovering Life’s Answers in Your Dreams. The man who had this dream had put his wife on a pedestal. In fact he had idealized her so much that he had been blinded to who she was. Yes, she was intelligent and successful, yet she has been giving him a clear message that her career was more important than deepening their marriage or having a family. To his chagrin, this man’s idol at fallen.

As this man talked more to a friend about his marital discontent, he realized that his wife had withdrawn from him and invested herself in her career. He realized that if he wanted to have children, he would need to leave her and find someone who shared his vision of a family life.

After talking about his marriage with his friend, the man sought individual psychotherapy. He realized he needed to address his tendency to idealize women and his fears of intimacy if he was going to achieve a successful marriage. The man credited his divorce foreshadowing dream for starting the process that led to his separation from Bev.

Dreams can help us when we are at an impasse in our relationship. We can make a realistic decision about whether to repair our relationship or end it. Siegal writes that dreams foreshadowing a separation give us clues to repetitive patterns in relationships, such as this man’s tendency to idealize women. Understanding such tendencies can help us avoid repeating the same mistakes in future relationships, and psychotherapy can help. See my website for more information regarding Dr. Lee Haworth, Licensed Psychologist in Concord, California.

The Dog is Alive!

drleehaworth — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 02:50:56 +0000

In the dream I’m chasing ladybugs, which I bought at the nursery and turned loose in the house. I am taking the ladybugs outside to the neighbor’s rose bushes. My neighbor loves roses! She’s on vacation at the time. Well I am turning those ladybugs loose on the roses so that they’ll eat the aphids. Next, I see something moving. It is in cellophane wrapping. There is some blood, but it is alive. I realize it is an animal, and it is a dog that has been discarded, but it is alive, full sized and walking. In fact the dog is sniffing the ground. I see that the fur on the back of its head is a little thin, yet the dog is OK. I start to wonder what I’ve unleashed. I feel overwhelmed now with responsibility for caring for the dog.See my website for more information regarding Dr. Lee Haworth, Licensed Psychologist in Concord, California.

This dream provides a wonderful example of the significance of instincts, and their portrayal in animal dreams. Turning the ladybugs loose on the aphids starts the cycle of instinctual health moving! This dream tells a story of a woman who has kept her instincts under wraps in some way, and in fact the appearance of blood and the thinning fur on the back of the dog’s head seems to implicate that the dog has has been beaten. Seems like this dreamer has been hard on herself as of late. Yet she is able to unwrap her inner dog, and is relieved and thrilled that the dog is very much alive. She is experiencing some trepidation as she becomes aware of the responsiblity of caring for her own instinctual life. Yet the warm and friendly outgoing instincts of this dream dog may in fact prove to a great ally in her own life experience and professional growth. See my website for more information regarding Dr. Lee Haworth, Licensed Psychologist in Concord, California.

The Menacing Unicorn

drleehaworth — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 01:09:04 +0000

I am walking to school, and all of a sudden, a huge unicorn with a really mean face starts chasing me. He looks like he wants to hurt me, and I start running into the hills behind my school, trying to climb a tree. I just make it up a tree, and he tries to bite me, but he can’t reach me.

See my website for more information regarding Dr. Lee Haworth, Licensed Psychologist in Concord, California. This is a dream recorded by Alan Siegel, in his book Dream Wisdom:Uncovering Life’s Answers in Your Dreams. A preparatory or rehearsal function of dreams is evident prior to anticipated turning points in life. For a preschooler, the birth of a sibling, moving to a new home, or entering kindergarten are events that are accompanied by a flurry of dreams. The child who had this dream, named Ariel, was a bright five-year-old and a star in her gymnastics class, according to Siegal. All summer, she and her parents were busy preparing for her first day of kindergarten. After three years at a very nurturing preschool called the Unicorn School, Ariel proudly procalimed that she was older and ready for something new. As the big day approached, she began to have nightmares.

The above dream came after the second day of kindergarten. Ariel was experiencing some emotional fears about her new school, even though she was excited about the change. She had to make many adjustments, including a new teacher, unfamiliar kids, and a longer school day with a new after-school program. The Unicorn School had been a secure nest in which Ariel had flourished. Now the good unicorn had been replaced by her evil twin, and Ariel was experiencing school as something treacherous.

At turning points, dreams prepare us for new roles and relationships by exaggerating the dangers of new and unfamiliar situations, relationships and tasks. Ariel’s Creature Threat dream emphasizes the dangers as well as her modestly successful attempts to cope.

Understanding the meaning of the unicorn image provided reassurance to Ariel’s parents. Wthout further explanation from Ariel, the dream revealed that her excitement was tempered with normal fears, which she was trying to supress. Once her fears were more apparent to her parents, they could offer more guidance about how to fend off evil unicorns and how to make friends and adjust to kindergarten.

At times of transition, children’s Creature Threat nightmares shine a spotlight on the issues that are most upsetting, yet inexpressible for them. To a parent whose ears and heart are open, listening to your child’s nightmares is like hearing their unconscious speak directly to you, delivering a special call for help. See my website for more information regarding Dr. Lee Haworth, Licensed Psychologist in Concord, California.

Battery Acid on the Telephone Wire

drleehaworth — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 03:59:38 +0000

I am at a holiday resort with others. We’re scheduling activities and deciding how to entertain ourselves. I am enjoying being away for the weekend. There is something about suitcases, or my car trunk. Oh, I’m detecting that some battery acid may have leaked onto the telephone wire stored in the trunk of my car.

This is a dream of a woman who has been struggling with her own internal critic, and the harshness with which she treats herself. She laughed after having this dream, because it so graphically depicts the problem of what Jung would call the “negative animus,” or overly critical internalized male aspect of her internal experience. Since having this dream, the woman has been consciously countering acidic self-attacks with affirming self-talk. See my website for more information regarding Dr. Lee Haworth, Licensed Psychologist in Concord, California.

The Transcendental Bridge

drleehaworth — Tue, 05 May 2009 18:01:08 +0000

In the dream I’m going to Washington DC on a short trip, one that I’m fascinated to be making. I always wanted to go across the country to our nation’s capital. It’s my plan to be with a group so I can study with them. We’re doing a poetry workshop together, I’m trying to make the arrangements. Once I arrive, I see myself making my bed so I’ll be comfortable. I do some sight seeing. Next, I am on a plane, returning. Then I am on a glorious bridge, like to Golden Gate Bridge. I am driving over a sparkling span of water. I realize that I’m home, and that the bridge represents the transcendent function. A huge homecoming is taking place.

See my website for more information regarding Dr. Lee Haworth, Licensed Psychologist in Concord, California. This is a dream of a woman who is moving to a new home. Upon having this dream, she realizes that the move is more than just a physical choice. It was about a homecoming, a real surge in higher consciousness, and coming home to her soul. Washington D.C. is the nation’s capital, and the visit to this city in the dream underscores the dream theme of homecoming. Bridges symbolize transitions, and a unity through connecting to something else. In Jungian Psychology, the bridge represents the transcendent function, or the connection between the personality and its Soul. The gloriousness of the bridge, and the sparkling water over which it spans, speaks to the numinous nature of this bridge.

“Evicted”

drleehaworth — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 03:52:37 +0000

In the dream I am at a theater performance. During intermission, I’m leaving the performance and walking toward town. A woman accompanies me, saying that the theater isn’t what it used to be. She mumbles that this production, in particular, is becoming stale. I stumble across a room I’ve rented, yet forgotten about. As I walk into the empty apartment, I realize I haven’t been paying rent. I see the phone and remember that I haven’t been answering messages. Then I go outside, where I see my vehicle parked. Police are there, saying they’re going to tow it. I tell them I’m the owner and apologize for having forgotten to pay rent. The police say it’s too late. I go to the location I have been staying at, and someone says, “You’ve got a message from your landlord and they’re not too happy with you.” I think I am going to have to pay a lot of back rent. Next I receive official notification that I’ve been evicted. Only the eviction notice is a check. It is a beautiful rainbow-colored check made out in my name for the amount of $30,000.

See my website for more information regarding Dr. Lee Haworth, Licensed Psychologist in Concord, California. This is the dream of a woman who has been participating in a week-long Advaita Vedanta retreat. During the workshop this woman has been involved intensively with inquiry as to the true nature of her being. Some of the limited constructs that informed her life have been seen through and a new spaciousness has been revealed. The rainbow colored check for $30,000 (the trinity, multiplied exponentially!) indicates that a real leap in consciousness, indeed, a holy recognition has occurred.

The Bruja

drleehaworth — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 15:00:28 +0000

In the dream I am driving and wobble a bit to the right. Maybe because I am not sure I am going to stop in time at the light. I am in the next lane over and haven’t even checked to see whether that lane is free. Luckily it is clear. Next a policewoman stops me and asks me for my license. She is a wiry little woman and we look each other in the eyes. She can see that I am quite sober. Next thing she takes out a skillet and starts frying up some chile peppers and onions. She is a Bruja! She is all fired up. I feel my clarity and purpose.

This dream came to a woman after she had given a very successful workshop. The dream speaks to the power of the indigenous figure as a central figure in the dream. As a result of her enjoyment from giving the workshop, the dreamer felt more closely connected to her own inner resources. The indigenous dream figure validates the woman for her own internal wisdom. See my website for more information regarding Dr. Lee Haworth, Licensed Psychologist in Concord, California.

The Bonding Ceremony

drleehaworth — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 18:18:08 +0000

In the dream a ceremony takes place. Four individuals are present, and the ceremony includes a woman who is in the late stage of pregnancy. The faces of the individuals are not clear, and all are draped in ceremonial robes. I see the outline of their bodies as they hover together in the semi-dark. No words are spoken. There is simply a cosmic hum I am aware of. I know that this is a bonding ceremony. The two shamans have come to allow the connecting of the mother and child to take place, and the father is also present. There is a feeling that such a bonding is supported by love, and is taking place in its own time, regardless of what I or anyone “does” about it.

See my website for more information regarding Dr. Lee Haworth, Licensed Psychologist in Concord, California. This is a dream of a woman who was becoming aware of a new feeling of integration and possibility in her life. The figure of a woman in late pregnancy represents new possibilities. The development of a positive relationship to new life is blessed by the divine, represented by the robed priestly figures. Four is an important number in Jungian theory, representing a wholeness now evident in this women’s life.