Dark Dreaming in the New Year

I always look forward to a new year. It's a fresh start for me to decide what I'd like to create for the new year and bring some sparkle to a dreary Seattle winter. 

This year, my intention is to focus on bringing in simplicity and calm. I'm doing a 30 day meditation challenge that will hopefully develop into a daily practice instead of my current somewhat spotty practice. In addition, I'm also taking one night a week and cutting out electronic devices. I'm spending my time doing creative projects, writing, artwork, and whatever strikes my fancy.

During this time I fully expected to have wonderful dreams reflecting my new practices. However my dreams have taken a slightly darker turn and have consisted of dark and scary basements, visits to lonely cities during the winter where I wander about with no place to go, and getting caught in webs with spiders. This was a bit unexpected and frustrating and not in keeping with my plans of serenity. Aren't I supposed to be dreaming of warm tropical beaches and lush gardens? Apparently not. 

It took me a couple of days of having these dreams to realize that this is actually a good thing. I get the chance to work on my inner worlds and start to clear the internal clutter. While not what I was expecting, definitely beneficial.

Our dreams show us solutions to unsolved problems and offer guidance on future concerns so I usually try to look into what's going on if something keeps popping up. One technique I use is where I step back into the dream during meditation and look into the dream from a different perspective. I'm able to communicate with different characters and ask what their role is in my dream and their take on the situation. With their help I'm able to rework parts of the dream and find a path forward. 

My question for you is….how do you deal with your dark dreams? Do you quickly turn on the lights and take a gulp of air and hope for the memory to fade quickly? Do you take the time to look at your dream and figure out what's going on? 

I'd love to hear from you.

 Many blessing for the New Year everyone. Happy Dreaming.