Where Dreams Come From

YOU JUGGLE TWO LIVES. You live two lives: an outer life of actions and an inner, hidden life of emotions and thoughts. These inner and outer parts of you are mediated by “the psyche,” which, in the context of dreams, is defined here as your total interactions between your mind, your body, and for believers, your soul.

YOUR OUTER LIFE. As you go about your day, you carry out your roles as a parent, sibling, friend, student, doctor, bus driver, teacher, social worker, etc. Each role defines what you do, but does not define who or what you are.

YOUR INNER LIFE. While engulfed in daily routines, your mind conducts a silent, ongoing and internal dialogue as it matches up your immediate experience with what you think and feel. These inner-to-outer “matchups” may leave you feeling conflicted or feeling at peace. So many matchups get tacked on to your silent background bulletin board, that these memories of your daily experience pile up, and, like a stack of papers, they will eventually need to be sorted and filed.

THE PSYCHE AS A SILENT PARTNER. So much of your experience takes place during this silent, inner dialogue. Because this inner dialogue is a private conversation with yourself, ninety percent of what you think and feel remains unshared, even with your best friend or spouse.

THE PSYCHE KNOWS ALL, CONNECTS ALL. The part of you that does fully share in your inner conversation is the psyche. As your total inner self, the psyche blends your inner and outer lives and is the process that defines you as you. As your silent autopilot, the psyche is the “I” and “me” that is aware of all your thoughts, feelings, and actions. It acts as your main interface between yourself and the world, and acts as the best friend who has your interests at heart. The psyche represents the distilled thoughts and feelings that you arrive at, after sorting out all the inner chatter. Some call it the “inner voice.” It is the traffic cop that filters what goes in and out of your brain and the administrator that later sorts and files your daily input of matchups between inner and outer lives.

The psyche is composed of:

• Mind, logic, and intellect.

• The awake, conscious part of you that steers your daily activity.v• The unconscious and unaware part of you that bubbles with hidden urges, concerns, thoughts, and feelings.

• The ideals, goals, and standards that comprise the “inner rules” by which you live your life.

• And when mobilized to do so, the psyche can connect you to your soul and act as a gateway to the divine.

COPING IN THE FAST LANE: LIFE MOVES TOO FAST. Whether you are caught up in work or play, most folks are constantly on the go and have little time to sort out what each day throws at them. With little time to think at the end of a long day, what happens to the overload of problems and concerns that you posted on your inner bulletin board?