Door dreams

Gaynor phoned a radio show I was on last week to ask why she dreams about doors that don’t quite fit into their frames.

She might close a door but notice there are gaps between the door and the doorjamb, or the door can’t be securely closed. She can’t walk away, in her dreams. It worries her that the doors don’t fit snugly and securely.

There’s only a couple of minutes or so to chat with a guest on radio, time enough to suggest what a dream might mean and offer some interpretation tips that I hope the listeners can apply to their own dreams. I’ve been interpreting dreams on a broad variety of radio shows for over thirty years, generally at least once or twice a month, and – while we’re looking at numbers – twenty-six years ago, on 1 May 1998, I launched my website, and fifteen years ago, also in May, I started my podcast, The Dream Show. The blogging began over fourteen years ago, and you can read hundreds of those blogs on dreams and dreaming here.

Yes, I’ll get back to Gaynor’s doorjamb dreams.

Sometimes I wonder if I’ll ever run out of ideas for blogs. I adhere to a strict blogging timetable, and, thankfully, whenever it’s time to sit down and write, a subject emerges. Which brings me back to Gaynor.

When people phone into the radio shows, their conversations are in the public domain, so I’m able to draw on them to help promote more awareness about dreams and dream interpretation through some of my blogs.

A good starting point, when looking at a dream, is to see it as a metaphor. Listening to Gaynor as she spoke, I understood that she was worried that she couldn’t secure a room or her home in the dreams. She didn’t feel safe, or relaxed. She may have difficulty securing personal boundaries, not always able to relax in her own space without interruption from people or their draw on her time. Or she may not be able to shut out anxious or worrying thoughts. Her dreaming mind might reflect these feelings as not being able to shut a door tight.

Perhaps Gaynor wants to shut out the past, or the future, to literally ‘close the door’ on something, but her dreaming mind shows she’s finding this challenging.

These reflections are starting points for exploring a dream. In consultations, we spend a full hour exploring one dream to discover its deepest and most insightful meaning. During that time, there’s the opportunity for me to ask questions: Gaynor, how did you feel when you couldn’t shut the door? What did you think might get in? Or get out? What else was happening in the dream? And so much more. During a consultation I also apply a range of tools and techniques that help to throw light on the dreamer’s mindset, why they experience life in the way that they do, and what can be done to change this, if they wish.

Many dreams, like Gaynor’s, are problematic: there’s an issue that can’t be resolved. They generally reflect unresolved issues in life, and exploring those dreams reveals the solution.

Other dreams feel more uplifting, or curious, not stuck, not unresolved, yet the dreamer is unable to relate it to life and needs help to see the connection and what the dream can offer. Such dreams often help dreamers to connect with wonderful aspects of themselves that they can engage and bring more fully into life.

But back in the land of radio and that precious couple of minutes that is all we have to help a caller and enlighten the listeners, here’s one other tip I offered Gaynor:

After such a dream, when you are awake, close your eyes and imagine yourself back in the dream, only this time the door is easy to close, it fits snugly, and you feel safe, relaxed, and calm.’

If Gaynor does this, she effectively communicates with her unconscious mind that came up with the door symbol. She informs her unconscious mind that she is ready to set healthier personal boundaries, or completely shut out intrusive, anxious thoughts. It’s a powerful technique (called a dream alchemy practice) that essentially reprograms the unconscious mind – or rewires the brain if you prefer to think of it that way.

Again, it’s radio, and it’s a starting point. If Gaynor’s dream reflected a situation where she was trying to shut out a problem or fear that she would be better to address – or shut out a wonderful opportunity that’s she’s not ready to embrace – I would prescribe a different dream alchemy. If this was Gaynor’s situation, the remedy I offered on radio would take a longer time to resolve, but it would still get there. It would begin by helping her feel safe and in control, a point from which she would gradually feel a readiness to address the situation. An in-person consultation, with a precisely prescribed dream alchemy practice would deliver a quicker result.

You can learn more about interpreting dreams here.