Exhibit Forty-Four: Selected from Michael's Dream Sight Gallery, 1st February 2002. Photo by Michael Collins
'Penguins'
Feeling The Picture
Your feeling reactions to a dream are keys to its interpretation. These are my feelings. If this were a scene in your dream or life, how would you feel about being there?
I feel the call of the waves. I'm loving standing here with the sun on me and I'm loving the feeling of standing tall and stretching my spine to its full length. I feel powerful and strong, yet open hearted and vulnerable at the same time as I expose my chest to the wind. I feel proud and steady in showing the world who I am but it is on the water that I feel at peace and at one with the elements of my being.
The Symbols
Symbols in your dreams often relate to your personal memories and associations, so always consider those first. Then let your mind play with other, more general possibilities. They will not all apply! Just open your mind and notice where the symbol seems to fit and make sense of the rest of your dream.
Animals in dreams often symbolise your basic instincts and energies. There are times for reasoning and times for following your instincts. Life generally works out best when you get a good, balanced mix of reason and instinct cooking.
So you dream of a bird. What kind of bird? In this case, a penguin. What three words would you choose to describe the personality of a penguin? Or what three words would you choose to describe how a penguin approaches life? The words you choose reveal your own energies and instincts - the ones your dream has chosen to represent as a penguin.
Let's see. Many people see penguins as odd birds. Perhaps eccentric. They waddle and slide on land and they can't fly but they're brilliant at swimming and diving. They are adapted to survive in extremely cold conditions. Little kids love penguins. Probably because they can relate to the waddle. Putting all this together, for many people a penguin's personality might be 'eccentric survivor, adaptable, loveable'. Or they might describe a penguin's approach to life as 'stay close to others to keep warm and survive together, find your special talent and refine it, don't worry about what others think of you - it's okay to waddle or slide if it gets you there'.
Find your own descriptions to discover what a penguin means to you, in your dream.
In general, birds in dreams often represent the soul or a spiritual overview. Birds usually fly high enabling them to look down and see the pattern of life, the overview. We imagine the soul flying free from the body. The penguin may not benefit from a flying-high view, but who knows what patterns it sees as it swims the ocean, especially as the ocean is a symbol of the unconscious. Meditate upon the thought that the other animal that often represents the soul is the fish, for the very reason that it knows the waters well.
The Questions
Here are some questions the dreamer of such a dream picture might ask to work towards a complete understanding of the dream.
Try these yourself: just give your 'gut reaction' answers to the questions - your answers will surprise you in the insights they deliver. The key thing to remember is, "Don't THINK about your answers - give quick gut reaction replies". Your unconscious will deliver.
If this process can work powerfully for this image, consider how infinitely more powerful the insights are when the image comes from one of your own dreams - direct from your unconscious!
- Who are you in this freeze frame dream picture?
- Which penguin did you notice first?
- Which penguin did you notice second?
- Have a good look at the image - which penguin did you almost miss seeing?
- Now take those three penguins and give them names. Choose each name to match the personality of that particular penguin.
- Imagine drawing three thought bubbles on this image, one for each of your three named penguins. Write one sentence of thought for each one. (Don't go for witty laughs. Go for what each penguin would really be thinking, in your opinion.)
- Which penguin is most like you?
- Which penguin is least like you?
- Which penguin, do you imagine, is most like how other people see you?
- Which penguin, do you imagine, is most unlike how other people see you?
- Now name three people in your life who remind you of these three penguins.
- If the ocean, for a penguin, is a place of mastery and easy freedom, what is the equivalent of the ocean in your life?
- If the rest of the world does not see the talent of the underwater penguin, what area of your life is hidden, in the same way, from public view?
- If the ice, for a penguin, is a place of awkward grace and excellent survival, what is the equivalent of the ice in your life?
- Take your answers to Q12, Q13 and Q14. Do these areas of your life overlap or are they separate?
- Take your answer to Q15. If they overlap, what would happen if you separated them? If they are separate what would happen if you overlapped them?
- Which situation in your life does this image encapsulate?
- In this situation, what next step do you now feel would best serve you?
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