Dream Wisdom: Uncovering Life's Answers in Your Dreams by Alan B. Siegel (2015)

, 29 Jun 2019

Dream Wisdom is a book that focuses on dreams in specific phases and development stages of one's life, from the womb to death.

 THE GOOD

Dream Wisdom is a roundup book because it has everything you want to know about dream recall, dream writing, dream tending, specific types of dreams.
You will learn why attending to your dreams is important to highlight emotional discomfort, anxiety, insecurities and fears associated with life transitions to integrate them.
The book is written in a very accessible language and, therefore, easy to read, engaging, and entertaining.
The dreams selected and short and sweet and are perfect to exemplify what Siegel is talking about. Right to the point, and never too convoluted, to lengthy or too personal not to be understood by the reader.

I especially loved chapters 11 and 12. In chapter 11 Siegel goes through the history of dreamwork and examines the contribution of different dream schools to the field, but explained in a simple language.  I agree with Siegel that an eclectic approach to dreamwork, instead of siding up with just one system or school, has many advantages and allows a multifaceted approach to dreams that, in the end, benefits the dreamer. Chapter 12 is a practical guide to work with your dreams. Among other things, you'll learn:
  • How to remember dreams.
  • How to write a dream diary.
  • How to use active imagination to work with them (he calls it dream space, dreaming the dream onward, dream reentering), gelstat (dream dialogue), dream art, embodied dreamwork through dramatization.
  • How to create your very own dream symbol and theme dictionary.
  • How to work with nightmares.
  • How to use dream incubation.

Chapter 8 on PSTD nightmares, plus what he says on nightmares in general in chapter 12, highlight the healing properties of our dreams and how important is to paying attention to them after traumatic events to heal that trauma and possible preexisting ones.
I especially loved the chapters on children's dreams (chapter 3) and the dreams related to pregnancy from expectant parents (chapter 4) . Especially fascinating are what Siegel calls fetal identification dreams, something of which I knew nothing: "In these dreams, the father-to-be unconsciously expresses the power of his prenatal bond with his child by taking on a role that is directly parallel to the experience of the fetus in the womb. Late in pregnancy, it is not uncommon for men to dream of popping out of caves or emerging from underwater bubbles." (p. 23)
The advice Siegel gives to therapists on how to incorporate and use dreams in therapy is also important:   "therapists working with dreams should not overemphasize or push an agenda of seeking out recovered memories. They should weave a balance between taking upsetting dreams and their possible connection to past trauma very seriously and being cautious about taking dream symbols too literally." (242-243).

 

 THE SO-SO

The Structure

The two final chapters seem to me to be the foundation of dreamwork, and therefore should have been at the beginning of the book. I think people who pick up the dream and have never read anything about dreamwork, would appreciate these being at the beginning, not at the end.

Repetitive

The same concept and ideas are repeated over and over again with different words and applied at most dreams in different phases of one´s life. From that point of view, there is nothing specific about those dreams, they provide the sort of information one find in all dreams if one pays attention to.

Some chapters

I didn't find the chapter on grieving and dreams especially inspired. 

In the chapter on middle age, Siegel states: "Menopause requires mourning the loss of identity as a woman able to bear children. When a woman’s grief can be expressed and resolved, a new birth occurs: the beginning of a new phase of life that offers the excitement and challenge of new roles and identities and new sources of fulfillment. (p. 150).

I found this to be a bit of crappola and bordering offensive. Statements of this type basically stand on the principle that women define themselves by their womb, by having children and by being able to conceive forever ad infinitum. There must be women like that, certainly, women for which giving birth and being fertile are the core of their being, but I don't think most women would accept Siegel's statement without frowning or being irritated. Menopause has undeniable hormonal changes, which affect the body, but these effects vary from woman to woman; however, menopause can also be a period of sexual freedom and heightened libido (so many men want to forget that altogether because they don't want to hear it)  and a period of true maturity. Of course, if you are in your 30s or 40s, wanting to conceive and get an early menopause, that's a terrible thing. I think that the crisis that many women experience at middle age is not related to their fertility but mostly to upheavals in their relationships, career and empty nest syndrome.
The bibliography at the end of the book is a bit outdated, something that can be easily fixed on the Kindle edition. 

NOT SURE   

One of the items of advice that Sielgel gives to favour dream recall is: "Review the day’s events in the evening before going to sleep. You can write your review in your journal or share it with your partner. Focus on interactions and events that provoked strong feelings. This can make you more sensitive to the issues that you’re most likely to dream about and heighten the probability that you’ll remember a dream." (p. 246). This might be useful, especially if you are starting to write your dream journal. However, in my experience this is not necessary. I find revising some stressful events in my day at night a way to keep me away, not to induce me to sleep well and recall more dreams.  It might be just me.

 

KINDLE EDITION

Overall, this is a polished Kindle edition with not typos or oddities on sight, and with notes and most cross references properly hyperlinked. I say most, because there are some that aren't. The hyperlink to Siege's own website directs to a Japanese unrelated site. Also, some parts of the text might have been linked, especially references to the book index; e.g. p. 254. Also the link to the educational page  of the Association of Study of Dreams devoted to nightmares in p.  8. has changed from the one in the book to this one. 

OVERALL

This is a very nice and readable book with plenty of practical information about dreams on transitional periods of life. It can be read from beginning to end, or by choosing isolated chapters. Its price is a bonus!

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