I find it fun, interesting & helpful to do inquiry on dreams, fairy tales and movies.
There is more freedom of imagination, the themes are amplified, and I am out of my familiar context of everyday life even as the themes and stories are the same.
So I can take any dream, fairy tale or movie, identify my thoughts, and do inquiry on these thoughts. And I can also imagine myself in any role in those stories, image what thoughts I have about what’s happening and other characters in the story, and do the same.
It can be a playful and juicy way of tapping into some core stories.
For instance, I had a recurrent childhood dream which still resonates with me:
I climb the ladder to the attic and just as I am able to look into the attic, everything disappears.
I fall through a black space, for a long time.
Then I see a black pot below me. A witch is stirring it.
She looks up at me and grin.
During the recent dark night, it felt like falling into this witch’s pot so this image is certainly still alive with me.
Some thoughts that come up:
Something terrible is happening.
I will die. It’s terrible to die. It’s wrong to die.
She will kill me. She will eat me. She will torture me.
She is evil. She is cruel. She is dark.
I am falling. I don’t know what’s happening. I need to know what’s happening.
Worksheet:
- I am afraid of the witch because she will do something terrible to me.
- I want the witch to be kind to me, help me.
- The witch shouldn’t be dark and evil. She should be on my side.
- I need the witch to be kind to me.
- The witch is evil, dark, mysterious, unknown.
- I don’t ever want the witch to be cruel to me again. I don’t ever want her to be dark again.
Note: This may be another juicy workshop topic – “Doing The Work on Dreams, Fairy Tales and Movies”. (And any other stories from books etc..)