The Kiss

What's in a title? In Lightning Dreamwork, developed by Robert Moss, one step along the road to dream understanding is to give each dream a title, as if it were a story.

Dream titles become like little soul tattoos that help you access a dream memory or recognize the serendipity in your life. I usually title my dreams after I'm finished relaying the dream story in writing in my journal. Most of the time, the title just wells up in my mind and I write and underline it at the top of the page. Usually the first thought is the best. When we edit our dream stories and titles, we cheat ourselves of potential healing revelations later on. Unconscious material made conscious in dreams takes time to sink in.

So a title is wonderful shorthand for the essence of a dream. The other day, one of my dearest friends was telling me her dream. She titled it, "The Kiss." I immediately felt a flutter of excitement; there's a dream whose only record I have is a dream painting I did of it on a seashell. I painted my picture, dated it and titled it "The Kiss." So we both share that little tattoo; I listen eagerly to her story.

My amazement grows as I recognize in her story, if it's my dream, the power of Divine Love,archetypal Love that is unconditional and eternal. If it's my dream, I realize that my dream self is displaying an archetypal capacity for Love in all it's dimensions: erotic and all-inclusive, non-judgmental, forgiving, all accepting - the quintessential experience of Love. There's a wonderful "Home" in her dream that reminds me of those dream locations I keep on the other side as my "Homes", my sense of center and security. Symbolically, these places speak to me of my Self; literally, they're places I can always re-enter at will, when need or desire propels me there. They are places of great comfort, wonder and Love. So, if it's my dream, The Kiss, becomes a portal to the many levels of Home in my soul and a bridge that connects me to those I love most deeply.

A great gift of listening to other people's dreams is how often they spark wonderful feelings born of my own dreams in me; dream thrills are totally re-livable any time their energy gets re-ignited. Sometimes, all it takes is a title.