Introduction
It may be surprising to make that proposition when talking about coaching since coaching is not psychotherapy, and working on dreams is more seen in psychotherapy.
Yet, our dreams talk about everything we live on our lives and the professional side of our life does not escape this. So, inviting a coached customer to pay attention to his dreams in a professionally difficult period of time, and to write them down when they emerge, provide a very rich material.
Dreams have essential functions of integrating, digesting and providing meaning to what we live. This happens outside our conscious will and awareness since dreams occur during our sleep. As an average, we dream 20% of our sleeping time which is around 100mn per night.
When we remember a dream on waking or when a dream wakes us at night, then it means that a conflict, a dead-end, has not found its solution in the dream.
Coaching
It is not about interpreting the dream for the person as the dreamer is the author and the owner of that dream so it has meaning for him only.
The dream talks about the dreamer as an individual but also about the systems the dreamer is a member of (family, clubs, groups, company, …) so the dreamer will dream for his family, group or company and the dream will be then related to what the dreamer lives as a member of these systems and not only as an individual.
Since the group takes precedence over the individual, his dreams will concern his membership or sense of belonging in priority.
Close an unfinished dream:
There is no difference in nature between a dream (in sleep) and a daydream or a waking dream (awake) so it is no fraud to finish, awake, an unfinished dream in sleep. In this case the coach will invite the client to finish the dream to his satisfaction.
Make the parts talk:
If all the elements, objects, characters in the dream are split as unreconciled parts of the dreamer then it will be useful to make these parts talk and ideally discuss with one another.
Conclusion
Resolve conflicts, find ways out of dead-ends which dreams present as metaphors will help ease tension, pressure, painful experiences, as these ways out will be found by the dreamer himself and not the coach.
This will allow access to resolving thoughts, behaviors and decisions in relation with real situations.
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