Why do we dream? Is there spiritual significance in dreaming? In many African cultures dreams are regarded as a link to the spiritual world. They are said to connect us to our ancestors where important spiritual messages are communicated. But from a scientific perspective dreams are regarded as an expression of memories deeply embedded in our sub-conscious minds. And according to some scientists and sleep experts, they are said to occur during rapid eye movement sleep.
I find both these theories absolutely fascinating and for the longest time I’ve wondered if there is a correlation between dreams and spirituality or they just simply occur for biological reasons.
This morning I woke up to a disturbing dream. I had dreamt to have relapsed and started using DRUGS again, which was intensely traumatic to experience in a dream, but a great relief when I woke up to realise that it was only just a dream. This is not the first time I have had such a dream. I have had these kind of dreams occurring time and again. But as my sobriety time increases, the frequency in which the dream occurs decreases.
In the early stages of recovery, dreams of using DRUGS are quite common amongst recovering addicts because of the traumatic memories of past usage and it is also the brain’s way of filtering and consolidating those memories so that we can have an ability to disconnect our new way of life from them.
This is why these dreams occurs frequently during the early stages of recovery, because we had haboured so much trauma during the time when we were still using and because we had not dreamt for the period that we were using or perhaps we had been dreaming but we were not aware due to the suppressed chemicals in our brains which enable dreams to occur vividly, our minds then tend to trigger all those memories stored in the subconscious to the conscious, which explains why for the first few months of not using substances, as recovering addicts we tend to dream a lot about either our previous experiences of using or worst, using again.
But then the response to dreams is unique for every recovering addict. The effects of the dreams aren’t the same for each person. To some people it can trigger an actual relapse where they begin using DRUGS again because of the good times they associate with the events they dream about, while to others it can reinforce their recovery because of the trauma they associate with the same events. The truth about whether you truly want to recover from DRUG addiction can also be revealed in your reaction to your dreams. This is because there are two types of DRUG using dreams which are: Relapse pending dreams and recovery strengthening dreams.
The difference between the two has nothing to do with the events that occur during dreaming, but everything to do with how each person responds to the dreams. It is true what they say about relapse, that it is not an event but a process and that when one goes back to using DRUGS again, they had already relapsed in their minds days, weeks or months prior to the day they resume to use. This is precisely one of the reasons why it is extremely important for recovering addicts to undergo therapy with a professional who can guide and help them to identify and know their triggers.
Because knowning your triggers as a recovering addict can empower you with effective ways to deal with factors that can ultimately trigger a relapse and when those triggering temptations are prevented, your recovery inadvertently becomes streghthened. And you don’t wake up from a DRUG dream feeling like using again, but you waking up feeling a deep sense of gratitude that it was only just a dream.
Gugulethu ‘GK’ Khoza is recovering addict who has turned his life around and will regularly share his experiences to inspire and help young men recover from addiction. More of his stories to follow.
