Many people come to counselling saying they feel lost, disconnected or uncertain of who they really are. They might have spent a long time looking after everyone else, masking parts of themselves that they might have been shamed for or living life according to which behaviour makes them palatable and acceptable to others. This could mean they’ve lost touch with their authentic self, with their preferences and their wants and needs.

Dreamwork is about finding meaning through patterns, symbols and feelings rather than nice, neat interpretations. In my dream, a jacket became a symbol of perfection, structure and authority. The colour was a symbol of exposure and with the painting, the mistake became an opportunity to change my usual pattern of behaviour and respond differently.

This weekend, I set myself a challenge to paint without brushes. Instead, I used plants from the garden. I found dried lavender and globe allium, mint leaves and samphir

We all know the feeling of not knowing, whether that's waiting for a message that doesn't come, sitting with the uncertainty of a new beginning or fearing how a difficult conversation that needs to be had might turn out. The unknown can feel like a huge, empty, unsettling void and it can be frightening.

At some point in our lives, we might begin to ask deeper questions such as; who am I really? What do I want beyond all the "shoulds". These are not just identity questions, they are soul-level questions. In Jungian theory, the journey toward answering them is called individuation.

Have you ever woken from a dream that felt meaningful only to forget it moments later? Keeping a dream journal invites you into a deeper relationship with your unconscious like an ongoing conversation between your waking self and the symbolic world within.