Windows on Your Inner Self:
Dreamwork with Transactional Analysis
Margaret M Bowater
Abstract
This article describes how dreams can be
used in personal growth and therapy, not
only to help you clarify issues, but also to fa-
cilitate change. Dreams provide metaphors
that show how you experience your world,
both inwardly and outwardly. They may re-
flect your behavior patterns, identify script
issues, show the effects of trauma, warn you
of danger, or inspire you with symbolic vi-
sions. They are produced on a kind of"inner
stage," giving you the opportunity to consi-
der patterns in your life and practice new
decisions. Dreams emerge from the creative
inner core of the psyche, which some would
call the soul or spirit.
Did you know that your dreams can give you
real insight into what is going on inside you?
That you have several dreams a night, even if
you do not remember them? That they show
you stories about yourself in a kind of meta-
phorical language that is easy to learn? That
they can become your own inner counselor,
giving you continuous and useful feedback on
your life?
Let me give you a range of examples based
on my experience with hundreds of clients and
dreamwork trainees over the last 15 years. You
dream every night about the emotional issues
currently on your mind, whether from the fore-
ground or the background of your life. Typi-
cally, in dreams you experience yourself in the
midst of some action scene, for example, "I'm
driving my car, but it keeps going backward
and I'm getting very frustrated." Or, "I sud-
denly remember with horror that I haven't fed
my baby for two weeks, and I rush to her bed-
room to pick her up. But my children have
grown up!" Or, "I'm running away from a huge
tidal wave, but I'm about to get swamped. I
can't run any farther."
Vol. 33. No. I, January 2003
Dream Ego
Notice how each dream just described pro-
vides a picture of the dreamer. This is called
the dream ego, and it holds up a kind of mirror
to the person regarding some aspect of his or
her life. The accompanying feelings in the
dream are real, although often more intense
than one experiences in waking life. So, for ex-
ample, ifyou were the car driver above, I might
ask you, "In what way do you feel as if you are
going backward instead of forward in your
life?" Or I might say to the mother, "Are you
taking enough care of your inner Child?" Or I
might inquire ofthe runner, "What life circum-
stances feel as if they are building up to a cri-
sis?" Thus you can see how each dream you
have is a symbolic statement about how you are
experiencing your life at the time. The feelings
are real, even if the imagery may seem bizarre.
Sometimes you are not an actor but an ob-
server of the scene or action, such as, "I'm
looking at a big old house. One wall has been
badly burned." Or, "I keep having the same
sort ofdream, where a plane falls out ofthe sky
with a terrible crash." If these are not literal
memories, they are likely to be self-images, so
I might ask the first dreamer how she or her
family has been harmed by a recent event, and
of the second I might want to know which of
his hopes keep getting dashed.
Context and Language
Every dream arises out ofthe current context
of the dreamer's life. What was on your mind
the day before the dream? What happened, and
what feelings did you have? For example, if
you had a sharp verbal conflict with a woman,
you might dream of a physical struggle such as
this: "My sister and I are stabbing each other
with table knives. They don't draw blood, but
the blows really hurt." Dreaming tends to use
physical metaphors since it is a primal language
that predates human speech. It happens mainly
37
MARGARETM. BOWATER
during sleep (or when one is very relaxed and
not actively thinking), when the mind is proces-
sing recent new input and probably sorting
memories. It also tends to intensify feelings, as
if drawing attention to emotions not adequately
acknowledged.
Knowing the exact date of a dream is useful
in identifying the trigger event, which may
have been a major encounter or as small as a
thought you had while reading the newspaper
and identifying with someone else's story.
Past and Present
Often a dream pulls several threads together
in one theme, thus collating similar memories.
Ifyou are in therapy, you will be recalling early
memories that become mixed with the present,
as in Anna's dream: "I'm sitting at my desk in
the office when Mr. Jones walks over to me,
snarling at my work. and I start to cry. He was
my third-grade teacher, and I hated him. "
Here the memory of Mr. Jones has collated
with Anna's image of her current boss and the
sound of a fierce dog, reducing her to a power-
less Child ego state again. Recurring patterns in
a dreamer's life may also be collated into a
single story, such as this summary from Bart:
"I'm walking alone on a track in the wilder-
ness. Every time I come to a hut. there's al-
ways other people who 've taken all the bunks,
and I have to sleep on the floor. " Bart always
felt like an unwanted outsider in his family and
still had difficulty sustaining relationships. In
both ofthese cases, the dreams provided a sym-
bolic scenario that the dreamers then used to
practice new Adult communication skills.
Script Change and Redecisions
Eric Berne, the founder of transactional
analysis, pointed out in his last book (1972,
Chapter 9) that sometimes the image of the
dream ego is shown in a dream behaving in
such a characteristic way that a whole life
script can be seen from it. Bart's dream pin-
pointed his childhood script belief, "I don't
belong," so I began to challenge this beliefand
encourage him to make connections with
people. Six months later, Bart dreamed, "I'm
cooking pancakes in a small roadside cafe. "
Bart's new dream showed that his script was
38
changing. He no longer felt like an outsider in
the wilderness but had a useful role in helping
others on their journey.
Robert and Mary Goulding (1979), the foun-
ders of redecision work in transactional analy-
sis, described several examples ofworking with
their trainees' dreams. When someone pre-
sented a dream that showed he or she was stuck
in a script (i.e., a self-defeating pattern of be-
havior), they encouraged the dreamer to give
voice to each element of the dream, thus high-
lighting the inner conflict as a current choice.
They focused the dreamer on finding a new
solution, both in terms ofthe dream and also in
real life.
Here is a clear redecision dream presented at
one of my workshops. Timothy, 65, had been a
faithful servant of Christ all his life in a par-
ticular denomination with a very narrow the-
ology. Recently, he had begun to explore other
approaches to faith.
Dream Report: Invitation to Paint. A child
was sitting in a room with a parent-rather a
vague image, perhaps a woman ofabout 40. I
came in as a visitor. The child seemed to be a
little girl of 4 or 5. spotlessly clean and im-
maculately dressed. I was covered in paint-I
had been having so much jim outside some-
where that the paint covered me. At my invi-
tation the child timidly came over to me, and I
realized it was a boy as I took his hands. Im-
mediately he withdrew. as his hands became
paint covered on touching mine. He shook,
almost as though terrified at getting dirty.
There was a look ofrevulsion on hisface. The
sole parent just looked on without any appar-
ent reaction. After some moments I invited the
child to come out to play with the paint-to
have fun. cut loose, get mucky. The child re-
acted as though finding the very idea totally
new, inviting, rather exciting-as though he
was seeking to give himselfpermission. The
parent raised no objection. The dream ended
as we headed out to the garden.
Timothy had already recognized the child as
his own young self. He had been an only child,
brought up to be good and clean in every way.
He identified the parent figure in the dream as
the part of himself that had raised the child but
was now "tacitly allowing the child space to
Transactional Analysis Journal
 WINDOWS ON YOUR INNER SELF:DREAMWORK WITH TRANSACTIONAL ANALYSIS
give himselfpennission" to step out into a new
and exciting world. The visitor was his adult
self, "one who had become something ofa reb-
el, wanting to enjoy responsible freedom, to
take risks, and not have to get it right all the
time." As Timothy drew the scene on the
whiteboard, he added a new scene in the gar-
den, where there were many pots of different
colored paint, and the child was soon as hap-
pily multicolored as the visitor. He was por-
traying a redecision to let himself "get messy"
in the world. To consolidate the redecision in
his Child, 1 had him reenact the scene of going
through the door into the garden and getting
into the paint. Why paint, 1 asked, rather than
mud? "Because it's so rich and colorful," he
said. The joy on his face was delightful to see,
as his inner Child was liberated from his old
"black-and-white" script.
Reflecting on the dream, Timothy shared
some of his excitement at being "called by the
Lord into responsible freedom" in a fuller and
freer life. "Life should be more of a party than
a prison," he declared.
Dream Reentry
When you have an unfinished dream, you
can actively practice making changes in your
own script beliefs by choosing a more con-
structive behavior and reentering the dream.
Sometimes this takes courage and facing an old
fear. Here is a dramatic example from Max,
who was in a midlife transition.
Dream Report: Unknown Presence. I
dreamed I was lying in bed in the bedroom I
had as a child. The door was slightly ajar. I
became aware of a presence coming up the
stairs, and I felt a powerfulfear ofsomething
unknown approaching. I woke up sweating,
with a sense ofutter terror.
Max had spent 20 years in a life of outdoor
adventure. Now he wanted a career in the field
of counseling, but he was daunted by the pros-
pect ofundergoing therapy himself. Having had
many nightmares as a child, he still feared de-
mons in his inner world. But with this dream he
applied his years of action training to the new
situation: "I thought about what to do if this
were happening for real. My philosophy is
always to do something, take control of the
Vol. 33, No. J, January 2003
situation. So 1 decided 1 would open the door
and go and see what was there, 1 let myself go
back to sleep again, back in the bedroom-and
the whole sense of terror repeated. This time 1
got out of bed, opened the door, and went
down the stairs to see what was there. At the
bottom, 1 found myselfstanding on the edge of
a stone jetty, looking out at a great black
stretch of still water, glimmering faintly as far
as the eye could see. There was no threat there.
1 felt quite calm, and thought, oh, of course,
with a sense of relief, and the dream dis-
solved."
As a result of the dream, Max went ahead
with therapy, confirming that there was nothing
so evil inside him after all, and now he is an ef-
fective therapist himself.
Conscious and Unconscious
The "underground sea" Max found is a mar-
velous metaphor for the unconscious, the un-
known internal energy field from which your
conscious ego emerges. Max found the sea
calm, but at times it can be full of turbulence.
Eric Berne (1947/1968, Chapter 4) described
the unconscious from a Freudian perspective in
his first book as a region full of the conflicting
instinctual energies that drive you, as well as
your feelings about the "unfinished business"
of childhood, both of which are visible in
dreams. Many children's nightmares arise out
of the conflict between instinctual desires and
the protective controls exerted by parents to fit
the child into their family and social group. As
you start to think about your experience, you
may form negative conclusions about yourself;
these are called script beliefs, and they are
often shown in dreams, as were Bart's in the
dream described earlier.
Anxiety
Think about what transitions are currently
going on in your life. Leaving home? Entering
or leaving a relationship? Becoming a parent?
Losing a parent? Changing a job or location?
Losing your health or your hopes? Slow transi-
. tions may be more in the background of your
mind but still a source of anxiety about a
change of status in your life. Dreams often
bring up latent anxiety for your conscious
39
MARGARETM. BOWATER
attention. For example, Carol dreamed the fol-
lowing: HI am saying good-bye to my daughter
at the door when I hear my mother calling
from the kitchen. I rush back tofind she's hav-
ing a heart attack, and I'm trying to call an
ambulance. " Carol was afraid that this was a
prediction about losing her mother, who was
actually quite healthy. Her daughter, however,
was about to leave home to go to university,
and Carol faced an "empty nest" for the first
time; so it was actually her own role as a
mother that was in such distress. Working with
the dream helped her to face the loss more
openly, especially when we created a two-chair
dialogue with her Nurturing Parent ego state.
Transference
If you are in therapy, some of your dreams
may portray your current reactions to your
therapist, especially ifhe or she reminds you of
a significant figure from your past. Dorothy
dreamed: HI was back at the convent, facing
Sister Miriam, latefor class again. I didn't like
doing history, so I used to skip classes a lot. "
While this is a clear memory, why did it come
up after Dorothy's third session with her thera-
pist? It did not take long for them to recognize
the parallels involved and then to talk about
their present relationship.
Setting
The setting of a dream often indicates a par-
ticular aspect of your life according to your
personal associations, such as your office or
your childhood home. Bart's wilderness track
dream described earlier suggested that he was
seeing the whole of life as a journey through
friendless territory, while Carol's dream high-
lighted the kitchen as her place of nurture. The
mood of a dream may be strongly conveyed by
sunlight or twilight, wind or rain, spring or au-
tumn. Medieval imagery could suggest "middle
age." Ask yourself, "Why did my dream maker
choose this particular setting?"
Associations
Most dreams are constructed out ofpersonal
memories creatively reorganized into new
scenes and stories to fit a current theme. Such
memories may include scenes from childhood
40
stories, films, books, art works, religious in-
struction, or any fantasy material that made an
impact on you at the time. You have a vast
store of images in your memory banks, some of
which are strongly imbued with personal emo-
tion and others of which have more general
connections with the culture of which you are
part. Deeper still lie archetypal images that
seem to belong to the primal experience of the
human race; they tend to appear as encounters
with awesome figures of legend or religion,
such as a dragon, eagle, shaman, or angel, with
a strong message to give you.
Dreamwork thus usually involves a process
of unraveling your associations to the forms
and figures in the dream. Take, for example,
the image of a big black dog, which has ap-
peared in a number of dreams with which I
have worked. Its meaning varies from one cli-
ent to another. Ernie had a recurring dream of
trying to get away from such a dog on a battle-
field.
Dream Report: Dog in the War Zone. An
enormous black dog, /ike a great Dane, was
pursuing me through a desolate no-man 's-
land. I was alone and getting more and more
exhausted. Then I realized I would never be
able to get away from it, so there was nothing
to do but turn and face it, even though I ex-
pected to get savaged. When I turned, it slowed
down and grabbed my right hand in itsjaws-v-I
could feel the teeth and the moisture and heat
of its mouth -and it simply held on, without
actually biting me. It wasn't going to let me
escape, but neither would it destroy me.
Ernie finally recognized it as his own anger
that he had never acknowledged. He did not
dream about the dog or the battlefield again.
In contrast, Fiona dreamed a different black
dog dream.
Dream Report: Dying Dog. I am sitting qui-
etly beside a black dog lying on a path. It is
badly injured and dying.
She associated the dog with a special friend-
ship that was coming to an end.
Ernie's black dog symbolized a disowned,
angry part of himself, a "shadow figure" in
Jungian psychology, one from which he could
never get away. The sensory impression on his
hand lasted for hours. Fiona's black dog made
Transactional Analysis Journal
 WINDOWS ON YOUR INNER SELF: DREAMWORK WITH TRANSACTIONAL ANALYSIS
sense to her when she thought of her friend's
faithful dog and matched it with her side of the
dying relationship. Thus you see that accurate
interpretation of a dream symbol depends on
how well it fits the individual dreamer's experi-
ence and associations.
Dialogue with Dream Roles
The best way to understand a dream role is to
let it speak for itself. Since the dream ego rep-
resents your conscious ego trying to make de-
cisions about your life, other roles in your
dream may symbolize either your view of
people and things you have to deal with or
parts of yourself that may not be fully con-
scious. In the first case, the dream portrays
your behavior in relationship to others; in the
second, you can become more aware of your
internal dialogue about an issue in your life.
Therefore, when Fiona let herself speak as
the dog in her dream, it said to her, "I'm too
badly hurt to keep going. Just let me die in
peace." Although this was not what her con-
scious ego wanted to hear, she knew at a deep-
er level that it was true about her relationship.
The dream thus brought the loss fully into
Adult consciousness to be faced in reality. The
transaction between them as depicted in the
dream is Adult to Adult, even though painful.
When Ernie asked the dog what it wanted, he
learned that it meant him no harm, but neither
would it let go; he had to learn to live with it.
Since he had just had a sharp experience of
suppressing his anger, which did not fit his
self-image as a trainee chaplain, he suddenly
made the connection with running away from
the dog. He then had work to do in therapy to
change his script about showing anger.
Archetypes
Archetypal images are symbols ofprimordial
or universal human experience, recognizable
mainly from folktales, mythology, and religious
traditions. They often come through the uncon-
scious at times of deep personal struggle. For
example, Michaela dreamed not of one black
dog but two, beside a heavy iron gate on the
road she was walking along.
Dream Report: Guard Dogs at the Gate.
There were two huge black dogs guarding a
Vol. 33. No. t. January 2003
gate like in Greek pictures, facing each other
with teeth bared, really vicious looking and
high, with studded collars. They turned toface
me. I wondered if I was going to the under-
world. I knew I had to disguise my fear to get
past them. I didn't hesitate. I kept walking, pre-
tending I wasn't scared. The gates swung open
themselves and I walked through. I woke up
amazed, thinking, "How did I manage that? "
I'm normally very frightened ofdogs.
Michaela realized that the dogs symbolized
a test of courage, as in many archetypal myths.
When she asked herselfwhy they had appeared
to her, they matched her doubts about carrying
on with a course of study that was very chal-
lenging to her beliefs at the time. She did not
need to invite the guard dogs to speak. Perhaps
if they had "spoken" they would have said that
only the true of heart could pass through the
gate. Archetypal roles speak profound truths.
Inner Core
From what creative inner source do these
dreams come? Obviously they do not come
from your conscious ego, which is often in con-
flict with other figures in the dream. When
given a chance, these others speak a different
truth. The perspective shown is larger and
wiser than that ofthe ego and thoroughly aware
ofwhat is going on internally. In some dreams,
you actually know that you are in two places,
both acting and observing yourself. Liz had
such a dream.
Dream Report: Eagle Over the Moors. "I
was aware that I was a woman in times long
gone. I was dressed in a long skirt and a wool-
len tartan plaid shawl, which I wrapped
around my head and across my body. I held the
plaid shawl close to me, guarding myselffrom
the damp and cold ofthe mist swirling across
the moors I walked upon. My steps were slow.
There was no definable path. To my left was an
outcrop ofrock and a dominant cliffface, its
craggy and broodingfacade soaring skyward.
An eagle soared among the peaks, rising and
swooping majestically between them, then
down, down, to the valleyfloor. I couldfeel the
air rush past my wings. With speed and
strength I circled over the woman. I caredfor
her-I urged her to carry on. "
4/
MARGARET M. BOWATER
Notice in this dream the sudden shift in per-
spective from the woman to the eagle, as if
there were no distance between them. The ef-
fect of this dream was to give Liz a sense that
she was not alone in her life, that she was in
touch with a "higher self' that gave her more
courage.
Jungians say that dreams come from the deep
Selfat the center of the total psyche, both con-
scious and unconscious, that seeks to maintain
your psychological balance (Hall, 1983). Ifyou
practice meditation, you may be seeking to get
in touch with this source of inner wisdom.
Some people call it the inner spirit or the spark
ofGod within you. In his first book, Eric Berne
(1947/1968) wrote briefly about "the fourth
force of personality ... the soul" and Physis,
the life force that constantly seeks growth and
healing (p. 98). Later, Muriel James and Louis
Savary (1977, p. 33) gave us the concept ofthe
Inner Core, the universal Self. They dia-
grammed it as a cylinder of energy moving
freely through the center of the ego states, with
access to the whole personality.
Whatever you choose to name it, there is a
creative intelligence within all of us that con-
tinually produces purposeful dream stories on
the inner stage of the mind.
Posttrauma Dreams and Nightmares
Not all dreams are as clear as I have sug-
gested so far in this article. Sometimes they are
full ofoverwhelming emotions, repeating night
after night such that you may even be afraid to
go to sleep. Hayley had such horrible memories
of sexual abuse from her girlhood on a farm.
She tried to lock these memories away, refus-
ing to talk about them. But when at age 22 she
moved into a flat with her boyfriend, the night-
mares came back, interfering with her sex life
until she sought help from counseling. Hayley
had a particular recurring dream from her
childhood.
Dream Report: Dog Invading. "I'm outside
a big wooden house when I sense that the Dog
is coming. I get inside fast and shut the door. I
see the Dog through the windows-a big black-
and-whitepit bull terrier, with lots ofteeth and
dripping saliva. I'm panicking. There's an-
other door open and a window-I rush over
42
and shut them just in time! It's okay-I'm safe,
but now I feel trapped. "
In this dream, Hayley's original memories of
being raped by her oldest brother have com-
bined with the image of the most dangerous
animal on the farm. The house has become a
metaphor for her body trying to protect her
from invasion. As she talked about her ex-
perience in the safety of therapy, the buried
feelings at last were released, and her fear gave
way to a healthy anger. She began to take steps
in real life to confront her abuser, and the
nightmare evolved through a series of dreams.
First the Dog stopped on the far side of the
yard, just watching while she crept out of the
house. Then it changed into her human brother,
still a fearful figure, but the rest of the family
gathered around her and finally he ran away.
The dreams lost their terror. And how did she
actually reclaim her sex life? She negotiated
with her partner that she would be the one to
initiate lovemaking, at least until she felt safe
again.
In this example you can see the normal pro-
cess of recovery from trauma reflected in Hay-
ley's dreams. The recurring nightmare not only
carried the buried emotions but also pinpointed
the worst aspect of her experience: the sense of
"animal invasion." Notice how she strength-
ened herselfby gathering her family in support,
a reflection of what happened in real life.
Nightmares usually wake you at a point of ter-
ror when you are reduced to a powerless Child
ego state. A good way to work with them is to
use your Adult thinking, gather your resources,
and reenter the dream when you feel ready to
create a new ending.
Psychic Dreams and Visions
While most of your dreams will reflect cur-
rent issues in your life, some people occasion-
ally have a powerful warning dream with un-
expected content, probably "photographic" in
style rather than impressionistic, which conveys
a sense that it might come true. I call this the
"clairvoyant edge" of the mind, which is more
active in some people than others and also
more active around the time of a significant
death or potentially serious injury-as if your
spirit tries to warn you to prepare yourselfor to
Transactional Analysis Journal
 WINDOWS ON YOUR INNERSELF:DREAMWORK WITH TRANSACTIONAL ANALYSIS
take steps to change the coming event if pos-
sible. In our Western scientific paradigm, many
people dismiss such dreams as mere imagina-
tion, but I have found them to be remarkably
widespread. Clairvoyant dreamers are often
surprised and relieved to have their experience
respected at last.
For example, Josephine was admiring her
friend's new baby in its pram when she had a
sudden image that it was dead. She was so hor-
rified that she told no one but her husband.
Two months later the baby was found dead in
its pram. Her precognition came true in detail.
In contrast, Jocelyn dreamed of "a red track
along the right side ofmy waist. I thought, 'It's
my nerves,' and realized it must be shingles,
but the blisters hadn't come out yet." When she
awoke, she immediately looked at her waist ex-
pecting it to be true and was greatly relieved to
see no sign ofshingles. But the dream gave her
such a shock that she immediately canceled a
new commitment and reduced her workload to
a more sustainable level.
It seems that such dreams should be treated
as serious warnings, presenting a possible fu-
ture but not one that is necessarily predeter-
mined (Ryback & Sweitzer, 1988). There is
also a whole range of visionary experiences,
both literal and symbolic, that lie beyond the
scope of this article.
Some of the hallucinations of mental illness
and/or certain drugs could also be considered
to be an extreme form of dreaming (Jung,
1961/1987, Ch. 4), but with a destructive effect
on the mind. Sometimes the imagery can be as-
sociated with personal experience, although in-
tensely exaggerated. Whatever message you
take from a dream or vision should always be
checked with your Adult ego state.
Day-By-Day Dreaming
Most of your dreams will involve metaphors
and require some thought on your part to find
the meaning that applies to you (as is true ofall
spiritual work). You may catch only a few, but
they can help your self-understanding by pin-
pointing issues for attention. Keep a clipboard
beside your bed along with a little light in case
you wake in the dark, and jot at least some key
words as soon as you wake (to be expanded
Vol. 33, No. I. January 2003
later if time is tight). Details can be forgotten
quickly if not recorded. File the dreams in date
order with titles in a binder and reflect on them
more fully at least once a week. Add your asso-
ciations and notice how your dream ego seems
to be responding. If you are in therapy, discuss
this with your therapist, who may also be wil-
ling to help you create new endings for unfin-
ished stories as a way of practicing redecision
work (see Bowater, 1997).
You might also like to go to a dream work-
shop and to read some of the new books being
written about dreamwork as a result of rising
interest and research in this field. Serious stu-
dents might even join the Association for the
Study of Dreams, which has a website
(www.asdreams.org) and publishes a regular
journal (Dreaming).
Whether or not you work with your dreams
in therapy, they offer you direct access to the
spiritual dimension ofyour life. As you learn to
listen to your own inner counselor, you will
often be amazed at the wisdom you carry deep
inside you.
Margaret Bowater, MA., is a Teaching and
Supervising Transactional Analyst and a psy-
chotherapist in private practice in Auckland,
New Zealand. She is also the author 0/a book
on dreams and visions and afounding codirec-
tor ofboth the Auckland Transactional Analy-
sis Training Institute and the Human Devel-
opment and Training Institute ofNew Zealand.
where she tutors in transactional analysis.
dreamwork, and spirituality, including offering
a 100-hour dreamwork practice certificate.
Please send reprint requests to her at 109
Eban Avenue, Northcote, Auckland 13 I 0, New
Zealand; mbowater@clear.net.nz.
REFERENCES
Berne,E.(1968). A layman's guide to psychiatry and psy-
choanalysis. London: Penguin. (Originallypublishedas
The Mind in Action. 1947).
Berne, E. (1972). What do you say after you say hello?
The psychology of human destiny. London: Corgi
Books.
Bowater, M.(1997). Dreams and visions: Language ofthe
spirit. Auckland, NewZealand:TandemPress.
Goulding, M. M., & Goulding, R. L. (1979). Changing
lives through redecision therapy. New York: Grove
Press.
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MARGARET M. BOWATER

Hall, J. (1983). Jungian dream interpretation: A hand-
book oftheory and practice. Toronto: InnerCity Books.
James, M., & Savary, L. (1977). A new self" Self-therapy
with transactional analysis. Reading, MA: Addison-
Wesley.
Jung, C. G. (1987). Memories. dreams. and reflections.
London: Fontana. (Original work published 1961)
Ryback, D., & Sweitzer, L. (1988). Dreams that come
true. New York: Doubleday.

Advice from Around the World

From India
by Dr. T. S. Radhakrishnan

In the Indian/Eastern context, parents are culturally respected, so it is sometimes therapeutically

effective to work with aspects ofthe Parent ego state instead oftrying to bypass it. Clients tend
to do this initially from their Adapted Child and later to integrate it with their Adult. A good piece
of therapeutic advice is, "You can respect your Parent and be a Blessed Child to do what you
want."

Another strong cultural aspect in Indian/Eastern cultures is to subordinate one's own needs to
the needs of others. Carried out from Adult awareness, this is the key to excellent teamwork.
However, problems can arise when this is done from Adapted Child or demanded as a right
from parents. For example, someone might complain, "Like a candle, I burned myself to give
light to others, but they didn't have the courtesy to respect my sacrifice." My advice to such a
person is, "If your objective is to give light to others, you can do it better by being like an electric
bulb rather than a candle. That way you can give light to them for much longer and still take
care of your own needs."

Finally, in Indian/Eastern culture, some people feel they are responsible for everything that is
going on around them. Again, if carried out from the Adult, this can be an excellent thing. How-
ever, often people take on such responsibility in ways that can lead to problems. For instance,
an elderly couple may feel they are responsible for what is happening to their children. My ad-
vice to such clients is, "Your children are grown up and they can take care of themselves. You
can relax and mind your own business and provide them with your moral support."

44 Transactional Analysis Journal