Trauma doesn’t always visit us during the day. Sometimes, it waits until we sleep.
Some nights, we wake with a jolt. A dream, vivid and painful, has pulled us back into a moment we thought we’d left behind.
It might not seem like it, but our brain is trying to help. Neuroscience shows that dreaming plays an active role in emotional memory processing.
When we dream, especially after emotionally charged experiences, our brain prioritises those memories to help us transform them.
Our mind is saying, “Let me hold this for you, but let me soften the edges.”
Studies reveal that dreaming about trauma can reduce its emotional sting, helping us integrate it into our story and support us in healing our past.
In Japan, they see this differently - dreams are spiritual messages.
Shinto tradition teaches us that dreams are communications from kami, divine spirits offering guidance and transformation.
Even traumatic dreams are seen as opportunities for growth.
In ancient Japan, people would sleep at sacred shrines to receive meaningful dreams. They believed that even the darkest visions could carry light, a message, a lesson, a path forward.
So the next time trauma visits you in your sleep, pause before pushing it away.
Maybe it’s your brain, or maybe it is something deeper, something spiritual, saying - “You are ready to face this, and you are not alone.”
If you have a bad dream about your trauma, reflect on it when you wake. Do you see your dream through the lens of neuroscience, as your brain trying to help? Or do you view it as spiritual, a message from something greater?
Either way, it’s a sign you’re healing.
Let’s talk!
Trauma Visits Us At Any Time.