What Your Dreams Are Trying to Tell You—and How Therapy Can Help || By Deanna Edwards, LPCC
Have you ever woken up from a dream that stayed with you all day? Dreams are more than random images—they’re windows into our subconscious, reflecting our emotions, fears, and desires in ways our waking mind often misses.
Take this dream, for example:
The hotel keeps rearranging itself. Hallways stretch and fold, doors breathe softly, lights hum like they’re remembering something I forgot. The air smells of steam and cut hair and time that doesn’t belong to anyone.
Before I can reach her, I’m seated in a chair that wasn’t there a moment ago. A white cape settles over me. I don’t see the stylist’s face—only hands, steady and precise. Scissors move in slow rhythm. Hair falls like feathers, like pieces of an old version of me I no longer need. With each cut, my thoughts quiet. I feel lighter, emptied, prepared.
The elevator opens without a sound.
Her room is suspended outside of time. The window shows a city that flickers between night and dawn. My grandmother lies in the bed, impossibly small, as though she’s already halfway somewhere else. Her breathing is shallow but peaceful, as if she’s waiting rather than fading.
I take her hand. It’s warm. I’m surprised by that.
She looks at me and knows me immediately. No explanations are needed. I tell her I’m here now. I tell her she doesn’t have to hold on anymore. The words don’t echo—they sink into the room and disappear.
She squeezes my hand once. The room exhales with her. The light softens. Something loosens in my chest that I didn’t realize had been clenched for years.
When I leave, the hallway stretches long and quiet, the carpet absorbing my footsteps. I walk toward the elevator, toward waking, carrying something both heavier and lighter than before.
In therapy:
This dream feels like my mind creating a threshold—using the hotel as a place between worlds, the haircut as a ritual of preparation and shedding, and my grandmother’s calm passing to rewrite an ending I never got to live. In waking life, there was no goodbye, no moment to offer comfort or feel her acknowledgment; in the dream, my nervous system gives me exactly that—not to change the past, but to soften how it lives inside me. The dream doesn’t erase grief, but it gives it shape and gentleness, allowing connection to replace absence and presence to stand in where regret once lingered.
This is where therapy comes in. In a safe, supportive space, you can explore the symbolism in your dreams, connect it to your emotions, and uncover patterns that influence your decisions, relationships, and overall well-being. Therapy isn’t just for crisis—it’s a proactive tool for growth, emotional insight, and clarity.
Your dreams are trying to communicate with you. They are a guide to understanding your inner world more deeply. Imagine what it could feel like to decode these messages, gain perspective, and approach life with confidence and self-awareness. Therapy can help you do exactly that.
About the Author: Deanna is a Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor (LPCC) at Ellie Mental Health, where she creates a supportive and welcoming space for clients to explore their inner worlds and navigate life’s challenges. Her counseling approach is deeply influenced by her background in art therapy and her work with the neurodivergent community. As a creative practitioner, Deanna draws inspiration from her own artistic pursuits—writing, acrylic pours, and mixed media—which inform and enrich her therapeutic practice.
Having personally experienced the transformative power of therapy, Deanna brings both empathy and insight to her work. She integrates techniques from Internal Family Systems, dream work, art therapy, strength-based therapy, and EMDR to help clients process trauma, navigate life transitions, and build resilience.
As a newly graduated counselor, Deanna takes pride in guiding clients through their journeys of self-discovery and healing. She is committed to helping individuals tap into their inherent strengths and inner wisdom, believing that everyone has the capacity to overcome life’s obstacles and thrive.
Email: deedwards@elliementalhealth.com
Phone: (720)-504-0201
