A Waterfall That Healed Me

“Never stop dreaming”, they said. Well, only if it were that easy. There has been a brewing

curiosity within me to explore what dreams conceal. The potential they have and what they

mean. Anytime I think about the word ‘dream’, I am transported back to the dream I had

when I was 15.

Envision yourself floating on a waterfall, right at the crest. Feel a sense of peace that you

imagine only gods could feel. An icy-minty sensation all around your neck and head, slowly

floating towards the end of the waterfall. Wondering if falling down the waterfall could be

dangerous. You are aware that you have no control, and yet you give in. You sway down the

waterfall, only to feel an even greater sense of peace and calm. The dream ends with you

floating in the plunge pool,  and then you wake up. You take a few minutes to realise that it

was only a dream. You struggle to believe it because of how real it felt. The minty cooling

sensation around your neck, the feeling of floating around, all of that was, in fact, a dream.

This is exactly what I experienced at 15. You would think that this was just a random hyper-

realistic dream, right? But the timing of this dream is what weaves it into a beautiful

experience that I will never forget.

During lockdown, when all of us were forced to stay indoors and sanitize every inch and

corner of our house, a lot of us were also forced to uncover parts of ourselves that were kept

locked inside the dingy dungeon of our minds. The buried, repressed memories from my

childhood never showed themselves until lockdown, and when they did reveal themselves, I

struggled to focus on anything but those memories. I tried convincing myself that I could

keep them locked away in the dingy dungeon, but that just did not prove to be possible.

Struggling with that heavy emotional turmoil for days and then weeks pushed me to finally

seek therapy. I reached out to my childhood teacher ,  who’s also a counseling psychologist,

and she gifted me those sessions as my birthday had recently passed. I remember going to

sleep that night after the session, and that is when I had the waterfall dream. Strangely, I

suddenly developed a sense of pain that moved down from my shoulders towards my tailbone each morning for around 4–5 days, until it vanished. I asked my therapist if it had any relation to my emotional turmoil, and she mentioned that in the spiritual world, it indicated letting go. This whole experience is so close to my heart that I just had to read up more about it. That’s when I stumbled upon an article about a journalist turned quasi-medical expert, who had a prodromal dream about having thyroid cancer. They talk about their experience of going to multiple doctors because they were convinced that their dream of having needles poked into their neck meant something, only to find out that it truly did! This experience completely transformed the writer’s life and made them want to dedicate their life to researching dreams.

Many dream occurrences and phenomena that are frequently reported seem to align with ancient cultures, expanding on dream interpretations and symbols. Although they are not entirely reliable, it nudges me towards Jung’s collective unconscious- that everyone is born with a hidden chest of symbolic awareness that presents itself in dreams. Circling back to my dream of floating on a waterfall, various sources say that it could symbolise letting go, the onset of a new phase in life, significant life transitions and transformations, and moving into

something new. Processing my neglected emotions through therapy helped me close that

chapter of my life and transcend into a new one. It felt as if my unconscious symbolized

releasing my emotional pain that was held on to for a long time through the imagery of

floating down a waterfall. Similar to the writer who was warned about their malignancy long

before it occurred. This leads me to believe that the unconscious has the power to indicate

and communicate through the medium of dreams using symbols that have roots in ancient

cultures. Most ancient cultures expanded on spirituality, which begins by turning inwards and

exploring one’s mind and soul. I am left with an intriguing question: Is the unconscious a

gateway to the spiritual world, and are we even equipped to understand what it is trying to

show us?

Author- Reet Saini, a student of B.Sc Applied Psychology, finds joy in exploring the inner world of herself and others. She writes with the intention to comfort, question, and gently heal. Her words often echo the beauty of small moments, quiet strength, and honest emotion. Writing is her way of holding space for stories, for people, and for hope.