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Additional information, including many
more questions and answers on dreams, is in the book Guidance From
Your Dreams. Description at About
Dream Book.
Click on the first word of specific question or scroll.
1. Why do I dream?
2. Does a dream sometimes tell us about the
future?
3. What are nightmares trying to tell me?
4. Why did I dream about a friend or relative
who just died?
5. What does it mean when I dream about a
famous person?
6. If I believe in reincarnation, can I dream
about the past?
7. Why do I have a repetitive dream?
8. Sometimes my dreams are in vivid colors.
What does it mean?
9. Sometimes I awaken from a dream disoriented
and it frightens me. Please explain.
10. Why aren't dreams in
easy-to-understand everyday talk.
11. How do I handle my children's dreams?
= = = = =
1. Why do I dream?
Dreams help us stay in balance. They
enable us to reach far deeper into ourselves than we ever could
consciously. Dreams reveal where hidden scars and defense mechanisms
are that have outlived their usefulness. They show us what we, at
best, may only partially know, for example, our drives and
motivations, our fears and other emotions, our secret desires, and our
preconceived ideas of what is right for us. As one dreamer put it:
"My dreams showed me that my old defense mechanisms are keeping
me from getting what I want now!"
2. Does a dream sometimes tell us about the future?
Yes, your future is often foretold in your dreams. Dreams can give
you an idea or glimpse of what's ahead by telling you where the
developments in your life are heading or depicting the success of
steps you are taking to resolve issues and conflicts now facing you.
For example, a dream setting in a store or a shopping mall may show
what's "in store" for you.
However, dreams that relate to your future do not determine what's
going to happen. Think of it this way. If someone sees you traveling
on a major highway toward Chicago 100 miles distant and predicts that
your destination is Chicago, he could be correct. Or, maybe not, if
your destination is an exit before Chicago, or if you have a serious
engine failure, do not want to drive through worsening weather,
encounter an accident blocking all lanes, learn of an emergency back
home on your cell phone, etc.
You are having these dreams because it is important that this
information be brought to your awareness. They may enable you to
change the future if you don't like the outcome. Keep a dream journal,
and review past dreams. You'll be surprised at the future that is
foretold in your dreams, sometimes a future that is years away.
3. What are nightmares trying to tell me?
Chemicals cause one kind of nightmare in your system that disturbs
your sleep. This type occurs as flashes of colors and sounds, with
bizarre and disjointed pictures. They tell you that you need to alter
your consumption or routine, for example, resisting the urge to again
have that cold piece of yesterday's pizza immediately prior to going
to bed.
The more frequent type of nightmare - a dream with a story line -- is
showing you an unresolved conflict in your life. Often with these
dreams, you'll awaken with a start, in a cold sweat and sometimes even
screaming. These are very important dreams, which you'll want to study
closely to determine what precise issue it is referencing.
For example, pay careful attention to the unsuccessful solutions that
the dream shows. If you dream that you're visiting a friend whose dog
is snarling at you and ready to attack, take careful notice of your
response. Do you run away and wake up because the dog is chasing you
or do you try to win the dog's friendship only to be bitten? In either
event, the dream is showing you that you are failing to find a
solution to whatever dynamics are happening in your relationship with
your friend. Once you have that understanding, try to see how this
applies to what is happening in your life with this person.
Consciously decide what workable solutions are available. Try
implementing those changes in your daily life. When you do, your
dreams will change. You won't have any more nightmares about the
problem. Guaranteed!
4. Why did I dream about a friend or relative who just died?
Dreams are a wonderful way to help us live with our emotions after
a loved one dies. Dreams let us say those things that we had neglected
to say when the person was living. They enable us to feel the person's
love for us and allow us to be together with them again. And, when
we're no longer engulfed in sorrow, dreams help us to rebuild our
lives, understand more about the nature of life, and find new meaning
in the spiritual concepts of overcoming death.
5. What does it mean when I dream about a famous person?
When famous people appear in your dreams, look at what you know
about them. Are they prominent in current events? Do they have a place
in the past such as historical figures? Are they actors in movies? If
so, what movies have they been in recently? If they are TV stars, do
you watch the show with you family? Once you have determined what they
might represent, they will help you amplify the other information that
the dream presents. Also, look for puns. A dream with movie lead
Nicolas Cage suggested to a female dreamer that a close relationship
with a specific someone would also be confining as if she were in a
"cage."
6. If I believe in reincarnation, can I dream about the past?
One of the easiest ways to discover your past lives is in dreams.
In fact, it is far safer and much more accurate than other means such
as hypnosis and regression. In fact, it has even more meaning to you
because you have actually experienced a portion of that incarnation as
you were dreaming.
7. Why do I have a repetitive dream?
When you dream the same dream two or three times, it is a sure
sign that the issues or situation in the dream are very important and
that real life sources are not being adequately attended to. Sometimes
these dreams will reappear within a two- or three-day period,
sometimes once a month or year. For many, longer-term recurring dreams
may come over ten- and twenty-year periods of time. These deal with
lifetime issues and are depicting concerns that we've faced as far
back as childhood. Often the key to all dreams that repeat is any
change, regardless how small, in the recurring dream.
8. Sometimes my dreams are in vivid colors. What does it mean?
Colors in dreams always represent feelings that we have related to
the issues depicted in the dream. The more vivid the color, the more
intense the emotion.
9. Sometimes I awaken from a dream disoriented and it frightens
me. Please explain.
There's no need to be frightened or even alarmed. When you find
yourself disoriented when you waken from a dream, it simply means that
the dream is very real to you and you were very involved in the
experience in the dream. Often you'll find that during the day you
might flash back to a portion of the dream, or a word or even a
feeling. In fact, even though you don't actually remember the dream,
you'll find the mood of the dream carries with you during the day. All
of these are clues for you to use to find a more important tie-in
between your dream and your daily life.
10. Why aren't dreams in easy-to-understand everyday talk?
Words are too limiting. Pictures are much more meaningful. They
contain many more messages, now and for future interpretation. It is a
different part of us that understands the beauty of paintings or
music. It is this part that communicates to us in dream language,
which is mostly images. You read the words "round ball" and
they have some meaning. You see a two-dimensional picture in a
magazine or a three- dimensional dream image of one and you instantly
have dozens more data bits. In a glance, you know its size, color,
degree of fullness, roundness, smoothness, what's happening with it,
where it is, its composition, what kind it is (beach, volleyball,
etc.), who is doing what with it, what or who is nearby, its
significance at that moment, and on and on. Some of us learn Spanish
in our home or as a foreign language in school or in another country.
There's no reason why we can't learn dream language as well as an
awake-life one.
11. How do I handle my children's dreams?
I try to interest children in their dreams. I shared appropriate
dreams with my children and listened to theirs. It's important to be
careful and not get too deeply into their social space. Talk to them
with more tact, imagination, and humor than to other folks. Emphasize
the positive and the applicability to the child's life. Downplay the
negative.
-- A six-year-old girl dreamed that a
hippo swam up to her boat and ate her book. She awoke crying and ran
to tell her mother. Mom responded, saying, "Oh, but the dream
did not end. The hippo said, 'Yum! Yum! You write good books, Chris.
What a delicious book!' and then swam away." The little girl
laughed and was soon fast asleep.
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