Dreams. Can they help direct and heal our lives?
/A story as told by Caroline Myss, a spiritual teacher and medical intuitive.
“After giving a workshop in Amsterdam, a participant in the workshop was assigned with taking me to the airport. In the car he looked over and said let me tell you my story. After giving a workshop for two days that was the last thing I wanted to hear. But it one of the best stories I ever heard.”
“He told me at one time he had two business partners and two businesses. One business was useless and the other is the one they worked. One day he came in and his two partners said we don’t want to work with you anymore. You can either take 100% of the stock in the useless company or $ 35,000. You choose. $35,000 was not going to cover his expenses or his debt. He went home to tell his wife and upon entering the house he said I need to talk to you. She in turn said I need to talk to you first. I want a divorce. In one day he was being divorced by his wife and his business partners.
He said, now I am not a spiritual man but there is only one source that could mess up my life this way and it must be God. He decided to pray. He said God if you are there, and you had anything to do with this then talk to me. That night he had a dream.
In his dream he was driving a car over a very steep and icy mountain road through the Alps. He was clinging to the wheel as he drove turning corners and slipping on the ice. Eventually he made it over the top and started to drive down. On the other side, it was a clear road and a beautiful sunny day. He drives on and sees a little house nestled in the woods with a candle in the window. He goes into the house and there is warm meal prepared and sitting on the table waiting for him.
It is from this dream that he decided to take the stock in the useless company. The company is a cat food company, and in the dream, he was driving a Jaguar. He tells his partners he will take the stock and they laugh at him. In 6-12 months he turned the company around and became one of the most generous entrepreneurs in Europe. He met another life partner and is living a beautiful life.”
Sounds crazy right? It’s a true story. Think about it. The man is at a low point in his life. He loses his business and his wife. Two traumatizing life events. In his dream the way up the mountain is icy, dangerous and frightening and full of obstacles. Yet, once he peaks the summit, the way down is beautiful and sunny- his future is bright. He sees the house welcoming him in with a candle, a light and a meal prepared for him. His nourishment. He is driving a car named after a cat. He makes a life decision based on that dream. Wow.
All people dream yet many people have no recollection of their dreams. Some people do. I happen to be one of them. I too have made life changing decisions and stayed on a course based on dreams.
There are four stages of sleep. The first stage is like entering a hypnotic state; it is difficult to tell whether we are awake or asleep. After falling completely asleep in stage two and three, we experience stage four as a period of dreaming so vivid that we may feel the dream to be completely real. This stage is marked by rapid eye movements called REM. – Morton Kelsey
A dream normally last between 15-90 minutes. Dreams become longer as the night goes on. The longest and most important dream is usually dreamed just prior to awakening. Ancient people believed the last dream of the night might be a dream of revelation. It is not new thinking that dreams can be revealing. It is to be noted that Carl Jung, the well known psychoanalyst, believed dreams speak though symbols. It is recognizing the symbols that become important.
Translated: if you dream of a house it’s not typically about a house. The House represents the self, the soul. Specific rooms in the house represent parts of your psyche. The basement for example symbolizes your subconscious mind and intuition. To dream the basement is in disarray may signify some confusion you need to sort out. The condition of the symbol is telling. The key is to ask yourself, does this represent anything going on in my life?
Another example: Water represents your emotions. If you dream of water is it choppy, stormy, calm, hot, cold, deep or shallow? The question may be what is happening in your emotional life? Recognizing and defining your dream symbols helps you in listening to your life. Integrating your conscious life with your subconscious life.
Back to the question - can Dreams help direct and heal our lives? For me I know they can. Like most things in life remembering dreams and understanding the symbolism of dreams is a practice. Once you educate yourself on what works for you, the dreams will come. It will enrich your life.
I am a lucid dreamer. This means I am aware that I am dreaming. Sometimes in my dreams I say to myself, what does this mean? Why am I here in this house in this place? Why is he/she here in my dream, why am I dreaming of antiques, why am I at the ocean etc. The awareness in the dream helps me to remember it.
To me, there is a clear difference in what I call a process dream, meaning processing the emotion or actions of the day, and a dream designed to give me direction. Dreams that give me direction are very clear. They are clear in their symbolism and I tend to remember them in vivid detail. Sometimes when I have these dreams they begin with a cell phone ringing or a doorbell ringing in the dream. As a lucid dreamer that means to me what’s coming is an important message/communication so pay attention. When I wake up from the dream I review the dream in my head and then jot some notes in the night. In the morning I take the notes and type up the dream with every detail I can remember. Then I think about what it might mean symbolically. I was taught by my Jungian therapist to first consider what the dream might mean in context of what is happening in my life. Once that is done, then I go to a dream dictionary to get ideas on what the symbols might represent. I use Dreammoods.com. I think it’s one of the best I have reviewed.
You could call dreams a form of intuition, intervention, psychic sight or whatever terminology that suits you. I have always believed Spirit will help us if we are listening. If we have nurtured a way of listening that resonates. Spirit comes through in many ways a book you are reading, a song on the radio, something random someone says to you, animal spirits and/or the synchronicity of events. For me many times Spirit will come to me in my dreams. Big decisions for me have often been dream related.
Sounds woo-woo? Maybe.
I had a dream when I was 40. It was dream about an emerging relationship. Should I pursue it or not, knowing if I did it would completely change my life and how I moved in the world. I was by a river which was muddy, dark and moving quickly. My potential partner was swimming in the river and inviting me to come in, soon to be swimming away if I did not. I was afraid—and I knew I had to decide. Without further hesitation I jumped into the river which immediately transformed into the bluest clearest river I have ever seen. We swam downstream together. The very next day I got up and committed myself to the relationship without looking back. While difficult, it was a freeing moment for me. The dream and my subsequent actions changed my life.
In working through a recent health challenge, I began to question how long it was going to take to make positive progress. I had a dream. The dream was vivid and detailed, it was saying pay attention to me. I was in a house (represents self) and in the basement were many concrete passageways. One of which led to a room where chemicals were brewing and giving off noxious fumes. I knew the house had sickness. I left the room and soon discovered under the house was my sister by a beautiful and clear deep stream. She was happily fishing and catching fish. I wanted to fish. I struggled, fell in the stream but floated with the current and got out at the next rock. I looked back with a knowing that the healing I desired was in my future. The dream showed me the possibility of what could occur if I relaxed, and floated with the current. Which I am doing.
The peace of mind that came with the dream was life giving. Isn’t that what we all seek to some degree? Life affirming messages that we are on the right path, that we are paying attention? I am always grateful when a dream comes my way. Grateful that I am open enough to receive it and grateful that I can recognize it as a message from Spirit.
“There is a voice that doesn’t use words…listen.”
-Rumi
Could this mean the symbols in dreams? Maybe.
Until next time,
Sat Nam.
Jan
