Caveats Concerning Dream Interpretation

Here are some caveats concerning the interpretation of your dreams. 

I have mentioned several times that dreams are usually not literal, with some exceptions such as telephone dreams in which literal messages are given. There is a natural tendency to interpret some elements such as common symbols like a car or house in a literal way when they appear in a dream. This can lead to misinterpretations that can have negative consequences. 

Suppose you dream that the stock market is going to crash, so you immediately sell your stocks. Although it could be a literal warning, the dream may have nothing to do with your stocks. Instead, it may involve some other aspect of your life where a crash or severe downturn occurs and the stocks are just symbolic of that event. 

As another example, suppose you dream that you should move to another named city. It is not a good idea to immediately quit your job, pack up your things, and move to that city. 

The move you need to make may be a psychological one that is symbolized by the other city. You should ask what the other city means or represents to you and ask for further guidance. If you really should make a physical move, you will receive other signals through flashes of insight or other dreams. 

Another caveat relates to the occurrence of time in a dream. Psychological time in a dream is not the same as physical time, and often an event that appears to be immediate in a dream will require some considerable time to occur in physical time. This is one of the reasons that prophecy is so controversial. 

Sometimes I have been given a time in a dream that was literal such as a dream concerning a problem with one of my eyes described in my book. Other times the reference to time was more opaque and not easily determined. The best that can be said is that the event of concern may have been associated with other events in the dream, and the key to when this event occurs is found in the occurrence of the associated events. 

The dream may simply be showing you your probable future if you make a certain decision. Whether or not this occurs, and the timing of it, is up to you. I will be dealing with this subject much more extensively in my posts next year. 

My final caveat concerns the depiction of a person or event in a dream. You may dream that your life has fallen apart, and in your waking life, that is how you feel at that moment. This does not mean that this represents your reality going forward; it means you have had a temporary setback and with the right perspective, you could have a dream the next night showing you in a positive mood and on a better path. 

Your dreams can show your state at any given time, and may do so in an exaggerated way. They are not saying that it is your lot in life. In fact, they are often a reminder that you need to make a change in your attitude, associations, or surroundings to change your current state.

A Cryptic Dream and Expanded Awareness

Last Saturday night I had a cryptic dream about a past president. In the dream, I was talking with a President of the United States. It was not Barack Obama, but seemed to be George W. Bush. I told him that I now knew his secrets. There wasn’t much more to the dream. He listened but did not respond to me. 

This dream is interesting for two reasons. It demonstrates an expanded awareness, which I will explain, and possibly has a meaning on more than one level. This dream incorporates something from the next day that I have witnessed on numerous occasions—elements from a TV program or movie not yet seen. 

Sunday morning I thought about the dream as I had breakfast and began some chores. I could not see how it related to anything that I had recently experienced or been thinking about. 

Before starting some cleaning, I looked at the TV guide for the first time, which came as an insert in the previous day’s paper. I noticed a 2-hour program on FDR covering the 24-hour period right after Pearl Harbor was attacked. 

The description said secrets revealed about FDR. I watched the program and realized that my subconscious had incorporated the secrets aspect of the program into my dream. This has happened on many other occasions, when I was puzzled by a dream only to realize it related to a movie or some TV program I watched later. 

Now, I believe this dream could be saying more than just showing me it was a precognitive view of a future event. Lately, I have been working intensely to better balance my logical deductive abilities with my intuitive ones. 

Someone who is President of the United States could easily represent my higher mind that, if followed, will lead to a uniting of my states that include the logical, reasoning and intuitive, emotional aspects of myself. My saying I know your secrets in the dream may be my belief that I have uncovered how these states should be united from the perspective of my higher mind. 

The selection of George W. Bush as the President may simply be my association of him as the last president who took us to war instead of FDR who took us to war in 1941. And the TV program the next day was readily available and perfectly suited to the message the subconscious wanted to deliver. 

In the final analysis, the dream interpretation must feel right to the person who has the dream. No one else can say that my interpretation is right or wrong because there are far too many variables that determine the symbols and their significance in a dream. 

You must discover for yourself how your mind works. When you do, you will find that dreams are not nearly as mysterious as they once appeared to be.

Recalling Dreams and Meditation

In my posts, I have written about some of the things we can do to improve dream recall and the quality of our dreams. These include the following: proper amount of sleep, avoiding strong drugs, maintaining a good diet free of junk foods, and regular daily meditation. 

The proper amount of sleep will vary from individual to individual, but you should feel refreshed when you start the day. Too little or too much sleep can be detrimental and will affect your sense of well-being and your dreams. 

Strong drugs can adversely affect your body chemistry and result in nightmares or dreams depicting a strong imbalance, as can certain foods. I am not talking about drugs prescribed for a serious medical condition. That is a completely different subject for a later posting. I am talking about artificial stimulants or depressants. However, some prescription drugs may cause strange dreams or nightmares as a side effect.

Food that taxes rather than nourishing the body can also result in dreams that depict the body’s reaction against the food and the body’s struggle to obtain homeostasis. 

Finally, meditation is a key component in our lives for obtaining the maximum benefit from our dreams. Meditation reduces stress, brings about internal harmony, and establishes our intent to be open to guidance from the higher self. 

The maximum benefit from our dreams can be obtained when the body is not struggling with imbalances. If we want solutions to problems in our daily lives, we should strive to keep the body healthy and well rested. The dreams can then focus on areas such as our jobs, financial issues, social issues, family matters, and personal growth. 

When we stray from healthy lifestyles, we are reminded as I was in my dreams. Many years ago when I was trying to improve my heath, I was occasionally eating burgers from one of the fast food restaurants. One night in a dream, I was in my kitchen with the burger and was told to put it down the garbage disposal. 

Another time, when I was entertaining, I ate too many potato chips, and drank too much wine. I dreamed that night that I entertained Babe Ruth, who was known for excessive eating and drinking. 

Daily meditation helps to bring peace and harmony into our daily lives and establishes our willingness to receive guidance from a higher power. Spiritual channels are opened when we dream, so the guidance rises above the level of the individual consciousness to a universal level. 

The advice we receive takes into consideration our spiritual lives, and is not just a creation by the body consciousness or a response to worries and concerns of the day. For those who seek visions from their dreams, a view of the future, I think that daily meditation is essential. 

There are many approaches to meditation, and some say their way is the right one. I think that success with meditation is not determined by the use of certain chants or music, yoga positions, or the following of a guru. I believe that success is determined by our willingness to let go of the inner talk we are consumed with each day, and surrender to a higher power. 

I have known some who have achieved enlightenment in a short time, and others who spend a lifetime in a futile pursuit. The goal should not be to achieve what someone else describes as success; the goal should be to enter into a silence where you can experience that sense of peace and connection to all of life. The goal should be to experience your true self. 

Next year I am going to start focusing on the nature of time and the future as it unfolds for us in our dreams. I will discuss some of the science concerning time, as well as the personal ramifications for us in our daily lives. Some say we shouldn’t know the future, and others say we can’t know the future. I intend to address the positions of both groups and provide my answer to why I think it is important that we know our “probable” future. 

At this point l will just say that events do not happen the way most people think, and our dreams show us how we create the future we experience. It doesn’t just happen; psychic forces are at work building the future long before we experience it physically.

Dreams as a Call to Action

There are many types of dreams and even more themes within a specific type. However, most dreams seem to be problem solving and relate directly to our daily lives. In Some Common Dream Themes (4/13/2015), a post about dream themes, I mentioned some of the themes one might encounter such as taking a wrong turn off a highway or failing a class. 

These dreams are about actions we are taking or failing to take in our everyday experiences. These dreams are a call to action. They are telling us that we need to take action in some area of our lives or that we need to change the action we have taken and replace it with a new action. 

The area of concern might relate to the job, family, or a personal issue such as poor health. As an example, suppose you make a New Year’s resolution to include regular exercise in your daily routine, which may be something you are not currently doing. 

Many people will make such a resolution as we enter a new year. If after a few weeks you decide you really don’t have time to continue and drop your exercise routine, you are likely to have a dream reflecting on that action. You might dream that you take a wrong turn or fail a class on biology or health. If you think about restarting your exercise program, but delay, you may dream that you are late for a class. 

The dreams mentioned are not esoteric, mysterious nighttime plays that are difficult or impossible to interpret. They deal with your daily life and usually a little reflection will make their meanings clear. Unfortunately, we tend not to want to hear about our shortcomings, whether from someone else or through our dreams. Rather than taking action, it is much easier to just push them out of our conscious minds and say they probably don’t mean anything. 

As an interesting side note, studies have shown that children as young as six or seven will often take advice from their dreams even when the same advice from parents is ignored. 

Dreams are for our benefit and can help us resolve our problems and issues. But we must act to experience their benefit. 

I have often thought about all the benefits I have received from my dreams over the course of my life, and I am puzzled by the reluctance of people to work with their dreams. I know all the reasons for this reluctance, but I am still amazed at such behavior. I think it reflects the materialism of society, the fear of who and what we are, and I think it also illustrates a misunderstanding of our relationship to our creator. 

Often when a crisis arises, people will sincerely pray for help, for an answer. If someone is desperate to find money to pay bills, the person might sincerely pray for help. But the help is not likely to come with the sudden unexplained deposit of all the money needed into his or her bank account or by the front door. It is more likely to come with the sudden opportunity to do some extra work to earn the money, the sale of possessions, or a loan from a friend or family member. 

In other words, the answer is found by accessing the creative spirit that operates through us. If someone wants a better job, the answer from a dream might be to go back to school. 

The creative force operates through us, but we need to be open and not establish blocks through preconceived notions about what we are willing to do. If we establish rigid boundaries about what we are willing to do, the advice we receive is not likely to be understood, if it is noticed at all. 

To better your life, the interpretation of your dreams cannot simply be an intellectual exercise. You must act upon the guidance received. Otherwise, it quickly becomes a pointless exercise, and the potential of dreams remains just potential. 

If you don’t find yourself challenged and at times struggling to make changes in your life based on dream guidance, then you probably aren’t working seriously with your dreams. 

Many years ago, I was exploring the booths at a psychic fair. A young woman asked me what I did related to the psychic. I said I worked with my dreams. She laughed and said, “No one cares about dreams.” She was waiting to get a psychic reading. 

Now in my book I have much to say about psychics and getting readings. For this post, let me just say that even if she found a psychic who gave her accurate and beneficial advice, I don’t think it would have nearly the same impact as making the discovery for herself through her dreams. 

A further discussion with her indicated she was looking for a quick and easy answer, for someone to do it for her. Eventually she will have to find the answers for herself. And I think a good psychic would point that out to her. There is no shortcut to self-awareness. 

I think people’s attitude towards getting help from dreams is much like their attitude toward getting answers from God through prayer. When a specific problem arises, they want an immediate answer for that problem, but want to be left alone for the rest of what they do. And this attitude affects the quality of their dreams. 

How would you feel if someone only came to you for help when he or she had a problem, but the rest of the time had no interest in communicating with you? 

Similarly, when people seek help from psychics, it is usually to get help for a specific problem. I wonder how many say to the psychic, “How can I live a better, more productive life, or how can I be of more help to people?” 

The questions seem to be more of the following nature: “Will I find Mister Right or Miss Right, or when will I get a better job?” And they don’t understand that they are the ones who have already created the answer, and if they want a different answer, they must change. And change involves a process and is not as simple as getting an answer to a single question. 

Dreams can enable that change and are a call to action, but we must listen, interpret, and be willing to act.

A Boxer's Dream

An interesting video on Yahoo Sports was highlighted yesterday. During a recent interview on In Depth with Graham Bensinger, the boxer Manuel Pacquiao revealed he had a dream one week before his fight with Juan Manual Márquez in 2012 that he would be KO’d. Now I am not a fan of boxing, but this video caught my attention for obvious reasons. The interview is worth a look.

People in all occupations have such dreams that are usually only remembered when something dramatic happens in the dream. In the case of Pacquiao, probably few things could be more dramatic and important to him at that time than the outcome of a major fight. 

For most people, views of the future pass unnoticed because the dream impact is not great enough to be remembered upon awakening. Of course, this does not mean that such dreams don’t occur; the main purpose of my book and these posts is to show that they do occur on a daily basis.

Your dreams will reflect your concerns and interests. If you don’t think seeing the probable future is possible, or believe it is not something you should do, views of the future are likely to be suppressed before they enter your conscious mind. Your subconscious may be sending you views of the future, but they are blocked. 

Now there can be exceptions, such as a situation your subconscious is aware of that is life threatening to you or someone close to you. Then the subconscious may override your conscious beliefs and desires.

The best way to ensure that you are getting beneficial guidance from your dreams is to meditate daily. By opening the channels to higher forces, you will receive spiritual help that will transcend your individual limitations. And if you find visions of the future are part of it, don’t reject, or try to suppress them. You are being shown certain things for a reason. 

Also, do not ask for help from your dreams with a preconceived idea of what the answer should be. You may be shown a path that never occurred to your conscious mind, or if it did, was immediately discounted as not worth pursuing. 

As an example, suppose you are desperate to get a better job. Now you may have a dream showing you back in school because the answer lies in additional education or training. Consciously, this may not be something you want to do, or can do without some sacrifice. Nevertheless, that may be the answer. 

In future posts, I am going to discuss seeing the probable future through dreams in much more detail. I thought I would interject this topic here because of the Manny Pacquiao story.

Dream Building Blocks

There are several building blocks in the construction of a dream. Most dreams have an environment—the location and surroundings where they take place. Within the environment, we have objects that can include everyday items, people, and strange distortions or creations not found in real life.

Normal items observed in dreams can be highly symbolic, such as a house or room in which you find yourself or automobile that you are observing or driving. Remember that the subconscious operates through associations and the objects you encounter should be considered in that light. 

If you find yourself in a kitchen, the obvious association is food and the preparation of meals. And since dreams primarily deal with our daily activities and problems, you should examine your diet and the state of your physical health as it relates to what you eat on a daily basis. 

If you find yourself looking at a car in a dream, the details of what you see are likely to be important. What type of car is it and what is the condition of the car? The car often represents the physical body, and the type and condition of the car will say a lot about your physical condition and overall health. 

The house and automobile are common symbols that occur frequently in people’s dreams. I have had frequent dreams involving both houses and cars. The house serves as a look at my overall daily life, with focus on a specific room calling attention to that aspect of my life. 

The condition of the entire house or room is a comment on my entire life or an aspect of my life. The kitchen, already mentioned, often relates to my diet, the living room to daily life, the family room to the state of the family, a basement to my subconscious, etc.

The condition of my car gives me a quick look at the state of my physical health. The model of the car provides additional details. A high performance car says something different about my energy level than a slow, low performance model. 

Dreams also have themes. In her book Dreams Your Magic Mirror, Elsie Sechrist refers to a study by Japanese scientists involving dreams of students in both Japan and the United States. Among other things, over thirty recurrent themes were found. 

These themes can be failing a test, being late for a class, showing up for a class or event unprepared, running away from something, taking a wrong turn off a highway, a sexual encounter, or the positive side of these same themes such as scoring a high grade on a test or taking a right turn. 

The mood in a dream can be extremely important. In the dream, are you happy, sad, scared, angry, or in some other state of mind? These feelings add color to the dream and provide additional clues as to its meaning. 

Every detail is in the dream for a reason. Your subconscious chose one symbol over the unlimited number of other possibilities for a reason. If you find yourself looking at an object in a dream, there is a reason that the object is what you see rather than something else. 

If you put on a blue outfit, there is a reason the color is blue rather than red, brown, or some other color. If you receive or spend money such as seven dollars, that amount is significant. Putting on blue clothes can symbolize the acceptance of spiritual values and receiving seven dollars can symbolize the receipt of a spiritual gift or something of spiritual value. 

Each color or number in a dream can have a unique meaning. More on this can be found in The Man Who Sees Tomorrow in His Dreams or Dreams Your Magic Mirror. 

Dreams can contain many aspects. There may be a rather obvious practical aspect, but the dream may also contain other aspects such as your spiritual health, which is also reflected in the dream. Sometimes you will interpret part of a dream, only to return to it much later when you realize there was more to it than you first thought.

People in Dreams as Symbols

Symbols in dreams are not just messages encoded in words or physical objects like automobiles or houses. People you meet in a dream can also be symbolic, often representing someone else whose qualities are like the person in the dream in a pronounced way. 

Some authors say that the people we meet in dreams are all aspects of ourselves. While this can be the case for some of our dreams, it by no means is true for all of our dreams and the myriad of characters we encounter. 

Consider the following dream I had in which I met a female co-worker from many years ago. It was a brief encounter, and she smiled as we passed by each other.

Now I have stated in my book that my dreams foreshadow the next day’s events. Usually the order of significant or memorable events for the day corresponds to the order of the dreams. Based on the approximate time of night when the dream occurred, I thought I might encounter someone around mid-day who would be a physical manifestation of the dream encounter. 

In the early afternoon, I was ordering lunch at a counter in a local restaurant when a woman and her daughter walked by. The area was narrow and we nearly bumped into one another. 

The daughter looked at me and smiled broadly, and I realized she immediately reminded me of the co-worker in the dream. As I stared at her, I thought the woman in the dream was a perfect association for this young woman. She was had the same physique, smile, and could have passed as a younger version of my co-worker. 

Now if you think I am reaching for this interpretation, you probably haven’t worked much with your dreams. I have seen this correspondence hundreds of times over the years. I can often predict an encounter and sometimes the person involved based on the previous night’s dreams.

When a family member like my son is involved, I wait for the call or visit and can predict the nature of our conversation based on the person used by my subconscious for the association. Three or four people I have known serve as surrogates for my son in my dreams. 

People who doubt that this can occur most likely have not worked with their dreams on a daily basis, even if they are so-called experts. The world of dreams is rich and varied with the possibilities unlimited. 

No one else can tell you what your dream means; the symbols are too personal and unique to you. It is true that there are some universal symbols, but even those may contain double meanings based on your associations. 

Others may see some general theme that is involved, but the depth of the meaning and understanding of particular symbols selected by your subconscious can only be realized by you. Do not let others tell you that your interpretation is nonsense or that dreams cannot reveal the future. You must believe in yourself and your ability to understand the workings of your own mind. 

After working with my dreams for over forty years, I am not impressed with how much I have learned; I am amazed by how little I know. I am still learning new things every day. I am still feeling amazement at the variety and depth of my dreams.

Dream Symbols and Precognitive Dreams

In my last post, I gave an example of how a message can be “hidden” in a word. I would not consider it an anagram, but some might because some rearranging of the letters is necessary to get the complete message. You might say the message is hidden in plain sight. 

In my years of work with dreams, I have often seen this type of construction or method used by the subconscious to convey a message. You might think, why isn’t the message just stated in the dream? As I have said before, the subconscious operates through associations. It found a word that it associated with the message and incorporated it into the dream. 

Also, I think the subconscious has another purpose as well. We learn and grow by exercising our consciousness, by meeting challenges, and by overcoming them. As parents, we do not just tell our children what do for every decision they must make. They have to exercise their minds and meet challenges for themselves. This is how they prepare themselves to become adults. 

If you are advised in a dream to see a certain person, such as a doctor for a disease, or travel to a certain location, examine carefully the name. The name may actually provide the answer you are seeking. 

I once dreamed that someone close to me should see a doctor whose name included the word burn. The person saw a doctor and, the problem was correctly treated by cauterizing or burning an area of the skin. 

Dreams can be very creative in their construction of messages. They have every thought you have ever entertained, every person you have known, and every place you have visited at their disposal. If you have not done so, look at the dream on my website www.thepropheticdreamer.com that is given as a potentially precognitive dream concerning an egg yolk. 

I recently dreamed that I was with a dentist. He examined my mouth and said there is a fine crack at the bottom of the front teeth. I couldn’t see it, so he pointed to the area. He said it extends all the way across and up and could be a real problem. 

Now keep in mind what I have said about dreams rarely being literal. Also, I recently had a full set of x-rays and a cleaning, and no problems were found. With that in mind, I looked for another meaning. I thought that something at an opening is developing a crack. I wasn’t aware of any cracks or leaks in anything in my condominium, but the answer soon came from another location. 

This dream also indicates how my dreams reflect the next day as described in detail in my book. I was in the process of closing on the sale of a condominium I owned in another state. My dream occurred on a Thursday night, and the closing was on Friday at 4:30 pm. I did not have to be at the closing. It was straightforward and I expected it to go without any problems, although I had some trepidation about the day because of another dream. 

Around 2:00 pm, I received a call from the man who owns the unit below mine, which was on the second floor. He said water was pouring from his ceiling in a closet. After many calls, much chaos, and the work of a plumber the following week, a leak was found between the walls in a pipe that serviced my unit. It was a fine crack like in the dream, and did become a real problem.

The above dream shows the association made in the dream by the subconscious in a creative way. Also, I had another dream that same Thursday night right after the dream about a crack in my teeth that showed me engulfed in a chaotic situation. So when the day started, I had a feeling of trepidation, even though on the surface it looked like there should be no problems with the closing.

The closing occurred, but not before numerous calls, more documents for my signature, and a couple of hours of real stress. I will have much more to say about precognitive dreams in later posts.

More Dream Symbols

In my posts, I have written about dream symbols and provided some examples of their possible meaning, especially for dreams of one’s physical health. Now it is time to explore further the meaning of symbols and the encoding of messages within a single name or word in a dream. 

In the construction of dreams your subconscious is extremely creative. Often what appear to be straightforward messages are not and contain hidden meanings. The subconscious works with associations and has at its disposal all of your thoughts and experiences to draw upon. 

As an example, consider the following. During my early years of searching for meaning, which included beginning to work with my dreams, I was struggling to find a better path in life, one that provided more satisfaction. In my daily thoughts, I often rebelled against my job, which provided little satisfaction, and felt an overall displeasure with the course of my life. I thought the answer was to find a different job or career or move to a different location, so I was examining my dreams for guidance on a different occupation or another place to live. 

One night I had the dream guidance I sought. The dream was brief and I thought to the point. A voice in a dream said I should move to Tallahassee, although I was not aware of any companies that provided a suitable career opportunity.

The climate in Florida appealed to me, so I thought I had the answer. However, I was wrong. The answer was hidden in plain sight and very different from what I expected. 

I have said in earlier posts and emphasize in my book that dreams are rarely literal, even when they appear to be so. With that thought in mind, I began to examine the word Tallahassee.

If we parse the word Tallahassee and get a little creative we have T all a has see or The cross has it all—see. I needed to change my attitude. The move I needed to make was a change in consciousness or attitude, not physical location. 

In future posts, I am going to continue to discuss the meanings of symbols in dreams and provide more examples of the creative associations made by the subconscious. The meaning of symbols is obviously critical to the interpretation of a dream and is an obstacle for most people who try to understand their dreams. 

It helps to realize that your dreams are about you and your daily life; the answers are found in examining your life in connection with your dreams. Don’t try to separate the two. Also, I emphasize again that dreams are usually not literal, although there are exceptions that I will discuss in future postings.

Remembering Your Dreams

I offer the following suggestions to those having difficulty remembering their dreams. First, and most important, you have to want to remember your dreams. You must believe that you can and expect positive results. 

Once you have the desire, make sure you have a regular sleep pattern with an adequate amount of sleep. You also need to pay attention to your diet. Certain foods and drugs can cause you to have nightmares, as the body consciousness responds to what it perceives as an assault. 

After you have ensured you have a good diet and are not on strong medications unless prescribed by a physician, you should purchase a notebook along with a pen or pencil that you keep by your bed. You can also use a recorder as an alternative. While you are in that drowsy pre-sleep state, tell yourself you will remember your dreams. Continue to repeat it as you fall asleep. 

When you wake up with the memory of a dream, try not to move before you have it firmly committed to memory. Dreams can evaporate quickly, and the simple act of changing your position in the bed might result in the loss of the dream. Definitely commit it to memory before getting out of bed. 

You don’t have to record the entire dream. Usually a few words that capture its essence are enough to bring back the entire dream in the morning when the time is more conducive for recording all the details. 

I make the above suggestions because the question I am asked the most often is the following: How do I remember my dreams? Another thing you should do is purchase a book on the meaning of dreams. 

I recently gave a copy of my book to two women who said they were interested but didn’t remember any dreams. After reading my book, they both reported having numerous dreams they could recall. 

One woman had an interesting precognitive dream that correctly reflected an event that occurred the next day. I am not claiming that my book had any magical effect. I think once the women started reading my book and thinking about dreams, and perhaps expressing a desire to themselves to remember their dreams, they begin to have results.

Discovering Your Soul's Purpose Through Dreams

You can discover your soul’s purpose through your dreams. Some of you, as I did, may have questioned why you are here. You may have asked yourself: What is my purpose in being on this earth? What am I supposed to do? 

The answer may not be simple and may involve your family members, friends, and occupation, as well as how you view life and deal with challenges in your life. So don’t expect a single dream to give you the answer. You may have several dreams with a bearing on what you came here to accomplish. 

In my case, I had several past life dreams that had a direct bearing on my current life. They provided insight into my personality and interaction with other people. They explained why I had certain issues in my earlier years that are described in detail in The Man Who Sees Tomorrow in His Dreams. As such, they showed me the lessons I needed to learn and challenges to overcome. 

My purpose also involved other people, and one dream in particular showed me how I should view my interaction with these individuals. Finally, I had a single dream in which a loud voice said, “Do you really want to know your purpose?” I answered yes in the dream, and I was immediately shown an image of myself performing a certain task. I now had the answer concerning another aspect of my life’s work. 

All of the dreams mentioned occurred early in my work with dreams. They provided the answers and meaning for my life. 

Any of you can receive the same help, but you must really want to know. And you must be willing to accept the answers that you receive. They may not correspond to what your ego thinks or expects, and may even make you uncomfortable, especially if you are on the wrong path. 

You may discover you are in the wrong occupation, or are not properly utilizing important talents and abilities. You may find that the people who you think are a curse were chosen by you for interaction in this life to work out issues from past lives. 

No one else can provide the answers for you; the life you live is yours and only you can uncover your true destiny. I only point out that the tools are there and the answers can be found. But only you can decide if it is important enough for you to persevere in uncovering the wisdom found in your dreams.

Comments on the Value of Dreams for Daily Living

I am going to discuss finding your soul’s purpose through dreams. But before doing that, in this post I am going to make some general comments concerning the value of dreams.

One of the motivating factors in my decision to write my book was my reflection on the incredible misery that I saw every day, much of which could have been avoided if people were in touch with their inner selves. Through our accepted five senses, we experience the material world in a variety of ways, but this does not provide the complete picture. To see the complete picture we need to listen to our inner selves, which are revealed through intuition, dreams, and visions.

If we cut ourselves off from our inner selves, we live incomplete, limited lives. This has been realized by many throughout history, and the work of Carl Jung made clear the importance of dreams in particular. 

I am amazed that many people who have a religious orientation may pray to God for help, for answers, when a crisis arises, but never think about how they will receive the answer. They never think to turn to their dreams for an answer, despite the fact that God often spoke to man through dreams in the bible. 

Of course, meditation is another way to receive an answer, but that is often neglected as well. We are good at talking, but not very good at listening. 

I have found that the answers are there for every problem, if we learn how to listen. My own struggles of how I learned to listen are described in my memoir. Although often implemented imperfectly, I still received tremendous benefit in the way of better health, career satisfaction, financial independence, solutions to daily problems, as well as direction from several clear dreams dealing with my soul’s purpose. I know exactly why I am here and what I need to do. 

I find it painful to see people in turmoil when I believe the answers they seek are easily within their reach. They are often willing to stand in line for days to get the latest iPhone or bargain during Black Friday, but not willing to read a book or spend a small amount of time each day reflecting on their dreams, which could end their turmoil and provide a sense of direction. They are obsessed by the material: clothing, gadgets, and technology, and only look outward when the answers are found looking inward. 

We live in an age of instant gratification. When people do think about guidance from dreams, they usually want a dream to simply give them all the answers, and then be done with it so they can do something else. The discovery of oneself is a lifelong process and cannot be achieved through a single dream as spiritual fast food. 

In my next posting, I will deal more explicitly with dreams of your soul’s purpose. For now, I want to make the point that to find your soul’s purpose through your dreams you have to be sincere in your desire to find it. You can’t dabble with a dream from time to time and expect to get the answers to the reasons for your very existence on this earth. And you must be willing to act upon the guidance you receive. 

I hope to get back to some regular postings of a few times a week.

Interview on WGSO New Orleans

Today, at 10:30 CST, I was interviewed on WGSO 990 AM New Orleans. This was one of the better interviews in terms of the questions asked.

Interview on Marilu Henner Show

I am going to be interviewed on the Marilu Henner nationally syndicated show on Monday, September 29, at 10:39 Pacific Coast Time. You can read about her show at www.marilushow.com.

Website

Visit my website for more about me and my books. Follow me on Twitter.

Radio Interviews

Last Friday, I was interviewed about my book The Man Who Sees Tomorrow in His Dreams on KBYR-AM700 in Anchorage. This Thursday, September 11, I will be a guest on KFUN-AM in Las Vegas at 9:05 mountain time.

Dreams, Mental and Spiritual Healing, and Seth

Several posts have focused on health dreams, primarily related to physical health. Most of my discussion was concerned with how dream symbols can relate to our physical health. I illustrated how the state of our health can be depicted in a dream, and how we can receive advice for improving our health. 

I mentioned the importance of our thoughts in relation to our health, but I did not begin to explore the huge field of mental and spiritual healing. Other than the description of my encounter with a famous faith healer, I left this as an open subject. 

However, this does not mean that I don’t believe in faith healing. I do believe faith healing is possible. One might naturally ask why we need doctors if all we need is faith. Why don’t our dreams just tell us to have faith? 

I think the answer has to do with the nature of faith and the readiness of the individual. Even Jesus used a mudpack to cure a person of blindness, which may have been necessary because of the blind man’s level of faith. 

The questions surrounding faith and mental healing are addressed in the classic work The Law of Psychic Phenomena by Thomson Jay Hudson. This seminal work should be read by anyone with an interest in the mind, healing, religion, hypnosis, psychic phenomena, mediums, or related topics. This book was also recommended by Edgar Cayce to those interested in better understanding what he did during his readings. 

Healing is not a subject to be taken lightly, and the material in this book should be explored by anyone who attempts to heal himself or another using mental or spiritual processes. Certain conditions need to exist for a faith healing to be successful, and they are discussed in detail by Hudson. 

I have explained what I have learned about my physical health from my dreams, and countless others have turned to their dreams with similar results. My dreams took a holistic approach and provided help and support that I could comprehend and apply in my life. 

This does not mean that I ignored the mental aspects, and I was often shown that I needed to change by thoughts about some person or subject. And I was constantly urged to follow a spiritual path. 

I don’t think I or someone else could simply decide that his faith is perfect and heal himself of any affliction. This is especially true when someone weakened by illness lacks the ability to focus on much of anything. Faith is not something that can be turned on or off like a light switch. 

However, Cayce and my dreams make clear that much benefit can come from the right attitude, and proper autosuggestions can help ward off disease and shorten considerably the recuperation period if one is ill. And perhaps as faith is developed, miracles will be seen. 

The Seth presence channeled through Jane Roberts also makes it clear that it would not be a good idea for most people to stop utilizing traditional medicine, even though Seth states that most diseases could be reversed by changing the belief system and following certain mental exercises.

According to Seth, people need to go to doctors because they believe this is the only way they can get help. They have accepted this to such an extent that even when medication or a traditional approach is not working, they are often reluctant to give it up. They strongly believe in traditional medicine, and to some extent it works. Until they develop other beliefs, they had better stay with it. 

Although I mention the Seth material here, I do not recommend that people turn to channeling some presence for guidance in their lives concerning health or other matters. Edgar Cayce made clear why, and The Law of Psychic Phenomena treats this topic as well. 

Among channeled material, I do think the Seth material is unique, and regardless of the source, provides some excellent suggestions for improving one’s daily life. For individuals open to this and interested in the role of beliefs and thoughts in the formation of their lives, I recommend reading The Nature of Personal Reality by Jane Roberts.

I am finished with the dream series relating to physical health. Due to some other commitments, I will not be starting a new series or be making posts for a few weeks, unless I have some unusual dream or insight I think I must share. As usual, any time there is a new post on my website or blog, I will send out a tweet notifying my followers.

Balance, Health, and Dreams

I started working with my dreams, making changes to my diet, and began a regular exercise program over forty years ago after being introduced to the material in the Edgar Cayce readings. After I read There is a River, the story of Edgar Cayce, by Thomas Sugrue, I found that it rang true and something within me said that I should pursue a study of Cayce’s work. One of the aspects of the readings that particularly appealed to me was Cayce’s emphasis on having balance in one’s life. 

I soon realized that I couldn’t change just one thing like diet; I had to take a holistic approach and make many changes while keeping my life in balance. In addition to analyzing my dreams, I had to meditate, exercise more, and change my attitude in a number of areas. 

I had to make time for play as well as work. By constantly keeping balance in mind, I was able to avoid some of the potentially dangerous pursuits that I saw others follow. I will say more about this in a later post. 

I did not consider the changes I made to my diet and exercise some heroic effort that somehow placed me on another level. The changes were not made because I thought they would elevate me spiritually, although I did begin to meditate for spiritual reasons. 

My approach to Cayce and his recommendations has always been a practical one. They had to help me live a better life.

In the early days, I did a certain amount of experimenting with diet and exercise to see what worked best for me. In the final analysis, the changes were made because I felt better and had more energy. 

Sometimes I changed my diet for a period and then relapsed back to my old ways. However, I quickly found that I did not feel well compared to how I felt on the Cayce-inspired diet, so I returned to the diet. 

The same can be said of exercise. I have always enjoyed walking, so I made it a habit to walk for a half hour each day at a fast pace. Again, there were brief periods when for various reasons I did not walk for several days. Each time, by the second day, I would fell a little stiff in the morning, and after several days, I did not have the same energy that I had with regular exercise. (I should note that Cayce recommended walking as the best all-around exercise, which fit me perfectly.) 

My holistic approach to health kept me healthy over the years. Despite times of extreme pressure at work, I was able to stay healthy and function at a high level. This I attribute to meditation and my dreams, as well as my diet and exercise.

Regular meditation has been shown to have medical benefits and is now recommended by medical professionals as a way to reduce stress. My day at work always seemed to be more harmonious when I meditated in the morning prior to leaving for work.

My dreams provided a great feedback mechanism for any changes I made. Sometimes I would have dreams about my diet and exercise program, and other times I would be shown that I needed to adjust my thoughts to improve my overall well-being. 

My focus was always on the practical; any changes I made had to improve the quality of my life in some way. And my dreams kept me in balance by quickly showing me when I was getting out of balance in some area of my life. 

There is no shortcut to a healthy, productive life. It is true that sometimes people with an extremely obsessive behavior achieve a great deal in some field, but I have no desire to emulate their lifestyle because I believe there is a great deal they miss. 

Sometimes they barely know their own family and rarely experience the joy of their own children. And often a lack of attention to their physical health cuts short what could have been an even more productive life.

Dreams of Encounters with the Dead

Death is a transition we all will experience. But it is a new beginning and not an end. Dreams can help us understand this transition and prepare ourselves for the new life. 

My mother passed from a physical existence when her body was a burden and could no longer function in a meaningful way. In my dream, she saw her death as a release from these restrictions. Insights through meditation and dreams into her continued existence have shown me that she is present and aware of my circumstances and is often about me. 

After her death, I meditated and had the following experience. A long tunnel of light opened up before me. At the end of the tunnel, I saw my mother accompanied by a luminous being who appeared to be a helper. She waved to me, and after a few moments, her companion indicated it was time to move on and led her away. 

Since her death over ten years ago, she has appeared briefly in dreams to render advice or assistance. I say dreams because the visits occurred when I was taking a nap, but they were often more of a psychic experience than a dream. 

Many years ago, I went to a talk given by Hugh Lynn Cayce, the son of Edgar Cayce. He told the audience about a dream he had as a young man that concerned a friend of his. I will do the best I can in recalling the details, but it was over forty years ago that I heard this story. 

Hugh Lynn and his friend were out one night driving around in his friend’s car. Hugh Lynn decided to go home and call it a night, despite his friend’s protests. 

When he went to sleep that night, he had a dream in which a hand came down from the clouds. A voice said, Hugh Lynn come up here with me. It’s great up here. Hugh Lynn recognized his friend’s voice, but told him he could not join him. 

The next day Hugh Lynn learned that his friend was killed in an auto accident after he left him. 

I once dreamed about an elderly woman, who was someone I had not seen in many years. In the dream, I saw her dressed in black.

She asked me about a difficult family situation and wanted to know what had happened. I explained the circumstances to her as best I could. She seemed satisfied with the answer and I watched her float upward until she disappeared from sight.

A few days later, I learned that she had died around the time of my dream. 

From what I have experienced and read, someone's death and contact with those who have passed over can occur in many different ways. This is another reason you should interpret your own dreams. 

You must become familiar with your own symbols and their meaning in your dreams. No one else can do it for you. If you rely on another to interpret your dreams, you are handing the power of your life over to another to decide its significance and the actions you should take. 

There is a special sense of achievement when you finally get the message and reach that aha moment. Other people can offer advice and tell you things that might be true, but when you become aware for yourself, it is completely different.

I decided many years ago that the life I experienced was mine to determine and I should take personal responsibility for it. If I have a regret, it is that I didn't start my work with meditation and dreams sooner.

Dreams of Death and Dying

In my posts, I have started to focus more on symbols in dreams because dreams are normally not literal, with a few exceptions that I will discuss in later posts. Dreams of death can provide good examples of this. 

If you have a dream in which you die or a loved one is dying, you are likely to very fearful and suffer anguish. If the dream is about you, it does not mean you need to rush off and get your affairs in order, unless you are in failing health. More likely, the dream means that you are dying to something, perhaps the old. Your life may be undergoing a transformation that is symbolized by your death in a dream. 

The same applies to another person. Once I had a dream in which my mother was in a coffin being lowered into the grave. This dream did not mean my mother was about to die; in fact, she lived a great many more years. It did mean that something, which my mother symbolized, had died and been laid to rest. 

That something in this case was attachment to sweets that were in abundance during my years growing up. My mother was a cook and we always had pies and cakes in the house. I had recently changed my diet and gave up all sweets in the form of snacks and deserts. 

So how is someone’s actual death shown in a dream? There are probably many different ways, but I have experienced a couple of the common ones. 

In one dream, I saw an image of a woman I knew and then the movement a short distance of the hands of a clock. I instinctively knew it was an indication that she would not live much longer. At the time, she appeared healthy, but a few months later she was diagnosed with a cancer that took her life quite quickly.

When my mother’s health began to fail due to her advanced age, one night I had a dream in which I saw my mother coming out of a small room. As she walked by me, she said, I'm so glad to not have those restrictions anymore. She passed over a few days later. 

Others have described dreams of a boat crossing a river as representative of a physical passing. And there are still other ways such as taking a train to another reality. 

Summary Comments on Health Dreams and Subject of Next Post

I have made several posts about dreams relating to one’s physical and mental health. Dreams of this nature are often easy to interpret, and they can be quite direct in their messages. But in order to benefit, the dreamer has to want to take action and actually follow through. If the dreamer is willing to accept his or her condition and believe that nothing can be done, I can offer little hope that dreams will be beneficial. 

I think we have all encountered people, sometimes as family members, who have struggled or are struggling with serious physical or mental issues. The effects of current lifestyles with little exercise and over eating are all too apparent. And the pressures of the fast pace of modern society and dissolution of the family unit have contributed to widespread drug use. 

Drugs have been used by previous generations; smoking and alcohol use were certainly commonly depicted in movies made in the 1940s and 1950s. But I think today’s explosion of drugs of all kinds, both prescription and non-prescription, is different and has wreaked havoc on families. And some of the new synthetic drugs people take to experience a high or escape from their problems have far greater dangers associated with them than alcohol or tobacco.

Nowadays, many people seem to accept what was once unacceptable. If I were providing counseling to teenagers heading down the wrong path, I would advise them to start recording their dreams. Perhaps dramatic and frightening images in dreams that show a troubled future might get their attention when other methods have failed. The undesirable future they see is likely to be all too true for many if they remain on their current path. 

Although I did not have weight or drug problems as a teenager or adult, I did have other health issues in my twenties. After I started working with my dreams, they were soon addressed, which enabled me to make corrections before they became a serious detriment to my quality of life.

We all know that eventually our lives on this earth will end. Our bodies will gradually wear out, even if some disease does not claim our lives. So what do our dreams show when our physical lives are nearing an end? If a loved one is about to pass over, how is this shown in a dream? 

Dreams of death and dying will be the subject of my posts in Section 6, in which I describe some of my dreams that related to the death of a loved one. The dreams, along with some experiences in meditation, have allowed me to see death as the transformation that it is rather than an end.

Reasons for Symbols in Dreams

Why don’t dreams just deliver a verbal message? Why don’t they just say what they mean? Sometimes they do as I have illustrated in some of my dreams, but more often we find symbols that must be interpreted to unlock the meaning of the dream.

The reason for symbols is not strange if you think about how your conscious mind makes associations. If someone asks you about your mother or father, you are likely to immediately picture her or him and reflect upon some characteristic and feeling. If you reflect on a hectic day at work, you don’t just list in your mind all the things you did. You might do that for someone who asks, because you can’t show the person the image that you have in your mind.

We all know the power of an image to capture both an event and the emotional content associated with it. I can still recall some of the photographs that depict the horrors of war. An entire page in the newspaper could not capture what one image shows.

So when a dream includes a symbol such as an automobile, house, or animal, there is a tremendous economy associated with that image because it includes all associations etched in my memory. The subconscious has access to all of those memories and associations, and it selects the ones that best convey the message of the dream. If a dream wanted to tell me that I was worn out physically and near collapse, the words might not have the same impact as seeing my car heading to the junk yard.

There are other aspects of the use of symbols in dreams. We grow by making efforts to understand our lives and ourselves. If you have experience with children, you know that simply telling them that something is true is not always sufficient; they often have to experience it for themselves. And sometimes the lesson is a bitter one. 

The symbols in dreams cause you to apply yourself to understand your life and help you grow as you uncover associations that were not in your conscious awareness. Let’s suppose you behaved in a childish manner. If you have a dream about a badly behaved child you know or see yourself pushing a baby in a carriage, that symbolism is likely to get you attention more than a voice saying you behaved in a childish manner. 

Another aspect of symbols is the possibility that a direct message might be filtered by your mind before it reaches conscious awareness, particularly if you don’t like the message. There would not be a dream to recall upon awakening. The same message hidden in symbols will not be filtered because it is not yet understood. 

I strongly believe, as did Edgar Cayce, that you are best qualified to interpret your own dreams. All of the relevant associations for the symbols are in your memory, and only you can know the special significance of some symbols. 

As an example, two people may dream about an airplane, but the meanings could be quite different, particularly if one person had been in an accident or lost a loved one in an accident involving an airplane. In my first Edgar Cayce study group, one of the women was terrified of flying because her husband had been killed in an airplane crash. 

In interpreting symbols in dreams, I recommend taking a practical approach. The symbols most likely deal with ongoing issues and events in your life. Don’t look for bizarre or esoteric interpretations; think about the events in your daily life, including your thoughts and emotions. Strong emotions can trigger dreams, and your daily concerns and worries are frequently shown in your dreams. 

For the clearest and most meaningful dreams, you have to want to improve your life and find approval from your higher self. That is why I recommend daily meditation for people seeking guidance through their dreams. If someone says, my dreams are a meaningless jumble, this person is also saying something about his or her life.