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.