When Someone Says, “I Had a Dream about You.”

Superman by Ross
Fair Use
Scan made by the original uploader User Tgunn2.

Chances are someone told you, “I had a dream about you.” All of us dream during sleep and we often dream about people we know personally. Since many people remember their dreams, they may mention a dream about you, even if it is weird, sexual or frightening. In these cases, the dream conversation can be unsettling to both the dreamer and the one dreamed about. For example, let’s say that Tom is a project manager who supervises a technician named Raymond on a big project.  Tom has the following dream which he relates to Raymond:

Tom sees Raymond wearing Superman’s attire and flying over tall buildings.

Responding to Dream Information

On hearing this dream, Raymond, on one hand, feels happy about the dream because it seems to reflect that his boss holds him in high esteem, feeling he can do anything. On the other hand, it makes Raymond uneasy because they both are about to start a really challenging project, and Raymond wonders if he can live up to his supervisor’s unrealistic imagery of his abilities. If Raymond is interested in pursuing this remark to get better insight into his boss and their relationship, he might say something like, “It sounds like you think I am very capable. Thanks for your confidence in me. While I always try to do my best, remember I’m not Superman. ” That’s probably as far as most people would take the conversation. Added insight can be gained, however, if the person being dreamed about understands:

• You Can’t Interpret Another Person’s Dream
• The Dream is About the Dreamer
• The Dream Has Many Levels of Meaning

Raymond needs to understand that you can’t interpret another person’s dream. The dream is about the dreamer, in this case Tom. The key to understanding the dream is to understand what Raymond means to Tom, and if Tom isn’t willing to share this perception, Raymond really can’t know the real or full meaning.  Raymond may get clarification on the dream by asking, “Do you really have such a high opinion of what I can do?”

While the dream may mean that Tom does have a high opinion of his technician, Raymond, and thinks he can tackle many tasks; however, on a deeper level, it may also mean that Tom has been feeling uncertain about tasks he needs to accomplish and he is using Raymond’s abilities as the standard for excellence. At a still deeper level, and taking the dreamwork method of all things in the dream are part of the dreamer, the dream may also symbolize some issue or new awareness that only belongs to Tom, having little to do with Raymond personally.  Perhaps Tom realizes he is getting better at tackling the technical aspects of his own job.  Tom’s perception of Raymond may have been the catalyst to awaken this new and powerful energy within himself!  By comparing himself to his able employee, Tom realizes he, too, can soar.

So while Raymond may take his supervisor’s dream as a compliment, Raymond should not make too much of his supervisor’s dream in thinking it pertains just to him. More than likely, it also has to do with something new happening within Tom, and if Raymond is sharp he will be on the lookout to see changes in his boss.

If My Dream is all about Me, Can I Help Someone Else in a Dream?

Dreaming for Another

It is often said by dream experts that the dream is all about the dreamer so when we work with a dream we use methods that help the dreamer see each part of the dream as being a part of herself or himself. When this is done and the dream is worked through, the dreamer receives gifts of insight, solution and healing. If I can help myself through my dreams, can I use them to help other people—even though they are about me?

The answer is a definite “Yes!” In fact, studies done by Henry Reed, Ph.D. of the Edgar Cayce Institute for Intuitive Studies have shown that dreams are very effective when they are intended to help another person. Dr. Reed has even demonstrated in The Dream Helper Ceremony that a group of dreamers can intend to have a dream that will help a member of their group—and can even do so without that member even conveying the nature of his or her issue! The group of dreamers report dreams that can give more helpful information, often diagnose the issue, or possibly provide a solution for the member seeking help. These dreams also, at the same time, offer an important message solely for the person who dreamed the dream. On doing this exercise in my dream classes I found the same results among the class participants.

Why? It seems that empathy is at work here on the part of the dreamer. The intuitive dreaming mind is naturally, and all along, creating problem-solving solutions for the dreamer. This is its nature. In order to keep helping the dreamer and to answer the request to help another, the dreaming mind apparently creatively comes up with a dream scenario that will match the needs of both the dreamer and person being dreamed for. The dreaming mind thus intuits both the needs of the dreamer and the person being dreamed for! So, don’t be shy. Ask for a dream (Dream Incubation) that will not only help you with an issue but will help someone you know who has a problem.

Too Much of a Good Thing: An Ashlynn Acosta Intuitive Discoveries Mystery

A Lady Desires a Painting
Artwork by Christine Soltys

For the many who have asked, Ashlynn Acosta will be making her second appearance as the intuitive teen sleuth in Too Much of a Good Thing, a young adult mystery novel set in Gloucester, Massachusetts. In the intriguing story, our heroine deals with issues of hoarding, ownership, greed and possessiveness that lead to a crime.

The problematic relationship with her single dad, a “just the facts” police detective, has healed through the challenges met and shared in Dead Men Do Tell Tales. Relishing this lively new connection with her dad, Ashlynn suspects any woman seriously claiming her father’s attention. When a beautiful redhead enters the scene, Ashlynn faces the need to solve a mystery in the midst of a budding romance between her father and this most surprising lady. Pressure builds when her buddy group divides into romantic couples and she is paired with a guy who evokes new feelings in her! She is overwhelmed by it all.

Ashlynn’s very first date takes place as she tries to uncover the real mystery in the midst of too much of too many good things. Intuition and real dreamwork are the tools Ashlynn uses to help her understand and act on her new feelings as well as unravel the secrets in a mansion on a hill where a rich old lady has been found dead.

In a Reader’s Guide at the end of the novel, you can learn more about the intuitive tools Ashlynn uses and learn how they can be employed to unlock your own mysteries and solve your own problems.

Is Déjà vu a Memory of a Forgotten Dream?

Déjà vu: How could I be here before?

Déjà vu, the experience of already having seen something or visited someplace, is a common experience that modern science cannot explain. For example, I might be traveling in a foreign country, visiting a famous place like the Great Wall of China for the first time. All of sudden I get the feeling I have been here and this place is familiar.

After nearly forty years of recording my dreams, and having so many dreams of being in strange places and meeting new people that become manifest in waking life, I am almost convinced déjà vu is an experience of remembering something or someplace previously seen in dreamtime, and the memory surfaces from the long-forgotten, or possibly never-remembered dream when waking reality mimics the earlier experience in dreamtime. I was first made aware of this dual reality when I was in college and had a dream just after my roommate became engaged.

Dream:
I dream of attending my college roommate’s wedding in a white church I didn’t recognize in waking life. The dream is vivid and clear in every detail, especially the completely white color of church exterior, the unusual reddish brown design inside the church and the fact that I am taken to the church in the groom’s parents’ white car, sitting in the right rear seat.

On waking I completely forgot about the dream because I wasn’t in the habit of recording my dreams at this stage of my life. When the day of the wedding arrived approximately six months later, and we were about to go to the church, I was told to ride in the groom’s parents’ white car. As I looked at the car, I suddenly I recalled the dream and remembered I had seen this before, been here and done this! I got goose bumps. Reality then played out according to my dream. I was told to sit in the right backseat, exactly where I was in the dream. On the way to the church I suspected the church would be all white on the outside and inside would have that unusual reddish brown design. And sure enough, it did.

Déjà vu suggests a Similar Dreamtime and Waking Reality

Edgar Cayce and others have stated that in dreamtime we get a foreshadowing of all the important events in our life before they become manifest in waking life. It is in dreamtime where we make choices that may eventually play out in waking time because dreamtime puts us into the future to prepare the way for us. That is one reason why Casey is quoted as saying “Dreams are today’s answers to tomorrow’s questions.” It’s like we are given a trial run. If we are dream-aware, we can make use of this test case scenario. If not, it’s as if we are programmed to follow through with the same decision in waking life as we made in dreamtime.

Living Twice in this Life

This concept of living our life twice, in dreamtime and waking time, is hinted at in popular culture with the James Bond theme song sung by Nancy Sinatra,

“You only live twice or so it seems
One life for yourself and one for your dreams.”

While some may interpret this to mean we live two different lives, one in our dreams (perhaps daydreams) and one in waking life, and these realities might not necessarily match in quality or enjoyment, my experience indicates that night dreams pretty well do match waking life—unless I consciously NOT make a decision I made in dreamtime because I didn’t like the outcome I saw in the dream. However, this type of decision-making requires knowing what was dreamed about and remembering it, perhaps many years after the dream! To me, this is what is meant by getting answers about the future from the dream. If you liked the outcome of your choice in dreamtime, go with it. If not, make another choice.

So the next time you experience déjà vu, consider that you may have passed this way before—in your dreams, and your dreams were preparing you for this experience.

When It’s OK to Be All About Me: The Dream is About the Dreamer

A Dream Scene: Hopes Rising or a Plane Taking Off?

In working with dreams, there are two common misleading inclinations most people have: they tend to see events in dreams to be literally true or to view them as happening outside the dreamer as actual events in waking life. Perhaps this is because many people tend to find ultimate meaning outside themselves rather than looking within for the answers. Here is an example:

Dream: I am in a plane that is taking off from a bumpy runway. The plane is bouncing around and it makes me nervous.

In this case, the dreamer might think the dream refers to a plane ride he might be taking tomorrow or sometime in the future and the takeoff could be hazardous. While that might be one possible interpretation, leaving it there without further reflection will quite often miss the mark, losing a much more important meaning of the dream altogether.

One of the major milestones for dreamworkers in learning about dreams is to realize that the dream is about the dreamer and what is going on within the dreamer. That is why dreams have been called the Royal Road to the Unconscious. Genuine dreamwork takes us on this royal road. It provides ways to understand and nurture a deeper relationship with one’s own Self. Fortunately, nowadays, dreamwork methods have been developed to help us mine the hidden meanings of dreams which pertain to what is happening within the Unconscious regions the dreamer. One of these established methods for working with dreams is Fritz Perls’ approach of viewing everything in the dream as part of the dreamer.

How to Work with the Dream as if it was “All About Me”

In this approach, I would work with the dream about a plane taking off from a bumpy runway as follows: I would ask myself what part of me represents the plane, what part represents the runway, and what is “bouncing around” in my life? I might associate the plane with my hopes for a new project that is taking off in my life, I might associate the bumpy runway with the bumpy start of the project and the “bouncing around” may stand for my feelings about the whole affair. In this case, my unsteady feelings are challenging the hopes for something developing in my life. For me to move forward in a healthy manner, perhaps the dream is helping me by warning me that I need to pay attention to this project and to my feelings about it—or a disaster could result and I may have many regrets about being part of the project. The dream, then, is calling my attention to a real problem in my waking life right now and not some possible future development. It is saying that within me there is a growing unease about this project.

Sometimes dreams do concern events outside the dreamer but most of the time my experience has been that dreams are always about the dreamer so while dreams may pertain to outside events, they also suggest a parallel metaphor within the dreamer—and this issue is often the difficult one to deal with, and the one most overlooked by the dreamer.

To learn more about dreams, visit my website: http://www.healingdreamgarden.com.