Nov 1st, I was part of a fundraising booksigning for one of the writer groups to which I belong (we’re nonprofit). I was signing my novel Sleepwalkers (see link below), and had some pretty fun discussions. One such discussion was about dreams, and since Sleepwalkers deals with dreams and how to use them, I was asked to interpret a dream a woman’s niece (I believe she was) had. While I asked what the dream was about, I informed the woman that my stance on dream interpretation is that it is the DREAMER who should be interpreting their own dreams, not an outsider, however well meaning that interpreter may be.
In my experience I find that though some dream interpreters may well find possible interpretations for other peoples’ dreams that seems to fit the person in question, I feel it does the dreamer a disservice and allows dreamers to focus on external solutions to internal problems and mechanics.
This is not good.
We need to be using our own innate abilities. We should not be relying on others to solve our own mysteries.
So how does one learn to interpret their own dreams?
I have another link below for some good books on the subject, written by Jane Roberts (see link, below). But as to the matter at hand, we can begin by asking ourselves what our symbology means to US. Sure, a “car” might mean travel or an impending trip, but to some a car might mean death, because it is associated with the death of a family member...or it might mean sex, because they had their first sexual encounter in a back seat. The important thing to remember is that each of us carries within us our own unique dictionary to the symbolic. We use it all the time--we’re just not all that aware we are. The trick is...to become CONSCIOUS...of what it is we’re doing, thinking, and in this case, dreaming. It may indeed take time to cultivate this ability, but it is a well-won ability to cultivate and actually not all that difficult. You can even use it in your daily, awake life.
Symbols are prevalent throughout our lives, and I did a webpage on synchronicity a few years ago to show how it plays out DAILY in my life. If you keep your eyes open, you’ll see how it plays out in yours. But by becoming aware of how symbols play a part in your life not only lends a bit of fun and even humor to your life, it also gives you a new way to look at life. A new way to interpret it. A new way...to pick up on the subtle message Life (God, Higher Powers, dead relatives, pick your belief system) is trying to give you. A way to no longer feel so alone in a life that may appear to be hard, cold, heartless, and uncaring. These symbols do play out in our lives, and by learning to understand them, how WE interpret and use them, this new ability will add new dimensions to your existence--and your dream world. In Sleepwalkers, I also show how to learn to dream consciously. How to change your LIFE.
So, pick up a copy of Sleepwalkers. This is--and more--all in there. Drop me a line through my website and tell me how it has changed your life. Sleepwalkers is not just a “story.” I wrote it as a piece of “self-help fiction.” A story that has other levels to it, one that can help readers understand their own lives. I used (and LIVE) the ideas I’d learned over the years from others. I have received e-mails for readers who have told me it had changed their lives...and that makes a writer feel good, you know? That not only did I write a good story, but one that actually touched a reader’s life and made theirs...better.
