Dreams will tell you when you are stuck, what you’re missing, and where you need to go
By Carole Dean
Carl Jung said, “Dreams will show you where you are and where you are going. They reveal your destiny.”
In our bi-monthly Film Funding Guidance class for our fiscally sponsored filmmakers, we are now discussing John Kehoe’s best-selling book, Mind Power: In To The 21st Century. John explains how empowering our dreams can be.
Did you know that the oldest written record of dream interpretation is found in the Babylonian epic of Gilgamesh recorded on clay tablets in 3000 BC?
“What makes dreams so interesting,” John writes, “is that dreams are where the conscious and the subconscious meet, where the images of day-to-day living encounter the hidden wisdom of the subconscious.”
Dreams Can Help You Find Solutions.
Nobel Prize winner doctor James Watson discovered the properties of the DNA molecule from a dream. He saw two snakes intertwining by wrapping around one another. Upon awakening, he realized that this might be what is happening in the DNA. Perhaps, he thought, it was a double Helix twisting around itself and he was right.
John Kehoe has been analyzing and studying his dreams for years. He believes that his dreams are like a personal wisdom which speaks to him.
Studies show that we dream an average of five to seven times a night. Whether you remember them or not, you are dreaming.
John suggests that we program our mind to say before we go to sleep, “tonight I will dream, and I will remember my dream.” If you repeat this to yourself 20 times before you go to sleep, he says there would be very good chance that you will remember your dream.
Next, he recommends you place a pad of paper and a pen by your night table so that you are demonstrating that you are waiting for your dreams, and you are prepared to acknowledge them and write them down.
You might also use an old handheld tape recorder that you could just turn on and punch a button and start talking without having to get up. This is the most important part, to remember what you dreamt. Be right there in the dream so you can get every nuance, any colors, any faces, any symbols, as these matter.
Learn to Interpret What Your Subconscious is Saying in the Dream.
When you wake up from your dream, don’t jump out of bed, stay still and as your consciousness returns. This is in between time and it is very valuable. It’s the crack between the two worlds, your consciousness and dream state, so stay there and observe it carefully.
Try to bring as much back as possible piece by piece. When you get a part of the dream, rerun the dream in your mind several times adding detail each time. Then, write it down or record it. Now you can start interpreting it.
When you’re start interpreting your dreams you want to think of yourself as an archaeologist digging up clues. You are researching and want to know what’s going on inside you. You want to find these relics and interpret what they mean to you because most of your dreams are not going to make a lot of sense. They may seem like nonsense or some foreign language.
When you persist in thinking about your dreams and try to relate them to your own life, you will have a breakthrough and find what the dream really means to you. John says to remember that the dream used the vocabulary of symbols and allegory to convey the message. He says symbols are to intuition what words are to thoughts.
The language of dreams is more like art and poetry than linguistics. The reason for this that is that this part of your conscious mind predates language.
Once you realize that the dreams are messages from your subconscious and start thinking about how your subconscious wants to show you something about yourself, then this can become a lot of fun.
Dream Analysists Say Dreams are Always About You and Your Circumstances.
Dreams will tell you when you are stuck and what you are avoiding. They can tell you what you’re missing, what you’re ignoring, and they can tell you where you need to go.
95% of the time all the characters, creatures, monsters, and stuff in your dreams represents aspects of yourself. For dream interpretation, please realize that all the people in your dream are you.
An actress friend of mine who studied with a dream therapist for years taught me that. The only exceptions would be if you recognize children or parents or coworkers in your dream. Then, they could be real or they could be another part of you.
John says that a nightmare could be your subconscious trying to shock you into looking at some aspect of your life. Saying to you, “look at this, it’s urgent!”
Dreams that repeat are messages trying to break through. Once you interpret them, they will stop. You keep having them because your subconscious is trying to get its message through.
Here are Some Techniques to Interpret Your Dreams.
Give the dream a name. Or a title. Let your intuition come up with something to name the dream because then that title might give you some clues.
Go back to the dream. Find a quiet spot to think and be sure there are no phones or interruptions. Sit quietly, close your eyes, recreate the dream in your mind now put yourself in the dream and see how you would react.
Example, if you had a dream that you were driving a car recklessly on a curved road, you might put yourself back in that dream behind the wheel and begin to ask yourself questions like, why are you driving so fast? Are you getting away from something? Are you rushing to get someone? Is this good? See what answers you can get from yourself. And you can react any way you want in the dream now that you’re in it. You could slow the car down and feel into this situation. You could decide if you were running away from something or recklessly driving to save someone.
Break your dream down into acts. What is act one? What is the situation and who are you? What is act 2? What is the trouble? What is act 3, the resolution? Ask yourself how you feel in each act in the dream. Feelings are a major information source in dreams. Example, do you feel relieved, confident, terrified, threatened?
What are the symbols in each act that can help you decipher the reason you are driving recklessly?
Perhaps you felt relieved when you took the wheel in the dream and slowed the car down to a reasonable speed. Perhaps you have lost control of some situation in your life. That could be the meaning of the dream. Or it could be that you were trying to get away from something that bothered you. And now your job is to find out what is bothering you that you want to get away from.
Analyzing Your Dreams Can Greatly Benefit You.
You may be able to figure this out quickly if you are open to receiving shocking or sometimes unpleasant news from yourself about your life. Dream interpretation takes focus and so don’t be surprised if you can only decipher 30% of your dreams. You are doing quite well if you can interpret this much of your dreams. Your success will increase as you work on dream interpretation, it is something you can learn.
Don’t be afraid to give time to the analysis of your dream because it is a wonderful way for you to give you important advice. It’s a wonderful way for you to face what you’re not facing in your day-to-day reality.
Going back to the dream of driving recklessly, perhaps you find that you are trying to get away from something. With questions you may find that perhaps you hired a cinematographer that is not the right person and rather than face replacing him/her you’re running away from it.
If you take control of the car in your dream and decide to turn around and go back to where you came from you may be able to find answers. Perhaps by going back you find that you were running away from a decision that you made that was wrong and you need to face it and resolve the situation.
Dreams can be this beneficial. This is a wonderful way to talk to your subconscious. The subconscious is trying to talk to you.
When you stop and listen, magnificent things can happen
Carole Dean is president and founder of From the Heart Productions; a 501(c)3 non-
profit that offers the Roy W. Dean Film Grants and fiscal sponsorship for independent filmmakers. She hosts the weekly podcast, The Art of Film Funding, interviewing those involved in all aspects of indie film production. She is also the author of The Art of Film Funding, 2nd Edition: Alternative Financing Concepts. See IMDB for producing credits
