A conversation starter
Someone once told me his favourite conversation starter at a party was, “What did you dream last night?” I imagine that brief, light-hearted responses might prove fruit for frivolity and bonding: “I was ice-skating with a panda,” “I was running for a bus, naked,” “I was icing a birthday cake with dog poo.” Let’s flip this idea. What if your dreams were the conversation starters, inviting you each morning to engage with the questions they
A triple celebration: The Dream Show
After 16 years of creating The Dream Show, we’re … no, we’re not stopping! From January 2026 we’re adding a video podcast format on YouTube. So why, you might wonder, has it taken so long to add this feature? Why did we jump into podcasting so early (2009) yet stay away from the visual format until now? That’s easy to answer. Our guests for the first 15 years were anonymous. The concept was to invite
Foxed by the meaning of a dream?
The first thing I do when I open my eyes in the morning is close them again. I drift and search for memories of my dreams before they fade. Dream fragments float into view like seeds on a light breeze. I catch a seed or two and invite them to tell me more of their story. On a good morning, they do. Vividly detailed whole dreams instantaneously pop into view. I keep my eyes closed
Unpacking the closet
Sometimes the most profound revelations emerge from the simplest gestures. “I’ve never had so many colourful clothes”, Petra laughed, hands waving about expansively as she met my gaze over Zoom, “in real life or in dreams!” “How did you feel about that in the dream?” I asked. “Complete. Fulfilled. Excited. Like I had everything I would ever need. What does that say about me? That I’m superficial and shallow? That it’s all about how I
Elias Howe and the sewing machine
In 1846, Elias Howe had a problem. He was trying to design a sewing machine to handle mass manufacture. But he was stuck. These were – of course – the days when all sewing was done by hand using a sewing needle: sharp pointy bit at one end, hole for the thread at the other. Howe tried to incorporate the sewing needle into his design, but it wasn’t really working. Then he had a dream.
The answer is blowing in the wind
It’s a common dream. You’re trying to walk but you’re held back by a strong wind. Or by air that feels as thick and sticky as honey. Or perhaps your legs are too heavy to lift, or the surface you’re walking on has turned to glue. Your first quest, when interpreting a dream, is to relate the feeling in the dream to a situation in your life. Where are you feeling held back? What seems
Spoken clues
What is the difference between a thief and a robber? A client dreamed there was an intruder in his house. He couldn’t see him, but he could sense him. “What can you sense about him?” I asked. He closed his eyes, searched for the feeling. “He’s a robber.” At the time, the word ‘robber’ struck me as odd. I was in dream therapist mode, unable to look up the difference between a robber and a
Big fish
“I don’t remember my dreams,” Bella said, “except a snippet last night about some fish being too big for a fish tank.” “Well, that’s a start,” I said. “Those few words alone raise some interesting questions, like what are you trying to squeeze into your life and why doesn’t it fit comfortably? And where do you need more space to be fully alive?” Bella (not her real name), a journalist, was interviewing me for a
A sense of balance
An eternity ago, when I was in my late teens, I had a recurring dream where I struggled to walk through the university campus. It wasn’t one of those glue feet dreams, the ones where your feet are heavy or stuck to the road, or you feel like you’re walking through treacle. I had that recurring dream too. The reason walking was such a struggle in my late-teens dream was because I wore a flat
A colourful message
Interpreting a dream provides powerful personal insight. But it’s doing the dream alchemy that creates the deep internal shifts that can make all the difference to your life. Kat, my guest on episode 277, The Dream Show, recently emailed me to share her experience of doing the dream alchemy on the dream we explored on the podcast. She was also keen to share this with our listeners and readers. (Watch out for Kat’s full story