How did you feel in your dream?
One of the first questions I ask when a client finishes telling me a dream is, ‘How did you feel in the dream?’ People usually mention the big emotions they encounter in a dream: fear, anger, sadness, but otherwise focus on telling the dream story. If you keep a dream journal, and you haven’t studied dream interpretation methods with me, look back through several dreams to see how often you mentioned your feelings. You may
Numinous dreams
Have you ever had a dream where you met the divine, or touched upon a sense of life’s deepest spiritual mystery, or were filled with indescribable awe? A numinous dream is one that arouses spiritual or religious emotions, inspires deep awe, or carries a sense of the sacred or mysterious. You might wake from a numinous dream feeling deeply moved, perhaps inspired to be in the world in a different way, yet unable to communicate
Battle Zen
“I’ve had a recurring dream for 20-25 years,” said Josh, calling into a breakfast radio show last week, “and I’ve always wondered what it means.” I was talking about dreams and chatting with callers on Sarah Howell’s breakfast show on ABC Sunshine Coast. I always enjoy engaging with listeners about their dreams on radio, even though we have only a few minutes to dip into a dream compared to the full hour of a private
Doodle dreaming
There’s a land somewhere between dreaming and waking that I call Doodle Dreaming. It’s rare that I find myself there, but when I do, it’s mesmerising, and I linger as long as I choose. The gate to Doodle Dreaming, for me, is found at the end of a long and luxurious dreaming night. I wake up but don’t open my eyes. I’m not awake enough to want to get out of bed, but I am
Change of frame
Once upon a time, about twelve years ago, I bought new and rather edgy eyewear, quite different from the more-or-less transparent frames I had been wearing. I stepped out, expecting comments from people who knew me well. “I love your jacket!” several people said, while others asked if I’d changed my hairstyle, and almost everyone generally commented that I was looking really well. I’d been wearing that jacket all winter, and hadn’t changed my hairstyle.
Mindful magic
There’s a magical beach a couple of hour’s drive away, where time stands still and gentle winds whisper profound wisdom. If the wind is salty and onshore, the magic begins the moment I step out of the car. If the barbecues dotted along the cliff top are sizzling and there’s a tang of ketchup on the air, I need to climb down onto the rocky shore before it begins. So first I notice the air,
How to run a dream group
Do you keep your dreams to yourself? Do you sometimes share them with a partner, friend, or dream therapist? Or do you share with an inner circle, a dream group, perhaps? I received an email this week asking how to set up a dream group, a request that stirred my memories and took me back to the very early 1990s when I was writing my first book about dreams. Some of the people who had
Where synchronicity leads
In a dream the night before last, I pulled a very long hair from my nose. It was metres long, seemingly unending, and when I did finally pull it free, the pain woke me up. We’ll get to the dream and what it meant, but I must begin with the story of driving home from yoga yesterday evening. During the class, I mentioned that an operation I had some twenty years ago to remove a
Are all dreams meaningful?
How meaningful are dreams, and are some dreams more meaningful than others? If you’re a very dedicated dreamer you might be in the habit of interpreting every single dream you remember, but when you remember several dreams a night this can feel overwhelming. If some dreams are more meaningful than others wouldn’t it be good to know which ones they are, and to focus your attention on these? Let’s start with the question of whether
The Dream Handbook
My book, The Dream Handbook, will be published by Hachette (Australia) on 30 January and by Piatkus (UK) on 22 February, so I’m getting into book launch frame of mind. If you already have my last book, Dream Alchemy, a much-loved classic first published in 2003, you’ll discover that The Dream Handbook is an updated version with a new title. My Australian publisher had a vision of bringing the look and feel of the book