Harness the Power of Your DreamsUnderstanding our dreams can give us a huge advantage in all facets of life, including work, love, health, and spirituality. Providing practical, step-by-step techniques for gaining access to our dream lives, dream expert Cynthia Richmond charts the landscape of dreams and their rich, perplexing meanings. Analyzing more than 200 real-life dreams that fall into certain important categories -- dreams of departed loved ones, schools and tests, flying, water, public nudity, and sex -- Richmond reveals their common themes, symbols, and significance.She also takes traditional dream interpretation an important step further, showing us how to transform our insights into life-changing opportunities. To understand our dreams fully, we must look deep into ourselves and ask: What do I want? What am I afraid of? What is my gift? What can I share with the world? The answers will come to us in our sleep, helping us to make powerful changes in our lives. As Richmond shows us with authority and inspiration, the path to a better life is only a dream away.

Cynthia Richmond is a journalist, board-certified behavioral therapist, author, educator, and speaker. Her column, "In Your Dreams," has been a regular fixture in the Los Angeles Times since 1997. She lives in Los Angeles and can be reached at www.dreampower.net.

Introduction

13

(6)

Section One: Make the Journey

Why We Dream

19

(9)

How to Remember Your Dreams

28

(4)

How to Write Down Your Dreams

32

(2)

How to Interpret Your Dreams

34

(13)

Section Two: Dreamers of Dreams

Stress Management Through Dreams

47

(8)

Recurring Dreams

55

(5)

Nightmares

60

(9)

Healing Dreams

69

(6)

Precognitive Dreams and ESP

75

(10)

Section Three: Dreams Have Two Gates

Dreams of Flying

85

(6)

Dreams of Celebrities

91

(6)

Dreams of Political Leaders

97

(7)

Dreams of Departed Loved Ones

104

(8)

Dreams of Relationships

112

(9)

Dreams of Sex

121

(7)

Dreams of Pregnancy and Babies

128

(7)

Dreams of Clothing

135

(6)

Dreams of Teeth and Hair

141

(4)

Dreams of Purses, Wallets, and Money

145

(6)

Dreams of House and Home

151

(8)

Dreams of Hotels

159

(3)

Dreams of Vehicles

162

(7)

Dreams of Elevators

169

(5)

Dreams of Oceans, Lakes, Rivers, and Pools

174

(7)

Dreams of Disaster

181

(4)

Dreams of Blood and Violence

185

(6)

Dreams of Animals

191

(5)

Dreams of Birds and Bugs

196

(5)

Dreams of School and Tests

201

(5)

Dreams of Bathrooms

206

(6)

Spiritual Guidance in Your Dreams

212

(9)

Conclusion

221

(4)

Bibliography

225

(2)

Index

227

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Introduction

Welcome to the land of dreams, dream traveler!

Ever since the first person woke up yawning and stretching from his (or her) first sleep, dreams have intrigued humankind. Throughout history, dreams have been believed to be everything from direct communications from the gods to visions of the future, and they have been respected for the important psychological insights they can provide.

Though some insist they never dream, the truth is that everyone dreams every night. In fact, you are capable of dreaming anytime you are asleep but, about every 90 minutes during normal sleep cycles, you enter a rapid eye movement (REM) state during which dreams are especially vivid. Some say that we are actually always dreaming, and, considering the day dreams and fantasy thoughts we have constantly, it may feel that way. However, nocturnal dramas have their own, often symbolic, language. These dreams can last as long as an hour but, sadly, most of these fantastic, often delightful, images are forgotten as soon as we wake up.

Dreams bestow certain wonderful benefits such as stress management, whether we remember them or not. But learning to remember them can help us know ourselves better. Everyone can learn to remember more of their dreams; interpreting their meanings can give us the pulse of our inner health -- mental, emotional, and spiritual. Dreams can even offer advice and warnings about our physical health, since our unconscious mind seems to know the status of every cell in our body. Modern sleep and dream research has established beyond a doubt that people need to dream, and that the dream process is essential to life and to health.

Often, our dreaming mind will take a current situation and greatly dramatize it, to be sure we recognize what is really going on in our waking life. Sometimes, through our dreams, we see creative solutions to our problems. "Why don't you sleep on it?" isn't just a bid for time. Taking a dilemma into the dream state can be like brainstorming with a problem-solving think tank. Often, we will wake up with the perfect solution.

Dreams also reflect our anxieties. Common themes, such as being late to take a test, being nude in public, and falling, are related to times in which we feel unprepared, judged, insecure, or out of control in our waking lives.

Many dream experts also believe that about 12 percent of dreams are precognitive -- that is, they come true. Biblical history and folklore include many stories of dreams that came true and, today, science has authenticated the same phenomena. Skeptics will write these off to coincidence but, for the dreamers who continue to have these experiences, it is much more than that. Some people see into the future, others have personal visions, and a great many dream of earthquakes, plane crashes, and crimes. Some dream of the locations of missing persons, even when they have no connection to the victim and are hundreds of miles away.

PSYCHOLOGICAL HISTORY OF DREAMS

Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961), the Swiss-born psychologist, had an extensive knowledge of the world's religions, mythologies, and various systems of symbols. In his study of dreams, he became convinced that common dream themes run through every culture and have done so throughout the ages. He termed this reservoir of information thecollective unconscious.

It was Sigmund Freud (1856-1939), however, who began psychology's interest in dreams in 1899 with his bookThe Interpretation of Dreams.Early in his career in Paris, he came to believe that the cause of neuroses was psychological rather than physiological. Later, in Vienna, he worked with psychiatrist Josef Breuer to develop the technique of free association to unearth the roots of neurosis. We still use free association today to understand our own personal meanings of the symbols in our dreams. Some of Freud's other work is now widely disputed. For instance, he believed that most of the content of our dreams reflects suppressed sexual urges. In today's less inhibited world, many of his theories don't seem appropriate. Still, he described dreams as "the royal road to the unconscious." And modern dream experts are grateful for the importance he gave to dreams as a therapeutic tool.

DREAM WORK TODAY

Some dreams seem trivial. They simply process the events of the day and release them. Most, however, are worthy of interpretation. In my work I have found two main levels of interpretation -- thepersonal,which finds a very individual meaning to the dreamer alone, and the universal, which revealsuniversal,spiritual, or expanded meaning. Of course, some dreams can be interpreted in both ways, revealing first a personal message, then a more universal or spiritual one.

Paying attention to your night dreams can help you realize your life dreams and goals. Throughout this book, you will find the real dreams of people who learned about themselves by interpreting their dreams. Using your dreams as tools, you will learn to identify any obstacles to your happiness and fulfillment. And, through your dreams, you can learn to obtain answers to your most perplexing questions. You can actually dream solutions to problems! Some will use their dreams to resolve design or creative issues, finding a plot for a story, for instance, or figuring out a color scheme for the living room. Others will recognize anxiety, depression, or anger they didn't realize they had. Dreams can do all of these things. Learning to remember and interpret them will give you a status report on where you are physically, mentally, spiritually, professionally, and in your relationships. Then, you can use your dreams to explore what you want for your life and how to get there.

So, welcome, dream traveler, to a new world! You will want to pack your journal and a pen for our journey into this enchanted and magical land. Clothing is optional, but comfort is important. No need for a passport -- you already have a free pass and can use it every night.Bon voyageand sweet dreams!

Excerpted from Dream Power: How to Use Your Night Dreams to Change Your Life by Cynthia Richmond
All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.