Living Your Dreams

Thank you Ana for mentioning this book in The Work thread: Dream Work.

Ana on May 03 said:

... I am rereading a book I have read before with little interest, now beginning to have more sense, it is The message of dreams by Gayle M. V. Delaney, the original English version is Living your dreams.

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Now that I’ve read the relevant parts of the book, I can thoroughly recommend this book for dream interpretation, it allows you to look at the dream from many perspectives to arrive at several possible solutions. Since setting a first 'seed' to dream one night ((see Ark's notes on doing this) and the process described in the book), I experienced three dreams that night, and recalled them all by writing them down immediately - going backwards works too - then re-seeing the dream later when a full dream scenario emerged. Also, I have had dreams each night since, even without starting a 'seed'. This is for someone who rarely dreamed in the past.

Part one of the book deals with Dream Incubation and Interpreting your Dreams primarily. It provides an interviewer’s cue sheet – questions to ask for your interpretation, as only you know what your dreams mean. There are sample interviews by the author and the resultant interpretations for guidance.

In the Appendix there is a section on developing a strategy of improving your dream recall.

There are many other chapters that deal with related matters – specific contexts, lucid dreaming etc, and forming dream groups.

The dream interpretation process is excellent, along with getting further insights as I walk about during the day. It pays to keep an open mind even after the interpretation, for further insights, to find out what your unconscious mind is telling you – prompting you to do.

Highly recommended.

I've been interested in dreams ever since I was a kid and learned about the idea of dream interpretation, but I didn't have any resources or instructions other than the "10,000 Dreams Interpreted" book my mom has has since I was little. Problem is, as I recall that book is based on dream research done by one man over 60 years ago in Germany, and it shows in the language used, the lack of entries for modern symbols such as technologies and the way the book treats women. I felt that real dream interpretation must be more of a skill than just a dictionary-lookup task, and that symbols were more dynamic than such a book could ever possibly account for.

Recently I ordered a number of the recommended books and I also ordered this book since it sounded like the type of dream interpretation instructions I've always wanted. I read the first section of the book and I think it's all I could have wished for. The dream interview process seems very useful and confirms and crystalizes some ideas that I've been wondering about for a long time. So thanks for posting about it here, Prodigal Son.

After finishing the first section of Living Your Dreams I started reading Redirect, and I see a strong parallel between the dream journaling method presented in the first book, and the Pennebaker writing exercise presented in the second. Perhaps if used correctly dreams can be very useful in gaining insights into and redirecting our implicit (unconscious) narratives?

For general information, the dream incubation process she describes involves going over the problem you want to deal with just before bed, ideally by writing about it on paper, looking at it from different angles, recording your thoughts and feeling as well. (Applying the practice of stepping back and focusing on reasons might be useful here?) Then you come up with a question or phrase that most completely and concisely sums up what you want to know about your situation and write it down. This is your "incubation phrase" as she calls it. You hold this phrase in your mind or repeat it to yourself as you fall asleep, and the author says that most often you will receive a dream that addresses or relates your question, even if it's no at first obvious that it does relate or how.

It should be noted that the author has a strong opinion that dreams are basically always helpful in nature, but I think some reading around the forum regarding dreams should be done before someone just starts applying this book especially for anything other than interpretation. For instance I don't think it's a good idea to start trying for out-of-body experiences or lucid dreams. To me that gets awfully close to wonton experimentation with a Ouija board or chanelling, which Laura strongly recommends against! She has a long list of books for one to read before even thinking about it!

It seems to me that this could be pretty powerful if combined with the Redirect exercises (the Pennebaker exercise is even recommended to be done before bed) as well as EE.

I'm reading the "Dream Work" thread now, since I didn't notice the link you posted before, as well as this one: Interpretation of Dreams. I came across some links to more information about dreams in the second one.

Anyhow, I'm going to proceed cautiously, keeping in mind the following quote:

960428 said:

Q: (L) What was the source of the dream where this was
stated to me quite clearly?
A: Dreams are the best forum for disinformation that exists.
Q: (L) Okay. I can see that. But, at the same time they are
also one of the best ways to get information from the
subconscious and the higher conscious, is this not true?
A: We have mentioned dualities a lot!!

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