Learn Dream Interpretation!

Carolyn Plath is holding a series of workshops in which participants can Learn Dream Interpretation

Attend one, two or three sessions with Carolyn to learn dream interpretation as you work with your own dreams and those of other attendees.

June 7, 2015 ~ Session 1: Dream work standards ~ the tried-and-true methods of approaching dreams that will get you started immediately in understanding the language of dreams

June 14, 2015 ~ Session 2: Dream themes and projective dream interpretation technique ~ two approaches to dream work that will expand your ability to get at the meaning of your own dreams and help others with theirs

June 28, 2015 ~ Session 3: Dream incubation and lucid dreaming ~ two advanced techniques for working with your dreams toward specific goals or to resolve persistent problems

All sessions are from 1:30 PM to 4:00 PM at

Carter's Biz Cafes@Commanding Officer's Quarters`

1 Commandant's Lane, Benicia, CA

Price: $30.00/per session/$75 for all three

OR

$20 each session or $50 for the series of three for Seniors (65+) and previous 1-to-1 clients

Carolyn Plath, M.Ed., is a member of the International Association for the Study of Dreams and has studied dreams for more than 35 years.

To register go to http://www.meetup.com/Benicia-Dreamwork-Meetup/

Or sendmeyourdreams@yahoo.com

Or call 707-297-6175

Dream Interpretation: Pay attention in class

Learn Dream Interpretation by working with your own dreams and the dreams of others!  Join me for one, two or three sessions:  http://www.meetup.com/Benicia-Dreamwork-Meetup/

Location plays a big role in the meaning of dreams.  Not only is it helpful to consider the setting where your dream takes place, but also note the placement of objects and people within the dream.  Today’s dreamer finds herself positioned to block the view of others in her dream.  This is important for getting at the meaning.

Dear Carolyn,

My parents don’t like my new boyfriend, “John” justbecause he’s older than me.  But so what?  My dad is older than my mom!  I am a good girl.  I make good grades and don’t get into a lot of trouble, but sometimes they make me so mad!

I dreamed this dream last night after they yelled at me for coming home late:  John and I are in a classroom.  He’s like the teacher and I am lying across his desk at the front of the room facing him.  We are talking and the rest of the class is behind me.  We’re having fun, but the rest of the class starts acting out because they are excluded from our conversation.  My mom and dad are there and so is my brother.  Even my friends are jumping around trying to interrupt us.  I wish they would just shut up and leave us alone, but John stands up to look at them.  When I look again, he’s back in the class with the others.

Signed,

In Love with John

Dear In Love,

The setting and location of people and objects in your dream give clues to its meaning for you.  First of all, note that you are in a classroom, a place of learning.  This suggests that you need to pay close attention to the lessons coming your way, even if you do not want to hear them. 

John is in the position of teacher.  This indicates the role you have assigned him in your waking life – or perhaps he has assigned himself to the job of teaching you.  This could be what concerns your parents when it comes to their daughter dating an older man.  They must wonder what he will teach you?  Are you mature enough to determine what an appropriate lesson might be from someone with more life experience?

In your dream, you lie seductively in front of your new teacher with your back turned to your family and friends.  This implies that at the moment, you are listening only to John and excluding others who care for you.  They may be yelling, as you mentioned, trying to get your attention away from someone who is not good for you at this time.  At one point, even John himself joins the others, suggesting he knows their point of view may be better for you.

Slow down and consider the advice of all those who love you, Dear Dreamer, not just the older man with whom you are enamored.

Sweet Dreams to You!

Learn to use your dreams

Our dreams offer us value and enjoyment on multiple levels. 

Perhaps the greatest value of the material in our dreams is its pragmatic nature.  Our nightly dreams come to us in service of our daily health and well-being.  Like a loving parent or mentor, our dreams offer insights into our own puzzling and sometimes confounding behavior patterns, the intricacies of our relationships, our physical and mental health, and the world around us.

To these ends, our dreams offer us a unique perspective.  Consider your dream’s apparent ability to view you and your daily life from above, as though from a helicopter.  Our dreams seem to have a 360 degree view of us as well as the capacity to see us from within. 

Maybe on a subconscious level we know what our dreams tell us, but we are often too deep in the forest of daily business to find the pathways our dreams readily see. 

No doubt, the language of dreams can be perplexing, but it can be learned.  Those who take the time are rewarded with the universal “ah ha!” of self-knowledge and an opportunity to progress beyond a snag in their personal growth and development.

Our dreams also bring beauty in images and sensations that simply are not available to us in our waking lives.  Their contributions to the creative accomplishments of some of the most exalted writers, artists, musicians and thinkers of all time are well-documented.  And such dreams are available to us all.

Dreams of flying are among the most pleasurable of all.  Most of us hold memories of such dreams for our lifetimes.  These dreams are valuable for the exhilaration alone, but can also offer the impetus for exploring new horizons in life.

In each weekly column, we attempt to help dreamers make the connections their dreams present while sharing methods and strategies for working with dreams.  Now, we are offering a series of Dreamwork Workshops for our readers’ benefit and enjoyment.

Sunday, June 7^th ~ Session 1 will offer dreamwork basics for understanding your dreams and applying their insights to your daily life and lifelong aspirations.  Recognizing symbols, metaphors, puns and plays on words are the building blocks we will explore.

Sunday, June 14^th ~ Session 2 offers more advanced strategies developed by the leaders in the dreamwork community including Projective dreamwork by Jeremy Taylor, PhD, Co-Founder of the International Association for the Study of Dreams and the Marin Institute for Projective Dreamwork; and Dream Themes by Robert Gongloff, Past President of the IASD.

Sunday, June 28^th ~ Session 3 will explore the power and beauty of dream incubation and lucid dreaming.  We will present methods for ‘hatching’ a dream that responds to a dreamer’s specific problem or question.  In addition, we will offer the processes used to induce lucid dreams and the many possibilities such dreams raise.

For details please visit Benicia Dreamwork Meetup: http://www.meetup.com/Benicia-Dreamwork-Meetup/?scheduleNow=true

You may attend one, two or all three sessions.  Hope to see you there!

Sweet dreams to you, Dear Dreamer!

Dream Interpretation - Don't be a scared dog

Pay close attention to the emotions in your dreams.  They can lead you to understanding your dream’s message.  In today’s example, our dreamer recognizes the emotion of fear and an underlying sentiment of deception.  That combination is key to calling his own bluff and taking action or forever putting off success to an unspecified time in the future.

Dear Carolyn,

I have a product that I’ve been perfecting for quite a few years with the hope that it will take off and be a big nationwide seller.  My friends and my wife razz me for being a dreamer.  I take quite a bit of teasing.  They say I am just talking and doing nothing more to bring my idea to fruition.  My daughter even rolled her eyes the other day and called me a dreamer!  That hurt! 

Everyone says my idea is a good one, but they are losing faith that I will ever make anything of it.  Maybe I am just a fantasist.  Then, I had this dream:

I see a Chihuahua is frightened of something in the sky.  He shivers and shakes and looks up at the sky in fear, cowering.

Then it seems that he has a pair of cartoon Chihuahua eyes on the ground below him.  They are looking at the sky and he covers them as though he doesn't want them to see what he sees in the sky.  Also it seems like he is making a joke or faking his fear.  The eyes are fake and the fear is a joke.  It's as if he's fooling someone.  Me; he’s fooling me except that I can see that’s what he thinks he’s doing.

Above him I see what first seems to be a bird or a kite ~ red white and blue with wings extended soaring above.  Nothing to be afraid of.

Signed,

A Man with a Dream

Dear Dreamer,

Your Dreaming Self has chosen an appropriate creature to bring to light some conflicting feelings that may be holding you back.  As you know, Chihuahuas are recognized both for their nervous and frightened nature as well as for their fierce personalities and willingness to take on and dominate larger dogs.  One might say that they fake their fear.

Perhaps this is what your friends and family are nudging you to realize about yourself and your idea for a product that sells nationally.  Maybe you do feel some fear or nervousness about actually launching your product.  But after years of “perfecting,” it could be that your apprehension creates excuses and holds you back. 

It is a cartoon or a caricature, a false show of fright.  In your dream, both you and the shivering Chihuahua know that it’s not real.  You fool yourself with it and continue to tinker rather than taking steps to get your product off the ground, like that red, white and blue nation-wide kite.

Make an action plan and do something, Dear Dreamer!  Soaring is nothing to be afraid of!

Sweet Dreams to You!

Dream Interpretation - That storm can't get you now

When forces of nature appear in our dreams, they make perfect metaphors for emotionally laden experiences in our waking lives.  Sunshine and light breezes might reflect easy going in the near future.  But tornadoes and floods are another matter.  Consider today’s powerful example: 

Dear Carolyn,

I am planning to go to my 10 year high schoolreunion this summer.  All of this has brought up memories of my old boyfriend, “Ed.”  Actually, I have thought of Ed many times over the years.  These memories always make me mad.  He dumped me multiple times.  I was the fool who always went back. I can’t believe I was so stupid!

He didn’t respect me.  He used me and I felt like crap when I was with him.  Still, I participated in the “relationship,” even sought him out!  So, these angry memories are as much my fault as his.  Even now, ten years later, I just don’t get it.  What was the attraction? 

All this has me wondering if I should even go to the reunion.  What will I say if I see Ed?  I’m afraid that I will feel like a fool all over again and that he will be secretly laughing at me, if he’s not laughing out loud!

Last night after stewing about all this again, I dreamed I was on a hill observing a storm front approaching.  I could clearly see a warm air mass on one side and a cold front on the other.  They race down into a valley, run into each other, twist around and create a tornado, wreak havoc, then separate and disappear.  Behind them it looked like a dam broke and the water came rushing toward me.  I was glad to be high up on the hillside, but still felt afraid of the rushing waters.

Signed,

Reunion Blues

Dear Reunion,

Of all weather phenomena, tornadoes are among the most violent and destructive.  And what are they made of?  Two elements – a warm front and a cold front – drawn together, spinning wildly around each other, causing destruction and then splitting apart.  Does that ring a bell?  Consider the hot and cold relationship you described between you and Ed. 

Your dream uses this powerful metaphor to demonstrate for you now, from your higher perspective on the hillside, removed by ten years, that like those forces of nature you were drawn to Ed and he was drawn to you.  When the two of you collided, it caused havoc and lasting emotional damage.  And in the end, perhaps most painful of all, there just wasn’t anything to it.  Maybe that realization is what brings the flood of emotion.

It seems that for all these years, you have not only been angry with Ed, but very unforgiving of yourself.  You were a teenage girl, Dear Dreamer.  Maybe you had to repeat a hard lesson more times than you’d like to admit, but you’re not still repeating it, are you?  Find a way to let it go and enjoy a reunion with your true friends.

Sweet Dreams to You!