Dream interpretation - That baby is ready to go!

Today’s dreamer offers two examples of images that recur in many of our dreams.  First, her dream includes a baby. Now babies often carry universal meanings of new beginnings, creative surges and portent for the future; but of course, we cannot generalize!  The significance of a particular baby in a particular dreamer’s dream may be unique to that person. 

In addition, today’s dream contains a ‘shadow’ image.  This also may carry a common implication – that of a blind spot for the dreamer.  Let’s see how these two interact in this particular dreamer’s life.

Dear Carolyn,

I’m concerned about a dream I had recently in which I was pregnant.  (I am well past the age where this could be true!  To give you an idea, I just retired from 40 years working in the bank!) Anyway, in the dream I tell a woman on the bus I am riding in that I’m pregnant. She doesn’t believe me at first and when I look down, my stomach is flat.  But I stand up and cup my hands under my belly and sure enough, I have a big pregnant belly.  I hold up three fingers on my left hand to tell her I have three months left to go.

Next, I am outside and someone asks to see the baby.  Like magic, he is on my knees, very well-developed, smart and engaged!  And here’s the part I just don’t get – I am white and so is my husband, but this baby has very dark skin.  I am concerned that because of this,  my husband will know I had sex with another man, even though I don’t remember doing that.  Then I remind myself that this is my baby and I should love him and care for him.

What do you make of that?

Signed,

Surprised Mother

Dear Surprised,

While you did not specify what your plans are for your retirement, your dream suggests that you have some well-developed plans that will be able to stand on their own sooner than you might expect, just like the baby in your dream.  Even though you may have kept this a secret from yourself as indicated by first seeing a flat stomach, the following fully ‘ripe’ six months’ pregnant belly says you are two-thirds of the way in your new journey – the bus ride. 

Maybe you have quietly harbored a desire or goal – kept it in the dark, like this dark-skinned baby – that you are able to bring to fruition, in say, about three months!  This could be  an entrepreneurial idea that your husband poo-poohed or that you felt unsure  about sharing, as indicated by the anticipation of a negative reaction from that judgmental masculine part of yourself.  But your dream reminds you, it is your baby and you must love and cultivate it.

Go for it, Dear Dreamer! Now is the time!

Sweet dreams to you!

Carolyn

Sendmeyourdreams@yahoo.com

Dream Interpretation - Sleeping on the Chairlift

Dear Carolyn,

My husband said I should pass along a dream that I have had at least 5-6 times.  It relates to downhill skiing, a sport I learned last year to prove to myself I could.  I love it! 

I had a very busy day before the dream, preparing for a meeting with a club in which I participate.  I attended the club meeting and had people over for a potluck dinner too!  Went to bed about 10pm and had this vivid dream.  It was in color and everything!  But it is confusing to me. 

I dreamed that instead of taking regular Tylenol before I head to the slopes that I take Tylenol PM by accident.  When I get on the ski lift I fall asleep.  I remember getting on the ski lift, but then I doze off and the ski lift operators could not wake me up.  I went up and down 6 times before they physically removed me from the lift, which is when I woke up.  What does this mean???

Signed,

Sleeping on the Chair Lift

Dear Sleeping,

You may have read a column or two in which I’ve admonished dreamers not to ignore the literal implications of a dream.  In your case, it can’t hurt just to double check your bottles of Tylenol and Tylenol PM.  Be sure they’re labeled correctly and that there’s no chance you’ll accidentally confuse them!  Oftentimes our dreams are looking out for our well-being.

In a similar vein, your dream could be suggesting that since you’ve learned to downhill ski, you may have become lax in your attention to safety procedures when you’re skiing.  Maybe you’ve become too relaxed while skiing, going through the motions, doing it with your eyes closed. 

Of course, there is a possible metaphorical meaning associated with these images.  You mention your preparation for your club meeting, and all the activities you engaged in on such a busy day.  Your dream may be suggesting that what was once fun and challenging has become repetitive and even rote to you.  Maybe you’re just going through the motions as you do on the ski lift in your dream, going up and down, back and forth, without the thrill that you first associated with it.

You say this dream has recurred 5 or 6 times.  One of the best ways to get insight into any recurring dream is to make a note of it when you have it.  It sounds very familiar to you, so you won't need to write it out in detail unless you want to.  Just make a note like, "dreamed of sleeping on the chairlift again."

Then ~ and this is key ~ make another note of what's going on in your waking life in the days around the dream.  Chances are excellent that the dream recurs when certain circumstances or trains of thought are prevailing in your waking life.  Does it always come on club days?  You'll only need to make notes like this two or three times before the connection to your waking life presents itself to you!

Sweet Dreams to You, Dear Dreamer!

sendmeyourdreams@mail.com

This dream originally appeared here January 28, 2012

Dream Interpretation - Recurring Dream Reveals Dreamer's Inner Strength

Dear Carolyn,

I read your column in my local newspaper, and here is a nice recurring dream that I have had every few months for over 20 years.

I am in a cavern with an underground lake that covers the entire bottom of the cavern.  I am on a ledge hewn into the rock walls about 30 feet above the calm clear water.  The ledge circles the lake.  The cavern is lit as if it were daytime but I don't know how.  At one end of the lake there is a waterfall pouring warm water into the lake.  It sounds like a bathtub being filled, and the air in the cavern is pleasantly steamy from the warm water.

An 1870's Mississippi paddle-wheel steamboat comes into view with all the passengers alongside the boat's railings looking at the cave and the waterfall.  I wave to the boat and the passengers wave back.  The Captain blows the boat's whistle to acknowledge me.  Sometimes he maneuvers the boat up to the rock wall and a deckhand places a plank from the bow to the ledge and I board the boat.  Sometimes they just sail by heading for a closer look at the waterfall.

Then the dream ends.  Any insights would be welcome!

By the way, I work in a high-stress job in the maritime industry.

Signed,

Sailing Along

Dear Sailing,

I agree ~ your recurring dream is lovely!  So many beautiful images!

The best way to get a "bead" on your recurring dream will be to make a note of it when you have it.  I'm sure it's very familiar, so you won't need to write it out in detail unless you want to.  Just make a note like, "had the cavern/steamboat dream."

Then ~ and this is key ~ make another note of what's going on in your waking life in the days around the dream.  Chances are excellent that the dream recurs when certain circumstances or trains of thought are prevailing in your waking life.  You'll only need to make notes like this two or three times before the connection presents itself to you!

Now, having said that, Here are some more general/universal observations about your dream images:

The underground cavern and lake suggest a reservoir within you, a serene pool of inner strength that sustains you.  The entire setting is suggestive of your being in tune with the beauty and power of nature and your inner self. 

If you have a particular connection or affinity with the 1870's era, or steamboats in particular, and given your stress-filled work in the maritime industry, old-time paddle wheelers could definitely represent your desire for serenity!  The reference might also be a link to a long-standing personal calm and self-assurance, one that harkens back to another peaceful time without your current stressful hurry and hubbub.  Your spiritual self is well established and feeds you gently.  It is a source of wonder and appreciation for those around you.

Thanks for sharing your beautiful dream! 

More Sweet Dreams to You, Dear Dreamer!

sendmeyourdreams@mail.com

(This dream originally appeared here in January, 2011.)

Dream Interpretation - Taking no action is an action!

Many times our dreams will repeat a theme or message in two or more scenarios within the same night’s dreams.  The idea seems to be, “If you didn’t get it the first time, here it is again.” Today’s dreamer brings a good example.

Dear Carolyn,    

My dream starts out with old men in a bus in the middle of a field.  Then everyone is ordered off the bus by bad guys - Police? Criminals? Mafia?  Most get off, but one elderly man is injured and holding his side, slumped over.  He is ignored and two others are also seemingly unnoticed.  Now I am part of this – one of the two hiding.  We vow to help the man and plot to take the bus and drive it to an emergency room. 

The others are standing in middle of the field, having a “conference.”  We manage to take over the bus and drive off over the field in a mad dash towards freedom and a hospital.   We find a hospital emergency room parking lot. 

New scene but somehow connected to the earlier part of dream, my husband and I have a little dog sleeping, curled up in front of our bedroom door.  In the middle of the night the little dog jumps up on our bed, wakens me and imparts a sense of urgency.  I pet and soothe the dog.  I realize there is someone in the front part of the house.  I detect something – a noise? – mostly a sense that someone is there.  I waken my sleeping husband and try to explain.  Nothing happens; husband peeks down the hall – nothing – comes back to bed and apparently to sleep.  I am alert and alarmed.  I see a flash of light from the front of the house.  I again awaken my husband and he suggests/mimes that we feign sleep so as to surprise the bad guy.  The little dog is also alert - I know this, but he is curled up and part of the pretense.  I do my part of the feigning.  Suddenly a HUGE man appears, peaking around the corner of the doorway to our bedroom.  I waken terrified.  End of dream.

Signed,

Do I Really Need to Be Afraid?

 Dear Do I Really,


There are multiple levels on which to understand your dream.  First, it's important to consider the idea that your dream may be health-related.  It is set in a bus, a conveyance, your means of getting around, i.e. your body.  Your dreaming self goes into protection mode, trying to help that 'elderly' part of itself that is wounded/injured.  Your plan is to hide from the part of yourself that says leave it, get off the bus!  Instead you will take this to the emergency room for attention.

Similarly, in the second part of your dream, you agree to ignore the sign that something big and ominous is at your door.  You will pretend that you don't hear the warning signs and only react when forced to do so.

From another viewpoint, your dream may be speaking to your frame of mind.  In this perspective, your mode of transportation is not moving.  It's not even on a road - it's in the middle of a field.  An authoritarian part of you – the police – tells you to get off that bus.  Instead you decide to hide out with the part of you that is wounded or feeble in some attitude or way of thinking.  You will nurse this part of yourself in contradiction to the 'bad guy' part of yourself that says to abandon it and move on.

Again, the theme is repeated in the second part of your dream.  Even though you are certain that your warm and cozy position is being threatened, you make a decision to pretend it is not so, to take no action until a big bad guy makes the choice for you and forces you to act.

Your dream can be considered a call to action Dear Dreamer, or perhaps a call to change your mindset.  At the least it is a call to recognize that hunkering down and waiting is a decision with consequences as well. 

Sweet dreams to you!

Dream Interpretation - Success is right behind you

More often than not, the characters in our dreams reflect parts of ourselves.  Though our dreamer today doesn’t give us the waking life context for his dream, it is still clear that the celebrity who dominates the dream’s story line is a stand-in for the dreamer himself.  We will look for “real world” parallels for the dream character’s actions to understand this dream’s message.

Dear Carolyn,

In case you don’t know, Mike Krukow was a National League All Star pitcher for the San Francisco Giants and is now a color commentator for them.  I’m a fan!  He’s an all-around talented person who is also a nice guy.  But why he would show up in my dream is a mystery to me.

In my dream I’m at the baseball park in the stands up behind home plate.  The field is lush green; the base paths and pitcher’s mound are ruddy orange. 

I am there for Mike Krukow's farewell pitch.  It’s an event.  As a part of the ceremony he's supposed to throw the ball over the outfield fence from his position at home plate.  He makes repeated unsuccessful attempts.  It’s not a realistic task!  Very few could throw a ball that far – certainly not someone his age, at the end of his career.  He should be standing on the pitcher’s mound throwing toward home plate! 

Finally the lights go down, but the crowd doesn't want to leave.  They stay in place as a way of showing their love and affection for Krukow.  It is a nostalgic and hopeful moment.  I give my baseball to him so that he can have one more try.

Music swells over the PA system – “Tonight we are young!  We can set the world on fire!  We can burn brighter than the sun!”

Signed,

Confused Fan

Dear Confused,

The background information you shared regarding Mike Krukow is helpful because your dream presents him as a stand-in for you.  You might not say it yourself, but your friends and family would no doubt say that you embody the same characteristics you admire in him.  You are colorful and talented, even beloved.

And, in another parallel to him, your dream tells you that in some way in your waking life, you are facing the wrong direction and attempting an impossible task.  It may be hard to admit that.  Perhaps there is a groundswell of hope within you or around you, but on some level you must know that things are not going to work if you stay in your current backwards orientation – not at your age and at this point in your career.  Perhaps you are holding on too long to youryouth as your dream suggests – the lights are going down as the music plays.

Even in your dream you know the current approach defies logic.  Mike Krukow retired from the pitcher’s mound and has success as commentator.  Turn around, Dear Dreamer, and experience the success and accolades that are there for you.

Sweet Dreams to You!

Dream Interpretation - Rearview slows you down

Today’s dreamer finds himself being more cautious than his circumstance merit.  His dream offers a perfect metaphor for his habit of anticipating problems and stalling himself on the brink of success, instead of pushing himself toward his own goal.

Dear Carolyn,

My parents raised me to be a hard worker.  I’m independent and get along well with just about everyone.  I am humble.  I have never been what my mom would call a ‘showboat.’  I keep my head down and do good work and it has paid off over time.  Now there’s a position open that I really want and a couple of my coworkers want it too.  To my way of thinking, they are behaving badly by tooting their own horns all the time and trying to get the boss’s attention.  It makes me nervous though because I hope to be noticed too.  But I know the promotion will come to me if it’s meant to be.    

After a stressful week at work I dreamed that I was traveling up a long slow grade toward a hill that would take some ‘oomph’ to get over.  I kept checking my rearview mirror because I could see a car in the distance.  I couldn’t make it out very clearly, but I thought it might be the highway patrol.  I started to worry that I would get a speeding ticket.  So I slowed down just before the crest of the hill and my car stalled.

Is this bad news for the promotion I want?

Signed,

Hopeful Things Will Go My Way

Dear Hopeful,

Your dream doesn’t carry bad news for you, but it does bring an admonition.

It places you in a scenario that reflects your progress at work over the years – a long, slow, steady climb.  And now you are facing a hill that may require a bit more horsepower if you want to clear it. 

But instead pushing yourself forward, you keep looking back at that internal highway patrol that tells you to slow down, use caution.  It is far enough in the distance that you cannot even be sure it’s the ‘law’ or that you’ll be punished for the push you need to get over the top.  But it slows you sufficiently to keep you from rising over the crest of the hill – reaching the promotion you seek.

You dream is playing out for you what could come to pass if you keep looking backward and slowing down instead of rising to the occasion at hand.  A person in your circumstance can ‘toot his own horn’ without blasting away his natural humility.  There are classy ways to promote yourself.  

Get your talking points together, Dear Dreamer, and let the boss know you deserve the promotion.  Otherwise you may stall out and see a blowhard pass you by.

Good luck and Sweet Dreams to You!

sendmeyourdreams@yahoo.com        

Dream interpretation - Everything new is old again

Transitional phases of life bring dreams which reflect our changing patterns of thinking.  These can be confusing in waking life and our dreams come to help us sort out the changes.  Today’s dreamer has recently closed down a long-standing private practice and is, in her words, “trying to find [her] way” in retirement.

Dear Carolyn,

Retirement is exciting and scary at the same time.  For me, the timing was perfect – I was ready to close my business and shift into a more free-flowing style of life.  Or at least I think I am – the transition is not as simple as I thought:  I was extremely disciplined for many years!  I feel pretty sure this dream is about my “new life” but don’t know why it made me so mad! 

In the dream I am teaching a yoga class in a large barn-like studio.  The class is very full.  I start with leg lifts to connect core with breath.  I often do this, but the class members act like it’s weird and dumb.  I go to help Diane – an emotional and needy student – and as I do the class gets very chatty and I lose their attention.  They are not following my directions and I am frustrated by this. 

Then, out of nowhere, three women waltz across the floor, right through the middle of the class!  They are in loose flowing gowns, beautiful and spirit-like, but they are not appropriate for my yoga class.  I yell.  I get mean.  But nothing changes.  There is a file cabinet with envelops that have teachers’ names on them, but I don’t have one.  What am I supposed to do?  Make one?

Students are walking out and I hear them say, “I thought she was supposed to be such a good teacher.”

Signed,

At Loose Ends

Dear Loose Ends,

Having spent the bulk of your working life in a self-controlled and systematic atmosphere, it is understandable that you are looking forward to a change of attitude and structure.  Your dreaming self presents you with the metaphor of teaching the discipline of yoga to the part of you that no longer wants to pay attention to such things.  Your newly retired, freer self is easily distracted and even disrespectful of the restrained practice that was once so central to your way of being.  You no longer have the credentials to operate in that arena – no name on the envelop.

But when the looser, more free-flowing part of you waltzes through the middle of the scene, you are taken aback.  Your former mode of operating – the more rigid disciplinarian – may yell and be mean, trying to deny access to the free spirit, but it is unfazed.  Let yourself unwind a bit, Dear Dreamer.  Relax into your new world.  Or – recreate a retirement duplicate of your working life.

Sweet Dreams to You!

sendmeyourdreams@yahoo.com

      

Dream interpretation - Neglected house – neglected health

 Often we will have someone in our dreams whom we don’t recognize – a person in the shadows – someone we can’t quite see.  Most likely, that person represents our “shadow self,” a part of ourselves that we don’t see or don’t recognize – a blind spot in our self-assessment.  Our dreams point out that that part of ourselves needs attention.  Today’s dreamer has turned her focus to the part of herself she neglected for many years.

Dear Carolyn,

I will be 80 years old soon.  Being this old can be a shock!  There are some good things about it, but health can be a problem, especially since I smoked cigarettes for almost 50 years!  Stupid, I know.  I quit more than 10 years ago, but I’m still paying for that horrible addiction.  I am doing what I can to live a more healthy life now even though it is late in the game! 

I dreamed that I was in the home of a dark-skinned woman.  She was always off to the side in the shadows, just out of my sight.  Anyway, her house was a mess and I couldn’t believe how difficult her life is.  Everything she tried to do was a difficult chore.  If she wanted to get ready to go out, it was hard.  If she wanted to have a meal, it was hard.  Her house was dark and the floor was sticky.  I looked up and saw that the tar from her roof had seeped into the house and gummed up everything.

I decided to take her over to my house to spend the weekend so she could have a nicer life, even if it was only for a little while.  Then I woke up.

Signed,

Good Samaritan

Dear Samaritan,

Houses in our dreams may be representative or our bodies.  And the person in the shadows may be that part of you that you have not paid attention to until recently.  She now lives in the house that 50 years of smoking built.  Because of her advanced age and the tar that has dripped onto everything, her life is dark and difficult. 

You mention that in your waking life you are making changes to improve your lifestyle.  Your dream reflects this as you invite your shadow self to move to a place where life is not so difficult.  The fact that she’ll visit only for the weekend may reflect your current timeline. 

You spent half a century smoking, damaging your body, the house you live in.  Now many things are even more difficult that you might expect at your current age.  As you say, Dear Dreamer, even though it’s late in the game, you may be able to enjoy your remaining time by inviting your struggling self to live in a healthier environment.

Sweet Dreams to You!

Dream Interpretation - Dream offers progress report

At pivotal moments in our waking lives, our dreams will present us with a review of where we’ve been and where we are now.  Such dreams highlight what might have been along with newly formed strengths and go on to point out where we can go next.  This is the case with today’s dreamer.

Dear Carolyn,

Recently I decided to coordinate a group effort with my dysfunctional siblings.  At my urging we got together for the purpose of helping our father financially.  That may have triggered old feelings.  Also – FYI - The silent distant daughter is part of my waking life – there is a long-term painful rift between my daughter and me.  And, the idea of being the victim of theft and the missing baby are familiar recurrent themes in my dreams.  

In my waking life I would never be violent!  I hardly ever confront people verbally.  This time, however, I took things into my own hands more than ever before in the dream world.

So, last night I had a nightmare in which I walked with my silent adult daughter but she would not say why she shunned me.  In the dream there was a missing baby and my car, money, and my clothing had been stolen.  Oh, and the clothes were stolen in the dream just as I was waiting to try them on--another woman got them away somehow.  Inside a house a loud laughing family --mostly men --gathered around a dining table.  I lunged, tore, and scratched one of the men until he agreed to tell me what was going on.  Later I peered over the dressing room door for a glimpse of where the woman had hidden other things and who was she?

Signed,

Victim No More

Dear Victim No More,

You offer a complex set of long-standing circumstances, mindsets, and emotional turmoil as a backdrop for your dream. 

Several elements of your dream are important in seeing it as a ‘progress report.’  It begins with a recap of several important themes in your life – most notably the missing child that hampered your means and ability (the car and money) to navigate through your days.

It seems in organizing a family meeting, and perhaps in other ways, you have begun to take on a new, more assertive persona – represented by the clothes you were just about to try on.  And, your demands to understand the inappropriate laughter may have seemed violent as compared to your prior passive way of acting on or accepting your life’s circumstance.  The burst of anger and frustration reflects your pent up emotions exploding to the surface. 

Even though the vestiges of your new self are purloined, Dear Dreamer, you pursue them with vigor.  You peek over the dressing room wall to see who that new woman – the new you – might be.  Your dream suggests you’ve left the victim mentality behind and are on the path of a new, stronger you.  

Sweet Dreams to You!

Dream interpretation - Learn to love that cobra!

One of the most powerful strategies when working with a scary dream is to confront the monster in it.  Today’s dreamer does so and gets dramatic results, even if she doesn’t recognize them at first.

Dear Carolyn,

By way of background I’ll tell you that I just attended a workshop in which we took personality assessments to learn aboutourselves.  I tested as a sort of unassuming, unassertive type who prefers to make herself invisible.  It’s true.  I keep the real me a secret, rarely sharing or letting people get to know me.  I have always told myself that I don’t matter, at least not as much as other people.  That’s how I usually think, but I’m working on it, trying to value myself more.  

After the workshop I had this dream:  I had a cobra in a small white bucket with a lid on it.  I decided to give it some water and when I did, it began to grow, fast!  It became giant instantly!  It was huge, a monster!  It began to chase me and was determined to get me. 

I was afraid, terrified, and so began to climb a tree to get away from it; but I knew I could never be high enough to elude it.  Sure enough, it rose up next to me in the top of the tree.  I began to plead with it, “Please don’t eat me!”  It shrank back down into the bucket.  Then I felt bad that it was there in such an unhealthy place, so tightly contained.  I knew I couldn’t give it to anyone else since it was so dangerous.  I felt responsible for making it more comfortable and I thought maybe a larger container would be a good idea.

Signed,

Chased by a Cobra

Dear Chased,

As indicated by the background you provided, your dream likely is characterizing a part of you identified at the workshop you attended.  The quiet, unassuming part of you countered by a cobra in a bucket.  With only a small encouragement – the water you offer – that part of you rises up and takes on the quality of a monster unleashed.  Your terror and flight suggest that you are afraid of your own power.  You beg it not to consume you.  This most likely addresses your waking fear that if you assert yourself, you might be taken over by a dangerous, angry, powerful part of yourself that you don’t know how to control.

An important take-away from your dream is that when you speak to the snake, it responds immediately.  It tames itself and returns to the confines of its bucket.  You are in control, Dear Dreamer, even when exploring unfamiliar aspects of your personality.  

As your dream ends, you begin thinking of how you can make that cobra, that powerful, assertive part of yourself, more comfortable.  Give it some more room.  Allow it to expand into a larger, healthier container – one you can grow into and be comfortable with.

Sweet Dreams to You!

sendmeyourdreams@yahoo.com        

Dream Interpretation - Teacher fails himself

When a dreamer must pass a test, or endure a review of his performance, his own harsh attitude toward himself comes through.  He seems to believe that he has done nothing that he should have.  But, his dream directs him to ‘write a page from his favorite book.’  That would be an excellent ‘take away’ from today’s dream about a life review.

Dear Carolyn,

I have begun to accept that I am now in the lastphase of my life.  I was forced out of a career I loved – teaching – by budget cuts in my school district and “early retirement.”  It has taken me quite a long time, several years, to come to terms with the fact that I wasn’t really ready to leave.  I felt rejected and angry.  But now, I’m over it and trying to look forward.  I am sending you the anxious dream I just had this morning.  It brings back bad memories.

I’m a teacher and it’s the last day of school.  I am totally unprepared!  The report cards are sitting on my desk, not even started on.  I have barely taught them any math at all!  I wonder if they even know the times tables and wonder if I can teach them basic skills and even double-digit multiplication quickly.  I decide  to do a spelling lesson on “ou” – though, thought, through etc.  I tell the kids that they will have to write a page about their favorite book.  I am embarrassed because next year’s teacher will know immediately that I haven’t taught them anything.

Signed,

Old Teacher

Dear Teacher,

Your dream is set perfectly since you were a teacher – one who evaluates others’ progress.  And, you are now at the moment in life where it is natural to look back and assess yourself – write your own report card.

Somehow, though, you find yourself “totally unprepared” to complete your own report card.  Perhaps this moment has come on you suddenly, even though you have had several years to prepare yourself.  Your anger may have delayed a normal reflection on a phase of life that has ended.  Your anxious dream suggests that you may not have thought through to the point where you now find yourself, and beyond.  It finds you a bit frantically casting about for what you have accomplished.

You are quite hard on yourself, Dear Dreamer, based on what you assume others will think of you – that you haven’t taught – or learned – anything.  This simply isn’t so.  Take a tip from your own directions to your dream students:  Write a page about your favorite memories.  That is to say, begin to make notes of your best times in the classroom, your most rewarding moments with students, your favorite recollections from the rewarding career that you loved.  Then tuck them away on a bookshelf as you look ahead to the rest of your life.  If you regress to your bitter feelings, pull out that book and read it again.

Sweet Dreams to You!