“Why should we care if we dream? What’s in it for us?”
As a Dream Expert, Dream Therapist, and Dream Author, the question of how, or even if, our dreams can be of benefit to us in our waking world is often asked of me during tele-summits, in emails for my Dream Columns in magazines, and during dream therapy sessions with clients.
Your dreams, especially lucid dreams, are an incredible resource for guidance in your waking world.
According to Wikipedia, Lucid dreams are different from any of the other dreams we may have during the night because the dreamer is aware that they are dreaming. During lucid dreaming, the dreamer may be able to have some control over the dream characters, narrative, and environment.
Yes, it has been written by many dream experts that your dreams are just “rapid fire brain waves during the sleep state that make no sense and have no benefits to our waking world. Even the esteemed Father of Dreams Dr. Sigmund Freud’s took a psychodynamic approach to dreams as “wish fulfillment” and “day residue.”
I beg to differ with these esteemed and learned professionals because I have the proof. If what they say and write were true, the proposed book proposal for Dreams That Can Save Your Life: Signs of Cancer and Other Diseases would not have gone into a bidding war two weeks after being sent out to publishing houses, and available on bookstore bookshelves eight months later.
Why is the book making such a big statement in the dream and medical community? Because, the lucid, diagnostic, and precognitive health and medical dreams shared by the 40+ patients were validated by medical pathology reports. This is new research.
What makes these Lucid Dreams so different from all the other dreams written about in medical journals and books? They were part of a blind study between lucid dream diagnosis and medical diagnosis. And, the dreams won.
The dream diagnosis came first and then was validated by medical pathology reports.
This published research proves that dreams are not just random mental images fired off by the brain during sleep. The lucid medical dream stories are proof that dreams have a purpose and serve a purpose in our waking world. It also proves that dreams are a means of inner-communication that is very important for life.
Dead people don’t have a waking world.
One of the biggest benefits of Lucid Dreaming is the ability to control and change the ending of the dream. This change, or dream control, can be a form of psychotherapy.
An example is a client of mine who had a recurrent Lucid Dream of her abusive dead father.
Linda’s dead father began to appear in recurrent lucid dreams to tell her he loved her. These dreams had been recurring for many years, and they angered my client because she wanted her father to leave her alone. The lucid dreams were taking a toll on her health, wealth and relationships. Her father’s invasion into her dreams was causing her loss of sleep which was affecting her health, which kept her from work and caused Linda mental and anguish. Her marriage was also suffering from the Lucid Dreams that had become Lucid Nightmares. My advice to her was to take control of her dream by changing its ending. We made a plan. Rather than screaming herself awake the next time saw her father in her dream, she was to change the ending by doing three things:
stand up
greet him
And tell him she loved him, too.
At first, Linda was reluctant to this plan because she said she did not love him, in fact, she said she despised him.
“Somewhere deep in your heart your inner ‘daddy’s little girl’ still loves him so you will not be dreaming a lie. Let your Inner-selves be a part of this healing process.” I said. Linda agreed when she realized that without changing the ending of the lucid dream, it would continue as a recurrent nightmare and control her waking life as well as her dream world.
A week later Linda called me with some amazing news.
“I don’t know what happened to the hate I had been harboring for my father, but during the dream when my father stepped into the room and told me he loved me, I threw my arms around his neck and said, ‘Daddy, I love you too.’ The dream shifted into another dream, and I continued to sleep. I did not wake up screaming. It has been over a week, and the dream has not returned. I feel great because I have had a week of undisturbed sleep. I am going for a job interview tomorrow. “
The Lucid Nightmare stopped, and she never had them again. Her life healed. She no longer needed to attend expensive psychotherapy sessions that were not working. Taking control of her dreams and changing the ending gave her control over her life and changed her waking world. Change your Lucid Dream ending and change your life for the better, forever.
Article Research:
Dreams That Can Save Your Life: Early Warning Signs of Cancer and Other Diseases
Excellent post and share of lucid dreaming, Kat :). Lucid dreams are powerful. I’ve had similar ones – even if the actual relationship remains unchanged, the heart is healed, and that’s what matters the most. We can move on and use our energy positively instead of carrying our baggage around.
Maria Lehtman, well said and my thoughts exactly. Think of Lucid Dreams as the gift of working with our Dr. Freud withing to let go of our lold baggage and live a happier healthier life. Thank you for your comment.
I found this article fascinating because I dream…a lot! I wake up from a good dream and wish I was able to continue that dream. I wake up from a terrifying dream, sometimes sweating and exhausted, and am so thankful it was only a dream.
But I was unaware of the possibility of changing the outcome of a recurring dream so that it would come to an end. That knowledge would probably have ended the recurring dream I had of being chased through the cane fields of Cuba, many years ago. Funny thing is the closest I ‘ve literally been to Cuba was looking at the faint outline of the country from the tip of Negril in Jamaica, or looking down on the island from the air. Both islands are only 90 miles apart, separated by the Caribbean Sea. Thanks, Kathleen. Great post!
Yvonne A Jones, what a fascinating dream of you being chased through Cuban cane fields when you have never been to Cuba…in this lifetime. That is one of the fascinating things about dreams, sometimes they open doorways to the past in your present so you can work out “memories.” Thanks so much for your comment. I’d love to know more about your dream…..of a previous life?