~Dream a little dream with me~

Photo from Gisela Giardino on Flickr

{I thought this photo was so cute.  Are there men out there who sleep with stuffed animals?}

Ok, on with the post…

Recently, a friend of mine introduced me to a really cool chick named Kelly Lydick.  He thought I should meet her (via Facebook, not in person because we’re in different parts of the world) because she’s a writer, too.  But what’s more, Kelly is a certified Gateway Dreaming Coach…so cool!  Because I’ve found that my dreams sometimes do foretell things and because I love hearing people’s stories, I decided to ask Kelly a few questions.  The following is the interview that ensued…

1.  How did you get interested in dreams and dream interpretation?

I have, since a child, always been a very vivid dreamer.  I became interested in dreams and their meanings as a teen, and began at that point in my life to journal the dreams that I was experiencing.

I soon thereafter encountered a book that I still use to this day, The Dream Book by Betty Bethards, and this is a book I love.  I’m not sure it’s even still in print, but it’s a wonderful resource for those who are interested.  So that book started me thinking about dreams and their meaning and significance.  There’s a part of me that has always thought of dreams as magical, or surreal, or fantastical, and working with dreams has always been fun for me.

When I got into college, I took a class on symbols, dreams and astrology, and I began to study psychological theories at that point.  I really resonated with the studies of Carl Jung, even though at that time I still wasn’t really sure what all of his work meant.  And those studies really furthered my interest in the study of dreams, and continued to evolve from there.  I got my first degree in Creative Writing and Literature.  I spent some time thereafter writing and teaching.  I knew I really wanted to go to graduate school for creative writing but I wasn’t quite ready for that; I began studying with Rabbi Michael Shapiro at that time in 2003.  And in one of the first teachings with him, he had used the analogy of dream time and waking time in order to explain spiritual and physical realities, and after that teaching, I deepened my studies in metaphysics.  I then went on to graduate school and completed a Master’s in Writing in Consciousness in 2006.  I wrote my masters thesis about dreams, but in an experimental creative form and based on concepts taught in Jewish mystical studies.  And that thesis became what is now a published work, Mastering the Dream. And then last year, in 2010, I was looking for another class in which to continue my metaphysical studies, and I just happened to stumble upon the professional certification course for Gateway Dreaming™.  It seemed like a natural next step for me given my interests and prior experience.  I’m actually a part of the first group of Gateway Dreaming™ Coaches to be certified in the world.

2.  Could there be different ways to interpret the same dream and how do we know which interpretation is correct?

There definitely are different ways to interpret the same dream.  I typically take on a Jungian understanding of dreams, the archetypical symbols and processes and the understanding of the principles of the collective unconscious, and the individual’s conscious and unconscious mind.

Each person, too, has their own set of personal symbols that are created though association and based on individual life experience.

Specifically, the goal with Gateway Dreaming™ is to guide others through the process of finding their own  individual meanings rather than to interpret for them.  As there are individual variations, appropriate to each dreamer, the process of discovery has a huge importance to an individual’s growth.  Although, I admit, as an intuitive, it is sometimes challenging for me to balance the “blank slate” with what I intuit.  In the bigger picture, though, I think my intuitive nature helps to quickly hone in on a specific element of a dream, or make larger connections between dreams and waking life for a client, and help to guide them that way.  In the end, it’s probably a time saver because I can ask specific, relevant questions based on my intuitive information!

3.  What do you believe is the purpose of our dreams?  Could they sometimes just be a jumbled mess of our thoughts?  Or are they trying to tell us something deeper?  Perhaps, even one way that God communicates with us.

Dreams serve an array of different purposes ranging from information processing to memory retention and storage to psychological development; dreams can also be metaphysical experiences.  When we are dreaming, there are physiological responses that occur in the body as well.  So any given dream can be a part of any of these experiences and processes.

In teaching the Gateway Dreaming™techniques, I typically have students refer to dreams as one of two different kinds of dreams: processing and daily information, and metaphysical.  This way it becomes easier to decipher what’s happening with a specific dream and begin to glean meaning in a simple way, and then move on from there.

On any given day, the brain takes in thousands upon thousands of pieces of data in the form of sensory input, and some of this “data” is absorbed consciously, and some of it is absorbed unconsciously.  Take for example a commercial jingle.  How many people can hum or sing an advertisement jingle by memory?  But it’s not as though we try to remember this information, it becomes part of memory because of the level of exposure to the data.  Everything we see, hear, think about, or take in with our senses is processed by the brain, and some of that information is stored and some of it is discarded.  The brain needs a way to filter and store this information, and does a lot of this during dream time.  So if, for example, you watch a horror movie about zombies before you go to sleep one night, and that night, you find yourself dreaming about zombies as well, chances are it’s the brain’s way of processing, filtering and storing or discarding that information.

But not all dreams are simply about processing sensory input, and we often have dreams that appear to be unrelated to what happened in waking hours on a given day.  And it’s these dreams that are more complex.  Dreams often come to us in the form of symbols or pictures, or even as greater depictions of archetypes or archetypal processes.  Dreams can help us work through what’s happening in “shadow” in our individual unconscious, or help us to process emotions.

Dreams can also have metaphysical significance, or contain experiences that take place beyond our 3^rd dimensional reality as well.  What we know as lucid dreaming is one example of this.  Ancient cultures, Egyptians, Babylonians, Grecians, Native Americans—and especially Tibetans—have some belief in a greater meaning of dreams, and/or that dreaming is a direct channel to the spiritual or other worlds.

In the most basic form, I believe dreams exist in vibrational form, just like all else in our world, so in that way can have great metaphysical importance and also healing potential.

4.  Dream interpretation is pretty popular in the Serbian culture.  I grew up with my mom regularly checking her serbian dreambook to look up what her dream might mean.  One that’s well-known among Serbians is that if you dream that a tooth fell out, it signifies that you will hear about a death.  If in the dream, it hurts you, that means it will be someone close to you.  But if it doesn’t hurt you, that means it won’t be someone close to you.  Where does something like this come from?

As I mentioned, ancient cultures placed great significance on dreams and their content, and every culture has at its roots some relationship to dreams and meanings of dreams.  I’ve found that specifics such as what you mention with the tooth are typically rooted in some part of the belief system of that culture, and specific symbols and meanings are a part of that group’s consciousness, rather than just the individual’s consciousness.  Specific meanings may have been derived from a culture’s mythology, history, relationship to the natural world, to other surrounding cultures, or a greater sense of “spirit,” therefore, each culture’s symbols will vary accordingly.

And then there are of course the nuances that are inherent in an example like you mention.  Specifically, one question could be: Is this a literal death or a symbolic death?  Which are two very different things.  The literal information is often reflective of the specifics of a particular culture, while the symbolic pieces of information often have ties to the universal, or the collective unconscious.

And, while it’s true that some dreams can contain pre-cognitive information, I’ve found that typically those dreams are not as symbolic as some others.  Pre-cognitive dreams are usually fairly direct, and after a particular scenario comes to fruition, the dreamer thinks “Oh yeah! I dreamed that!”

That’s not to say a pre-cognitive dream can never be symbolic or indicative of something greater in the collective unconscious, or that someone couldn’t have a pre-cognitive dream that’s steeped in their own personal symbolism.  It’s just that in my observations, more often than not, pre-cognitive dreams directly relay information about the dreamer, someone they know, or about a specific scenario.

5.  What do you think we should do with that?  I mean, if it’s a dream that signifies something bad is going to happen, it just instills fear in you and there’s not much you can do about it anyways, right?  But if it’s a dream that signifies something good, then it gives you hope.  What do you think is the best way to handle dreams and the interpretation of them?

Well, that’s a loaded and philosophical question with a huge under-current of spiritual depth!

First, in looking at dreams, it’s really important not to label anything as “good” or “bad.”  These are really just terms that we use, or more specifically that the ego uses, to apply meaning to a given scenario.  And not just in dreams, really, in anything we encounter in life.  In the larger scope of our psycho-spiritual development, nothing is really ever good or bad, even the things we encounter that are amazing, or the things we encounter that are difficult or challenging—these things just simply exist as what they are.  Labeling something as good or bad is actually a value judgment; in the dream time and in the spiritual, good and bad just don’t exist.

I’ve found that dreams are the quickest, most direct way for someone to better understand himself or herself, and what’s happening in their own personal development.

Here’s a crude analogy that I’ll borrow from basic geometry:

Pretend that your life can be exemplified by a basic timeline, where point “A” is the beginning at left, and point “G” is at the other end at right.  In between, there are the major points: B, C, D, etc. that are plotted along the straight line. Let’s say the points labeled with letters are major events that occur, including what one might call “life-changing” events.  But even amongst the plotted points, there’s still space in between them.  Technically, from a mathematical perspective, just in relation to the line, there are an infinite number of points, or possible points that can be plotted on this line between “A” and “G.”  But the points aren’t any different from one another, they are just points.  They look exactly the same.  Some may have a letter associated with them, but really, the letter is only used as a point of reference to exemplify a relationship between the points themselves; they don’t specifically have any individual “meaning.”  There is a relationship between the point and the line, and that’s the point’s specific location.  What we do know is that in this example, A comes before B, which comes before C, etc. in location.

Let’s also say that the evolution of a person and their individual development can be plotted on a line just like this.  And, let’s say that the sequence of dreams that a person has, can be plotted on a line like this as well.  And then, let’s make the two lines parallel and in very close proximity, so that the “A’s” match up in relative location and the “G’s” match up in relative location.  As you move along your line, the dreams help to “locate” where you are on that line, because the two lines are now parallel and therefore coincide.

So let’s also say that the goal of our individual spiritual development is simply to travel from A to G, following the succession of letters, and observing the points in between along the way.

To bring the analogy back to your question, if we’re simply traveling along our line and observing along the way, and the points are just points along the line that are neither good nor bad, there isn’t anything to fear—whether that’s a dream or a scenario we experience.  These experiences are simply vehicles of growth that lead the way to the next point on our line.

And in looking at individual dreams, I’ve observed that if we take a sequence of dreams, let’s say 5-10 dreams, the sequence of content typically parallels the greater development of a person and what they are experiencing in waking life.  I can almost always tell what’s going on in a person’s waking life based solely on the content of their dreams.  Looking at dreams in both a literal and symbolic way as markers that indicate where an individual is at in their personal development, opens up a new way of seeing, and therefore a wider approach to being.

6.  Anything else you’d like the readers to know about dreams in general and about the services you provide.

Sure!

A great way to begin to work with dreams is to keep a journal.  Each morning that you wake up and remember a dream, write it down, and try to include as many details as possible that you remember.  Make this a practice, and soon, the dreaming gateways will begin to open!

I can always be reached through my personal website: www.kellylydick.com.  There are links on the website to email me, as well as a calendar page for upcoming events, workshops and book readings.  If folks are interested in scheduling Gateway Dreaming™ sessions, they can also email me through my website.  I schedule one-on-one private telephone sessions, and in-person group sessions and larger workshops.

I’m also becoming more active on Facebook, so I can be reached via my author page on Facebook.  I often make announcements there and I’d love to see more people connect that way!

And I’m available for intuitive readings on the Soul’s Journey Lightworkers website: http://www.sjlightworkers.com/beta/.  If I’m not immediately available, there is a way to schedule a call with me if that’s more convenient.

I just really love connecting with people.  There’s a way to sign the guest book on my website, so I would love for people to just drop by and say hello!

**You can also purchase Kelly’s book, “Mastering the Dream”, by clicking here.