On Crisis

Of the forty-five dreamers who contributed their life-changing dreams for this book, fourteen had reached a crisis point in their lives and six of these could be described as being in a state of major crisis. A further ten were suffering stress, while twenty-one either reported that nothing out of the ordinary was happening, or that they were feeling mildly stressed. The interplay between crisis, stress and dream content has been discussed throughout this book. A strong relationship between major personal crisis and the experience of intensely spiritually-charged deams is discussed in the chapter ‘On Spirituality, Universal Life Force & God’.

On Impact

In this dream survey, the life-changing dream years evenly spanned several decades. The most distant dream took place thirty years ago, and three others occurred more than twenty-four years in the past, yet their impact has reverberated throughout time. These dreams remained, for most contributors, as fresh and emotionally charged as they were when they first exploded into the night.

What is it about one particular dream, compared to years and years of dreaming, that really stands out and causes someone to take life-changing action? Specifically I asked, ‘Why did this dream have so much impact on you? For example, what really stood out in the dream and why did it affect you so much?’

Top of the list for a precise answer was ‘clarity’ or ‘it was so real!’ Seven of the forty-five dreamers were confident that these were the most important factors in creating impact.

"It wasn’t just another ‘dream’. It wasn’t hazy....it happened. It was as real as sitting here writing about it."
Cheryl

"It was so clear and precise, so real. I just ‘knew’ it was to be acted on."
Sue

"This dream had so much impact on me because through all our years of infertility I had never experienced a dream which was so clear and positive. In previous dreams involving birth I never reached the point of delivery."
Annie

"I have had vivid dreams in the past, but none more than this. The clarity and ‘realness’ were incredible. I can remember this dream I had in July 1994 clearer than I can remember a recent trip to Sydney. Although it was not lucid, there was nothing in the dream to indicate it was a dream. There was nothing bizarre. Nothing strange or surreal happened. In short, nothing out of the ordinary at all happened. And that is exactly what really stood out. It was, and I can’t say it any clearer, ‘too real’."
Andy

"What stood out was how clear the dream was. The name of the hospital, the interviewing board, the time given. Somehow there was a knowing that the message was a strong one."
Jaquie

Although seven dreamers were quick to answer ‘clarity’ or ‘real’ as their high impact factor, I noticed that ten dreamers referred to strong ‘feelings’ in their responses. Dreams which hit the ‘feeling spot’ go deep and have maximum effect, it seems.

"The face: I can still see it and feel the feeling that went with it. I am not a church person, but it was like a religious experience..... The feeling of being surrounded by love."
Sarras

"The feeling of peace. Peace of mind that I had forgotten existed. Once experienced, it became like a magnet, drawing me towards the direction in which the dream pointed."
Heather

"It left me feeling so shocked that I knew I absolutely had to take action."
Akira

"The intensity. The incredible feeling of evil and the feeling that someone was trying to get into my mind."
Caroline

"The feeling part: the fact that I felt it. I’ve had many dreams that were significant but this one was so connected to the feeling part that it was eerie."
Harry

Realisation was an impact factor for four people. In our dream state we are far more open to insight about our situation or attitudes simply because we tend to repress self-knowledge during our waking lives.

"The impact of the dream was indescribable. The realisation that nothing external was responsible for my situation, that the whole cause and solution rested with me, was comparable to a bolt of lightening."
Mell

"..... the mask being removed to reveal another mask that was exactly the same, and the realisation that this was the real face."
Willow

"I could let myself go downhill even more or I had the power to make changes in my life."
Michaela

"What really stood out in the dream was the island being flooded by sea water and that was the same in my life."
Dee Dee

Other important factors in creating impact included:

• a sense of reassurance:

"The strongest impact it has was to reassure me that I did have a place in the universe, that I was not alone and that there is something other than the visible, tangible world around us."
Lorna

• light infusing the dream:

"The dream had a shiny white light around the edges of it."
Zohara

• a sense of life-purpose:

"I felt that my life did have a purpose. I didn’t feel so alone any more."
Anne

• and the experience of trying out, or role-playing, apparently for real:

"What stood out in the dream was that I had the courage to tell people to get off my back."
Dee Dee

On Taking Action

The time gap between having the dream and making the life-changes proved an interesting question. Fifteen people acted immediately, while five took action within the first week. Six people let a month or so lapse, while another six dreamers waited somewhere between a couple of months and a year. The remaining eight saw a more long-term plan come into play, one quoting seven years from dream to fruition, and most witnessing a delay of at least two years prior to realising the changes.

Some found the question of the time gap between the dream and the subsequent life changes a difficult one to answer, having acted immediately but having only seen the full benefits much later:

"The changes to my life.... were almost immediate in a slow process. I took the steps very slowly, integrating my spirituality into my life calmly and slowly."
Anne

Others felt the change was passive rather than active:

"It changed me rather than encouraging me to change my life through any external action."
Lorna

For some the message was so powerful that immediate action was instigated:

"The change began immediately. The dream made me see the whole situation for what it was - in a way which made instantaneous and total sense."
Mell

While others had already asked a question and were armed to put their dream answer into use the next day:

"Instant. Urgent question received an urgent answer!"
Caz

While life-changing action was purely the result of one dream for twenty-seven contributors, thirteen people attributed their changes to a series of dreams, usually sparked by, or culminating with, the major one. Only six life-changing dreams were recurring, either in detail or in general theme. Three dreamers specifically counted two dreams as being of equal and combined importance in their decision making.

On Regrets

When I invited people who felt they had changed their lives as a result of a dream to contribute their experience for this research, I was prepared for some stories of regret. I had made a point in many of my media interviews of asking people to come forward regardless of whether the outcome had turned out to be to their advantage or to their disadvantage. I didn’t wish to exclude negative experiences in favour of projecting an entirely positive report.

In fact, of the numerous enquires and offers I received, not one person had a tale of regret. All agree that the changes had been worth the risks.

Having read the stories, you may agree that some of their actions led to challenging or stressful circumstances, to say the least, but the perception of each dreamer remained positive. They generally felt embraced by the strength and insight they had gained from the experience.

"If I’d wanted an easy life, I shouldn’t have moved, but I couldn’t have grown to where I am now if I had stayed where I was. I guess, looking back, a lot of things here just happened so that I could experience the dark side of myself. Up until that point, I’d probably been a goody-two-shoes, which it was easy to be since I’ve always had guidance. I’ve always had a guardian angel sitting on my shoulders! My dark side has shown me emotions such as anger, even resentment and other feelings that were alien to my nature until we moved here. I can see that you can’t help people in difficult situations unless you’ve experienced them too. It doesn’t mater what it is you’re helping people with, words are empty unless you’ve been through that experience. [Now]......I have a sense of very deep peace and contentment here."
Zohara

Anne, Rowyn and Moni mentioned some regret at losing close relationship with people who had previously been important to them, but each was able to put their loss into a metaphysical context. Each simply had to move on, no longer able to restrict their own development for the sake of others. Otherwise the general consensus is summarised by Akira when she says:

"My only regret is that it took me so long to take many of the actions that followed the dream."
Akira

On Health & Wellbeing

While some dreamers experienced a downturn in their physical health following their life-changing dream, the majority reported improvement. For some, physical symptoms increased before they returned to health. Harry, for example, felt he put his health in jeopardy for the sake of rebirth.

"If anything my health went down because of my process of thinking through the thing and bringing myself into turmoil. I tend to bring myself right down to bottom and then look at myself in the mirror and say ‘What’s going on in here?’"
Harry

Peter found that both the stress of pursuing his life-changes and the resulting shock to his system took their toll before he regained control and put himself back on the road to health and recovery.

"Searching for my natural parents was a very stressful time but it was something that I had to do.... After the dream, and after I discovered my father again, I just went into shock and ended up again at the doctors."
Peter

Akira’s symptoms continued after her dream while she herself continued the process of working on the insights revealed by the experience.

"I had physical difficulties - exhaustion, loss of weight, anxiety. My eyes became weaker (and I was aware there was stuff in my life I didn’t want to see). I experienced these things before, during and after the dream."
Akira

Heather’s health followed a similar pattern as she spent time, following her move, on researching the ground revealed by the stones her dreams had turned. Rowyn’s physical health has deteriorated during the years she has been learning through her dreams, although her academic performance has excelled.

The majority of dreamers identified stresses or specific bodily symptoms, diseases, aches, pains or accident proneness which were present at the time of their dreams, but which either improved or disappeared as a result of their subsequent life-changes.

"At the time of the dream I had terrible neck pain. Just before this I had flu for two months. In the middle of the two dreams I had a car accident and hit a post (I was blinded by the sun and didn’t see a traffic island!). My back and neck are now fine."
Calli

"I do know that my health has gradually improved since then. I used to experience severe back pain and this is now non-existent."
Willow

"My physical and emotional health had been low for some time before the dream. My general health had been deteriorating for several years. I had recently had flu followed by pneumonia. I was experiencing frequent severe migraines and minor bouts of asthma....[After the dream] my general heath and that of the children improved steadily."
Lorna

"I was quite sick physically following my first child’s birth and back problems ensued.... But I am pretty amazingly healthy now and have been for a long time."
Susannah

Metaphors of physical symptoms reflecting emotional patterns were spotted by Caz, Mell, Grace, Akira and Michaela, amongst others:

"Using kinesiology, the specific parasite was identified and a remedy prescribed to purge it from my body. This was a fine physical metaphor for what I was going through on other levels."
Grace

Grace’s story reveals the truth of her statement, and her postscript, sent to me in the last week of preparing the manuscript for this book, adds a further dimension to her metaphor. Grace’s dream led her to approach her childhood and her relationship with her parents in a new light. In so doing, it seems, the purging has benefited her mother as well as the mother-daughter relationship itself:

"My visit to Melbourne was a big healing time for all my family, most dramatically in the form of my mother having a tumorous piece of colon surgically removed at the same time that I was at the family therapist!"
Grace

"Before the dream, when things were really bad, I realise now I was unusually accident-prone. I can think of several incidents, in particular, and all of them were injuries to legs, ankles, feet, etc. Having since read a bit of what Louise Hayes has to say about problems related to various parts of the body - well, it makes you wonder!"
Mell

(Louise Hayes, in her book Heal Your Body, suggests that legs symbolise carrying us forward in life, feet represent our understanding and ankles our mobility and direction: all pertinent to Mell’s experiences.)

Michaela was mentally and emotionally broken down:

"By the time I was twenty-nine years old my body had totally broken down. I needed help but I did not know where to go. This dream was the turning point....I have perfect health now."
Michaela

As Akira’s comment earlier in this section illustrates, she interpreted her weakening eyes as symptomatic, on a symbolic level, of ‘stuff in my life I didn’t want to see’.

Caz was considering whether or not to reunite with her husband, following a trial separation:

"Before the dream, I had pain inside my lower left back...... I was feeling unsupported in all aspects of the relationship...."

After the dream, during a holiday together with her husband, Christopher, Caz observed:

"Interestingly, within two days of being in Christopher’s company during our recent shared holidays, my body reacted strongly. My legs became tree trunks, twice as thick as their normal size. The feeling was that I was carrying him around as part of me.... Upon Christopher’s immediate departure, at the airport, I could feel a huge weight lift from me. Within one week, the extent of the fluid retention in my feet had reduced substantially. Fascinating stuff, how inappropriately dealt-with emotions reveal themselves in bodily symptoms!"
Caz

Lee noticed:

"If I have lapses where I don’t attempt anything creative, I have very troubling dreams where I get attached by a snake, usually biting my right hand. I’m sure it tries to wake me up and get me moving."
Lee

It’s pertinent to note that Lee had injured her right index finger, severing some nerves, several years before her life-changing dream, and that she had gone into hospital a few months before her dream to have an operation to restore some use. In dream language, or in body/mind language (which is much the same), the right hand tends to represent how we use our creativity in the world, how we operate in the world at large, while the fingers tend to symbolise the small details of this handling.

Lee’s dilemma, addressed by her life-changing dreams, concerned her need to move away from using her creative skills in the commercial art world and towards expression in fine art and writing. Perhaps she had lost feeling for the commercial work, symbolised by the severing of the nerves in her waking life. No wonder a dream snake bites her right hand to get her moving when she lapses on her creativity. Interestingly, snakes in dreams often represent the need to face pain to gain healing, so perhaps Lee’s work needs to touch on difficult areas to be ultimately satisfying for her.

The ‘body/mind’ describes the way in which the physical body seems to mirror the mind. Physical symptoms, ailments or disease generally surface in our lives when we have missed a previous ‘alert’ cue from the mind. Our dreams often address emotional issues which, if left unheeded, frequently solidify into the physical body. If no-one is listening at the dream level, it seems, a higher profile message needs to be relayed! The majority of life-changing dreams presented in this book have triggered the dreamer to identify long-held barriers to growth, or to inspire them to take long overdue moves. If the body/mind is as powerful as observation suggests, it will come as no surprise to discover that changing a life through addressing an issue often results in physical recovery and a return to full health and wellbeing.