Leap of faith
I’ve finally done it. I’ve written my first fiction novel. If you had asked me yesterday whether I’m going to write a sequel, I would have shrugged my shoulders, but I note that my typing fingers have a different opinion. My body knows what my head doesn’t: if this is my first novel, there will be a second, and a third. I’ve been writing non-fiction for most of my adult life, including my seven books
Oneirology
“We’re doing a series on the ologies,” the radio producer said, “and we’d like you to talk about oneirology, the scientific study of dreams.” Ah, the ologies, I thought, looking back to my university student days, and the exciting ologies on offer back in the very early 1970s. I had been channelled along the serious science route through grammar school: chemistry and physics, since biology was considered more suitable for arts students. Thankfully I was
The road ahead
When I was a young adult, I had a recurring dream where my car windscreen would mist up and I couldn’t see the road ahead. The complication was that I was the driver, and the mist would often descend when I was driving along a highway or through a complex series of narrow winding pot-holed streets. I’m not sure which was worse, they each involved me trying to get off the road safely without melting
Sleep Tracking with a Garmin
I’ve spent the last couple of weeks sleeping with a Garmin watch strapped to my wrist to monitor my sleep patterns and the amount of time I spend dreaming. What have I learned? I successfully resisted playing with sleep technology until now, but curiosity got the better of me. I thought about getting an Oura ring, as I’m a dedicated analogue watch wearer, and didn’t really want to wear two watches, but then I didn’t
Dreaming of a deceased relative giving a death date
“A dead relative came to me in a dream and gave me the date of my death, please help!” Several times a year, people reach out to ask me this exact question. More often, people tell me about dreams where they’ve previewed their death date, or the age at which they will die, or the dateless scenario or location of their death. If you know my work well, you’ll know that all dreams are symbolic,
Naming your dreams
“I have what I call my Inadequacy Dreams,” a neighbour told me recently, “a whole bunch of dreams that seem to fit that title, where I feel inadequate to complete a task, or something is not enough.” If you’ve studied with me, you’ll know that I encourage you to give a gut-feel title to every dream before you begin to interpret it. It doesn’t need to be an all-encompassing title. It doesn’t need to encapsulate
Change the world one dream at a time
What if our night-time dreams offered the potential to create real, positive change in the world? Well, they do. Imagine that! Asleep, in bed, being gifted everything you need to make a difference in the world, dream by dream, night by night! I could argue that simply having a good eight-hour sleep each night, along with all the physiological, mental, and emotional benefits that dreaming brings (whether you remember those dreams or not) is a
See the light
“What do you dream about?” asked a recent client. “If you’re on top of your recurring and scary dreams, what comes next?” She had contacted me because she had a frustrating recurring dream theme that had been going on for years. She had the dream several times a week. It was interfering with her sleep, and she was feeling increasingly exhausted and anxious about the situation. I was able to help her understand her dream
Rape dreams
“Can you write a blog about dreaming of being raped?” asked Laurie, after she awoke from a shocking rape dream. Laurie is a regular client, and since all dreams are unique and deeply personal, she knew there was more to interpreting a rape dream meaningfully than doing a quick Google hoping for a dream dictionary one-size-fits-all answer. If you find an article that says, “To dream of rape means …”, you’re on the wrong track.
Magic eye
In a recent dream, in a fairy-tale setting, I knelt at a fireplace in an open courtyard, gently tending the clay tablets etched with exquisite symbols that I was baking in the flames. At least, that’s how the scene would have looked to some of the people watching. Other onlookers, in my dream, were astonished by the magic I was performing, reaching into the fire with my bare hands, extracting beautiful works of art born