Ideas from dreams

What have Robert Louis Stevenson, Stephen King, and Stephanie Myer got in common? They’re world famous authors, they’ve written dark novels (horror or vampires), and they share similar names. But that’s not all. They’ve each based at least one of their books on a dream. Stephanie Myer had written a chapter here and there over […]

The open door

Twenty-one years ago, I dreamed I was trying to get into a building by pushing through one of its solid brick walls. It was hard work that got me nowhere at all. All it did was exhaust me. I stood back, walked around the house, and discovered an open door. I realised that the door […]

And it bloomed …

I know that as you contemplate Marylou Falstreau’s print, a garden of your own calls to you. Not a physical garden, but something that you’d love to create, become, or do, something that’s completely of your own. Artist Marylou Falstreau was inspired by a dream to create her Woman and the Hourglass series of prints […]

Life lessons

“Are we meant to learn lessons from our dreams?” asked Cheryl, in an email I received this week. It’s a good question, both simple and complex, and one many people ask. So, are we meant to learn lessons from our dreams? I’ve been watching Isobel, my eight month old granddaughter, learning to crawl. You might […]

Best excuses

“Sorry I’m late, Miss. The budgie died.” That’s the second best excuse I remember a student giving me when I was a high school teacher many years ago. I taught biology and general science for two years, which makes the best excuse I ever received quite interesting: “Please excuse Mark for missing his lesson this […]

One small adjustment

What if you were just one small adjustment away from having the life you want? In the movie How do you know, George (Paul Rudd) gives Lisa (Reese Witherspoon) a can of Play Doh for her birthday, and tells her how Play Doh was invented. Joe McVicker of Kutol Chemicals invented a putty-like wallpaper cleaner […]

Misinterpretation

I have just watched a rather self-satisfied dog scare away a noisy garbage truck, as only he knows how – a volley of gruff barking and a telepathic “get off my patch or else” warning. Works like magic every Thursday morning. That’s the dog’s experience anyway. That’s how he reads the situation, I imagine, judging […]

It can’t be that hard

The alchemists of old spent years working out how to transform base metal into pure gold. I, of the modern dream alchemist variety, spent four weeks working out how to transform a ripped, mouldy lampshade into something beautiful enough to stand in the corner of my friend’s room and shine a golden light. Now, this […]

How much does worry weigh?

“Never worry worry, til worry worries you,” my granny used to say. There’s a grain of truth in there, and an even better tongue twister, but the day I really got the measure of worry started as a simple coffee morning with two friends when we were all young mothers. The three of us met […]

What if?

A man dreamed he was crawling over a mosaic floor, checking for missing tiles. The job seemed endless. What if … he climbed the stairs and looked down on the mosaic floor instead of crawling over it? Would the missing tiles be easier to spot? We’ll come back to Mosaic Man and his dream later, […]