Christopher Nolan's 'Inception'

July 15, 2010 By Ian Wallace Leave a Comment

Christopher Nolan is a wonderfully gifted storyteller but his latest film ‘Inception’ is just that -- a story. It’s a fantastic story but not a real reflection of how lucid dreams can be created and used. In the film, Dom Cobb (played by Leonardo DiCaprio) proclaims ‘We create the dream, we bring the subject into that dream, and they fill it with their secrets’.

Although there are certain methods that can be used to induce a lucid dreaming state, a dream can only be truly created by the dreamer. Even though Cobb and his cronies try to control the dream, it is unlikely that the dreamer will divulge any secrets in a format that they can understand. When they are desperately searching for a vital piece of information, they are more likely to find the dreamer washing a giraffe or looking for a packet of biscuits.

It is possible to share dreams and this works best with dreamers who have recently shared and intense and powerful experience in waking life. Christopher Nolan is trying to share his own dream of what a 21st centry film should be and Inception will either draw you into his dream world or leave you yawning and confused.

Filed Under: Dream Diary Tagged With: Christopher Nolan, Inception, Leonardo DiCaprio, lucid dreaming

Marie Claire Sex Dreams

July 9, 2010 By Ian Wallace Leave a Comment

The August 2010 edition of Marie Claire magazine features an article by Catherine Townsend entitled ‘What Do Your Sex Dreams Really Mean’. Although Catherine very kindly invited me to provide most of the material for her piece, the realities of journalistic style and word count mean that much of the information that I supplied could not be used in the final article.

As sex dreams are some of the most exciting and intriguing dreams (and one of the most popular searches on this site!) I will reveal some more of their mysteries by sharing the material I sent to Catherine with you. Here it is…

Intense Experiences
Dreams involving sexual content are among the most intense experiences a dreamer can have. Sex in a dream usually reflects a situation that is arousing and exciting the dreamer in their waking life. The cause of this arousal is usually non sexual in nature but the dreamer’s unconscious uses the experience of sex as a way to represent this excitement.

Certain Qualities
In the dreaming process, the dreamer uses particular people to symbolise certain qualities that they would like to discover and develop in their own inner life. Usually the dreamer is not sexually attracted to this particular person in waking life but they are unconsciously connecting with some qualities that the person appears to embody.

Romantic Betrayal
As a result of this, dreamers can often find themselves dreaming about situations involving inappropriate intimacy and romantic betrayal. It can be easy for the dreamer to assume that they are suffering from sexual confusion or that their partner is having deep and intimate connection with someone else. However, the dreams are usually trying to tell the dreamer how to achieve a deeper inner connection with their own self.

Most Common Sex Dreams
The most common sex dreams include sex with a boss, an ex, a platonic friend or colleague, same sex partner (or different sex partner depending on orientation), celebrity, a crush or beloved, a stranger. A partner having an affair is also a very common dream. Here are their real meanings.

Sex with a boss
A boss often represents the power to make decisions and put plans into practice. Sex with a boss shows that you are becoming more intimately aware of your own power and ability to choose what you want in life. Sex with an authority figure such as a policeman or military officer often indicates that you are seeking permission to be yourself and want to have your talents formally recognised by other people. Intimately connecting with a president or world leader shows that you are realising that you, and you only, are the ultimate authority in deciding what you want to do in your life.

Sex with an ex
An ex usually symbolises the quality that you most powerfully associate with them. If your ex was unreliable and untruthful, then you are letting yourself down in waking life by not facing up to the truth about something. A warm and generous ex shows that you are discovering your own warmth and generosity and are being encouraged to express it. An ex often appears in a dream to warn you not to repeat past relationship patterns with a current romantic partner and this is an encouragement to let go of old behaviours that no longer serve you.

Sex with a platonic friend or colleague
A friend or colleague tends to reflect a talent that you admire and would like to possess yourself. If your friend has an easy social charm, then you are realising that you are becoming more at ease and charming in social situations. A colleague with a particular skill indicates that you are becoming aware that you also have the innate talent to develop that skill. A work colleague often suggests that you realise that you will need to work at developing this talent and it may involve some dedication and discipline for you to do this.

Sex with a same sex partner (or different sex partner depending on orientation)
A same sex or different orientation partner shows that you are becoming more tolerant of different behaviours and beliefs. An intimate encounter with someone of a different orientation indicates that you are becoming more curious about the needs and drives of others and also becoming aware of your own unspoken needs. A same sex partner often suggests that you are becoming more comfortable and connected with your own body image.

Sex with a celebrity
Celebrities represent the ultimate awareness of your own special talents and qualities. The celebrity that you dream of being intimate with reflects a unique talent that you have and are beginning to recognise. This may not be the obvious talent associated with that person but is one that you are unconsciously identifying with. It indicates that you are keen to have your talents publically recognised and accepted by a wider audience. As you do this, you start to recognise your own talents and begin to accept them too rather than rejecting yourself as a nobody.

Sex with a crush or beloved
Someone who you have a crush on or who is your beloved embodies a quality that you are inexorably drawn to. This may not be a physical or emotional quality and may be something quite subtle and imperceptible instead. Although this can be easy to dismiss as mere wish fulfilment, the object of your affections is reflecting a fundamentally attractive quality that you want to embody yourself. The qualities that you unconsciously identify in another person are as varied as all the reasons why people fall in love.

Sex with a stranger
A stranger usually represents some part of your own character that seems strange and unexplored to you. The stranger is often beautiful and alluring and this dream is urging you to find out more about your own hidden beauty and allure. Sometimes the stranger has no face or is wearing a mask and this indicates that you are concealing a natural talent that you feel shy about expressing. If the stranger is foreign or an alien, then you are connecting and resolving parts of your character that perhaps seem strange and alien to each other.

Partner having an affair
Dreaming that your partner is being unfaithful is usually triggered when you begin to lose faith in your own sexiness and attractiveness. It can be tempting to think that your partner is being unfaithful but this dream reflects that you are feeling unattractive to yourself for some reason. This can often happen when a situation in your waking life is frustrating you and making you feel less confident than usual. Rather than sharing your frustrations with your partner, you may start hoping that some other potential partner will find you attractive and you might even end up daydreaming about having an affair yourself. The more confident that you are in waking life, the more confidently you can step into your new future and become the person that you always dream of being.

Intimate Partner
As these dreams illuminate the fundamental identity and needs of the dreamer, they will also reveal their deeper sexual and romantic truths of what the dreamer really needs within an intimate relationship. By being more aware of what qualities they are attracted to in a lover, the dreamer can make conscious decisions about how to attract the intimate partner of their dreams.

True Intimacy
Sexual dreams can also be experienced when the dreamer is becoming particularly excited about a new creative idea or project. Dreaming of the procreative act reflects the fact that the dreamer possesses the spark to create something new and unique and then bring it to life. The dreaming process is also non judgemental. It releases the dreamer from guilt and criticism and enables them to explore and enjoy the true intimacy of their own inner being.

Excited and Aroused
The body also becomes sexually excited and aroused when dreaming, whether these dreams involve sexual content or not. In women, vaginal lubrication increases dramatically and the clitoris engorges and enlarges. Dreaming men experience unconscious and sustained erections. These physiological functions make the dreaming experience even more intense.

Filed Under: Dream Diary Tagged With: Affair, Boss, Celebrity, Sex, Unusual

Lady Gaga’s Phantom Bondage Dream

June 26, 2010 By Ian Wallace Leave a Comment

In the latest issue of Rolling Stone magazine, Lady Gaga shares one of her recurring dreams…

“I have this recurring dream sometimes where there’s a phantom in my home and he takes me into a room, and there’s a blond girl with ropes tied to all four of her limbs. And she’s got my shoes on from the Grammys. Go figure—pyscho. And the ropes are pulling her apart. I never see her get pulled apart, but I just watch her whimper, and then the phantom says to me, ‘If you want me to stop hurting her and if you want your family to be OK, you will cut your wrist.’ And I think that he has his own, like, crazy wrist-cutting device. And he has this honey in, like, Tupperware, and it looks like sweet-and-sour sauce with a lot of MSG from New York. Just bizarre. And he wants me to pour the honey into the wound, and then put cream over it and a gauze.”

Dreaming about her home indicates that Lady Gaga is thinking about her own self and the room represents some aspect of her own character. This part of her character is personified by the phantom and being taken to the room shows that she feels as if she is unwillingly under the control of this character trait.  The phantom also suggests that she finds it difficult to acknowledge this controlling part of her own personality and usually tries to ignore it.

The girl with the ropes tied to her limbs is also an aspect of Lady Gaga’s character as shown by the fact she is blonde and wearing Lady Gaga’s own  shoes from the Grammy’s. The Grammy shoes indicate this other part of her character is the girl who creates and performs and loves being recognised for her artistry.

The ropes tied to all four of her limbs show that her perfomer self often feels like a puppet being pulled in all different directions by the demands of her controlling self. This inner tension threatens to pull her apart and makes her feel as if she is at the end of her tether.

Her performing character makes  a few whimpering protests to her controlling self but she doesn’t consciously acknowledge these cries for help. However, she unconsciously makes attention seeking cries for help in waking life such as falling off her shoes and various other public mishaps.

To reduce these inner tensions and anxietis, she knows that she has to be less controlling and cause less pain to her creative self and to her creative team. Her wrist connects the power to shape and control her creative future – symbolised by her hand – to her arm which represents her ability to take action.

By cutting her wrist she will separate her artistic talent from her need to control every aspect of her image. She knows this might be a little painful at first but she has the tools and resources to do it. The honey balm in the Tupperware shows that she will find this separation of her creative output and her image management to be sweetly fulfilling as it will release all the tension and be far healthier for her.

She knows that doing this might be a sweet and sour experience with a few ups and downs but she wants to connect more deeply with her own natural talent rather than being influenced by the seemingly artifical tastes of other people in the New York scene.

So it’s not really an Illuminati ritual and the Devil isn’t trying to take her. She just needs to remember that underneath her micromanaged Lady Gaga persona is the passionate artistic soul of Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, the girl who she really is.

Filed Under: Dream Diary Tagged With: bondage, control, Lady Gaga, phantom, wound

Kathie Lee Gifford’s Chewing Gum Dream

June 25, 2010 By Ian Wallace Leave a Comment

Kathie Lee Gifford, a presenter of the Today Show on NBC, recently shared a dream that she often has. Her recurring dream is that she is endlessly chewing gum and no matter how she tries to get rid of it, it keeps filling her mouth.

Jenna, one of the show’s producers, got in touch with me to ask me what the dream might mean. Kathie Lee was delighted by the accuracy of my interpretation and if you didn’t catch it on the show, here it is…

When Kathie Lee dreams that her mouth is filled with chewing gum, she knows that there is something that she really needs to say but is having some difficulty in expressing. Although Kathie Lee is very gracious and extremely articulate, she is finding it quite challenging to put her feelings about this situation into words.

Kathie Lee is concerned that she will cause a sticky situation in waking life if she actually does voice her deeper thoughts and that it may lead to her feeling as if she has bitten off more than she can chew.

The issue that Kathie Lee needs to resolve is that she seems to be involved in a particular activity that absorbs much of her energy but does not provide her with the deeper feelings of fulfilment that she needs.

Kathie Lee may spend a lot of time chewing this situation over as she considers the most equable way of dealing with it. It may have started off as an apparently small issue but now appears to have become blown out of all proportion. However, the best way for her to release the frustration is to say what is on her mind by just spitting it out!

Many people, particularly dentists and orthodontists, associate the chewing gum dream with grinding teeth. Their view is that the sensation of chewing is caused by the tooth grinding and therefore the tooth grinding is the cause of the dream.

However, the reverse is actually true. Tooth grinding is usually experienced when a person needs to say something that is on their mind but feels frustrated and unable to do so. The same issue in waking life that is causing the dreamer to have the chewing gum dream may also cause them to grind their teeth.

Both the chewing gum dream and the tooth grinding usually cease when the person resolves the situation by expressing what they really need to say. It is a common dream among people who have a demanding creative lifestyle.

Filed Under: Dream Diary Tagged With: chewing gum, Kathie Lee Gifford, mouth

Chris Evans 21-05-10

May 24, 2010 By Ian Wallace Leave a Comment

Chris Evans shared a dream during his show on Friday 21st May. His dream was that ‘he had been sailing around the world on a galleon, discovering new lands. He returned home in his dream to find his 15 month old son Noah spraying creosote on his fence’.

Suzie, from the show’s production team asked if I would analyse the dream for Chris, so here is what it means…

Dreaming about being on a world tour on a sailing ship shows that Chris has recently been exploring a whole new world of emotions in his waking life. The new land that he has been discovering is even more common ground between himself and Natasha and the fact that he is on a sailing ship reflects that this journey of discovery is being propelled by all the ideas and memories that they have been sharing in their conversations.

Returning home to find white-nappied Noah creosoting the fence indicates that Chris is becoming aware that he needs to preserve his personal family boundaries. Although he is a wonderfully warm hearted and generous man and is very open about his feelings, he also wants to protect the precious intimacy of his private life.

Filed Under: Dream Diary Tagged With: baby, creosote, fence, sailing, ship

Tom Fletcher's Dream

May 20, 2010 By Ian Wallace Leave a Comment

The author Tom Fletcher shared this dream on his website…

‘My wife and I and our child (I don’t have any children) snuck into an empty mansion. It was a museum, but on this occasion it was closed. It was full of works of art that were not supposed to be there. It was very dark everywhere; unnaturally dark. Before long we were very lost and very afraid. There seemed to be people living in the mansion even though nobody was supposed to be. We never saw them. Only heard them.

From the top of a huge stairwell we looked down and saw something coming up the stairs. It was a very large creature, humanoid, but very tall and hunched over. It had a devil’s head. It saw us and smiled. It had quite human features but it was totally inhuman.

We ran away but it chased us. It chased us into a corridor with a red carpet. At the end of the corridor was a lift. We ran for the lift and pressed the button. We had to wait for the lift to arrive and for the doors to open. I turned around. The creature was walking quite slowly down the corridor. It was as if it knew that the lift would not arrive in time.

The lift arrived and we got inside. The door started to close. I laughed at the creature because we were escaping. Then it stopped the door from closing with its hand and pushed it open. Oh no! I had forgotten that lift doors could be opened again! It got in the lift with us.’

Here is my analysis…

In a dream, any building usually represents your own self. Buildings have insides and outsides, and so do people. Dreaming of a mansion suggests that you have the opportunity increase your self awareness and expand your sense of self. The fact that the mansion is a museum shows that you have a need to explore your own past and how your identity has developed. For some reason, you have closed yourself off from your past and feel that should not be exploring and revisiting it.

The works of art that are not supposed to be there represent all the great creative ideas that you have had in the past but have not given yourself permission to create. This is echoed in your wife who symbolises your creative and instinctive self and the child who is an artistic labour of love that you would like to create and develop further. Some of these creative ideas seem very dark and you are scared of how powerful your artistic statements could be. You are also being challenged in tangibly articulating your ideas and are becoming lost in your own concepts. The other people living in the museum mansion are your own possible selves, the artist who you truly want to be. You never see your work you would like to create appear in reality but only hear the inner voices of your ideas.

The stairwell is your progression as an artist and you know you have the opportunity to do something that is creatively huge. You realise that your artistic career has been a steady upward progression and required some effort to attain your current level. The creature coming up the stairs is your own massive creative instincts. You are afraid of your own talent because you are scared that it will take over your life. You are often modest about the art you make and keep a low profile. Although you recognise this part of yourself, you find it difficult to reconcile yourself with its ambition and drive.

You lack confidence in your undoubted abilities and keep running away from them. The corridor is an opportunity to develop unrealised talents and the red carpet is your passionate desire for other people to recognise your creative genius. You try to avoid using your talents by choosing a safer more anonymous career. You wait for your career to become more satisfying and open up some progressive opportunities for you. Your creative self knows that a conventional career will not give the artistic fulfilment that you really need and that however much you suppress your talents, they will always be with you. They are part of who you are.

You think you have escaped the obligation to share your talents with the world by choosing a safe job and closing yourself off from your creative instincts. A hand represents the power to shape and direct your future and your creative self instinctively wants to guide what you create with your life.

There is no escaping from your undoubted talents and now is the time to create some real work that shows the magnificence of who you really are. Use your job as a stable foundation and turn your brilliant ideas into art. Creature sounds a lot like creator and even more like create your. You have phenomenal artistic instincts so use your creature to create your art.

…and here is Tom’s response…

No way. Ian Wallace. Thank you. I cannot believe you have interpreted my dream. I can’t quite express a) how surprised and gratified I am that this has reached you and that you have put the time in to interpret it, and b) how uncannily accurate so much of the interpretation is. I suppose you would not be surprised at how accurate it is, as you know exactly what you are doing, but I know little about dream interpretation, and so the accuracy is, to me, incredible and fantastic.

So much of this is true. Not regarding any talent I may or may not have – I probably don’t have it – but the total dilemma I have of a safe job vs creating and the really quite formidable prospect of making something, or some things, that I really want to make. Whether or not I am talented I think it is fair to say that I am very ambitious.

I am not just saying this, but this interpretation has really helped. Thank you.

Filed Under: Dream Diary Tagged With: corridor, lift, mansion, monster, museum

Charlie Brooker says 'Get A F**king Job!'

May 1, 2010 By Ian Wallace

Charlton Brooker shares his views on ‘professional dream analysts’ and I have to agree with him that most dream analysts tend not to command much respect. However, the more critical we are of others, the more critical we tend to be of ourselves. It may be that Charlie experiences happiness and fulfilment by dumping his self loathing on to other people but his endless and scatologically themed criticism may also show that he has little respect for his own undoubted talents. His dreams probably include classics like late for the exam, naked in public and endless packing (of suitcases, not fudge…)

In a dream, shoes usually are a symbol of perceived social status and women’s shoes tend to represent creative status. It may be that Andrew Lloyd Webber is trying to control his own creative status by controlling the creative status of all those Dorothys. He has given himself (or the producers of the show have…) the authority to confer creative status and then remove it on an apparent whim. This powerful king like authority is reinforced by his position sitting on a gilded throne. If Charlie was judging this competition, I’m sure he would prefer a porcelain throne instead.

The showbiz moon symbolises a waxing and waning of Andrew’s populist talents. He is concerned that his creativity may be diminishing and he is constantly trying to recapture the initial creative sparks of his career, as represented by all those young girls. Charlie is probably also concerned that his own celebrity status seems under constant threat and this drives him to continually use tabloid shock tactics expressed in his unique broadsheet literacy.

     
Filed Under: Dream Diary

Dream Twitterings

April 30, 2010 By Ian Wallace

Today Blinkbox tweeted the results of their Twitter dream analysis competition. Dreamers were invited to tweet dreams and have them analysed by Dr Jennifer Parker. Although this was heralded as a great social experiment that that was the first to use Twitter for dream analysis, many dream professionals have been using Twitter to communicate with their clients for years. For example, All Dreaming is a constantly updated stream of what Tweeters are dreaming about right now.

One of the wonderful challenges of dreamworking with Twitter is to explain the meaning of the dream in less than 140 characters. Rather than using multiple tweets to respond as favoured by Dr Parker, I prefer to respond in a single tweet. This retains the immediacy of Twitter as an expressive tool instead of having to trawl through multiple tweets to try and piece some meaning together. Here are the 10 dreams that were tweeted, followed by my own 140 character interpretations.

@CriticalAnalyst I met Mark Zuckerberg. He handed me a chip-embedded business card and laughed at me.
Take your professional image more seriously. Focus on building strong relationships, not just identifying with particular technologies.

@Squeaky_the_pin David Cameron lost the election because he lied about the number of children he could fit into a paper bag. Honestly!
You have a fear of failure because you are trying to develop too many plans and ideas at once. Choose one and start putting it into action.

@4Laurel The strangest dream I’ve had recently involved a miniature Mylene Klass living in my sock drawer! Is analysis possible?!
Although you are comfortable with your creative activities, you habitually belittle your talents. Be more confident in showing your skills!

@shuzh3n I always dream that I’m shopping but can’t find anything to buy.
You are searching for a job or a life purpose that will bring much deeper meaning and value to your life. Follow your heart.

@nif125 I had a dream that my cat was teaching a social studies class, and had the voice of my grandmother.
You are drawing on your deeper and more mature wisdom as you learn how to express your instinctive independence among your friends.

@BlueStudios Dreamt I was hunted by black wasps that had evolved the ability to dive under water and continue their pursuit in the pool.
You are concerned that you might hurt the feelings of others in your workplace by making unpleasant and stinging remarks about them.

@bmulford Hidden monsters were restraining me with hands behind my back.They were biting my fingers off. Felt the pain even after I woke.
You may be experiencing arthritis or tendonitis, affecting your ability to act freely. You need to take action and seek medical advice.

@SarahPrinty Last nite I dreamed fake scenes from “When Animals Attack”.The last one was a giant squid that devoured a scuba diver, whole
You are worried about your emotional independence and concerned that you might be consumed by uncontrollable feelings of jealousy.

@AnaBowlova I didn’t dream of Pandora. My head’s already a box of Pandora. Neither did I see #Toruk. I did dream of seeing a mermaid.
You are becoming more aware of how to manifest your creative talents in a practical way as you turn your dreams into reality.

@mediasuicide I had a “dream camera” which I could use to distill images taken from my dreams into “real” photographs to show people
You want to clearly  capture your flashes of creative genius and develop them practically so others will be able to recognise your talent.

Filed Under: Dream Diary

Dream Learning

April 23, 2010 By Ian Wallace
The BBC reports some findings that have been documented by Dr Robert Stickgold of Harvard Medical School and Dr Erin Wamsley in the academic journal Cell Biology.

‘They found people who dream about a new task perform it better on waking than those who do not sleep or do not dream. Volunteers were asked to learn the layout of a 3D computer maze so they could find their way within the virtual space several hours later. Those allowed to take a nap and who also remembered dreaming of the task, found their way to a landmark quicker. The researchers think the dreams are a sign that unconscious parts of the brain are working hard to process information about the task.’

Even though these researchers may now be confirming this experimentally, this is a phenomenon that I have witnessed again and again during the analysis of over 100,000 dreams.  Before Stickgold and Walmsley did their study, I wrote about dreams and learning in Songs of the Seahorses in my e-book ‘How To Dream‘.

Dr Erin Wamsley goes on to say that the study suggests our unconscious brain is gathering and encountering tremendous amounts of information and new experiences every day. Although she observes that ‘It would seem that our dreams are asking the question, “How do I use this information to inform my life?”‘, our unconscious self is not just looking to process information like a computer working through a stack of raw data.

We dream to remember who we really are and to understand who we can become. We dream to reconnect with all the talents and ideas that we possess but that we tend to neglect and ignore. We dream to play around with our potential futures and possibilities. Our dreams collect and connect all the remembered fragments of what we have experienced and what we hope to experience, and weave all those memories and hopes into a meaningful story.

Filed Under: Dream Diary

Andie MacDowell's Dream

April 17, 2010 By Ian Wallace

Andie MacDowell recently shared a dream with Craig Ferguson on The Late Late Show on CBS. In her dream, she is carrying a baby and has a wall on one side of her, with a parallel wall on the other side with railroad tracks beyond them.

As Andie observes, the walls represent boundaries for her. A further exploration of the dream reveals that the railroad tracks symbolise career paths that others expect her to follow. However, she is currently working on a labour of love that is very precious to her and she is ensuring that this is not being adversely influenced by the expectations of others. Andie knows that protecting her creative spark will reward her with an achievement that will open up a new career opportunity.

 
Filed Under: Dream Diary
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