People often dream of new careers. Have you ever found yourself doing work in a dream that you have never done in real life? That could be a clue (or a warning, if it was something you did not like).

Most often, though, the direction is more subtle. You may awaken with a feeling of pride or achievement, a sense that something good awaits you, or just a vague feeling of hope or happiness. It is up to you to decide how to interpret those feelings.

So even if you have never dreamed of, for example, becoming a Registered Tax Return Preparer, that may still be that career of your dreams. It helps to be open to pursuing new ideas, and now is a great time to learn more about the possibilities.

After all, everyone has to file income taxes, and as rules and returns become more complex, more good tax preparers are needed every year. Even if you just want a part-time job during tax season, becoming a paid tax preparer may be just the answer to your dreams.

New IRS requirements for paid tax preparers took effect in January 2011. So even if you have been a paid tax preparer in the past, you will have to study to pass the new IRS tax preparer exams. But there are some great courses and guides that help you prepare for the tax preparer exam.

And once you have your tax preparer certification, you are ready for a career of getting paid for helping people, a career you can take pride in. It could very well be the career of your dreams.

So whatever you dream of, always be open to the possibilities. You may find an even bigger dream that will surprise and reward you, like being a registered tax preparer.

In the past posts, we have discussed about the different kinds of psychic dreams people may have including:

Prophetic Dreams Warning Dreams ESP Dreams Out-of-the-Body Dreams Survival Dreams Reincarnation Dreams Lucid Dreams

Sometimes dreams can be used to help us solve problems that we have a frustrating time to solve when we are awake. If things are ambiguous or puzzling, one can suggest him or herself that the problem will be solved upon awakening, putting the faith that an answer will come to the problem right before they fall asleep and finding the answer later in the conscious state.

Anything the sleeper wants to know or think of when waking up, one can program the mind to give them just that before hand and use autosuggestion, or light repeated phrases, right before drifting off into a dreamy state. This may also condition the mind to come up with new ideas and possibilities for creating a solution to a problem in life.

If one hopes to further develop ESP capability, one should continue to keep suggesting to the conscious and unconscious (this can be done through the directions on lucid dreaming below) that he or she is able to receive external sources outside of their ordinary senses permits them to do.

Katharine Cover Sabin (ESP and Dream Analysis), shows a way of how a dreamer who to have psychic dreams can do cite mantras to themselves:

The novice should begin his system of autosuggestion by pointing to the solar plexus area, and addressing the subconscious as follows: ‘my dreams are becoming progressively more outstanding and predictive. I shall remember my dreams after I wake up.’ These suggestions should be given at intervals during the day and upon retiring.”

Something similar, in your own words, through repeated daily practice and faith will also help bring out the psychic types of dreams from the books. To help this, dreamers should also always have a “dream diary” of some sort where they record their dreams. This not only helps with symbols and meanings of dreams and how they connect to the real world, but also helps us stay conscious in lucid dreams. You never know if a dream that is written in your diary will really unfold in reality.

How to Have a Lucid Dream

Lucid dreams are dreams where one is completely conscious of themselves while they are dreaming. This is something completely different from a typical dream that people have. The body will most likely be paralyzed at this point (this usually freaks people out which makes a lucid dream disappear), but if one is calm and collected, then there’s a good chance that they can begin a lucid dream and even control the outcome of the dream. But, the key to have a lucid dream is to stay conscious right before you go to sleep. Here are some tips to help you out with your journey.

1. Buy a notebook and label it, “My Dream Journal.” Your goal with this journal is to help you become more aware of your dreams, that you are serious about remember dreams from an unconscious state in a conscious state and linking these two worlds together. You will jot down little tidbits of dreams you remember upon waking up and keep your dream journal nearby you when you are sleeping.

2. Before falling asleep, try your best to stay conscious. Do this when you know you are tired and are about to fall asleep within the next few minutes of lying in bed. It might help if you keep your eyelids open, while you’re drifting off to sleep, and as your eyelids naturally close, open them up again. Once you enter the dreamy state, after doing that small act, you will become more conscious in your unconscious state and be more likely to one time spontaneous catch yourself being awake in your dream.

3. If you do find yourself being awake in your dream, do not panic. Stay calm. This is because if you start to jolt of panicking, the lucid dream may stop and you may find yourself awake, then having to start all over again. Just relax and try imagining something cool happening like flying.

4. When you wake up, record your dream. The easier it is for you to remember your dreams in vivid detail, the better you will get a lucid dreaming. This is because only a person who is completely conscious of their dreams would be able to remember what they did. Think of it this way, can you remember what you did an hour ago? Of course, you will conscious when whatever you did an hour ago happened. It’s the same if you can remember your dreams just like you would in reality.

5. Throughout the day, be more attentive to your dreams and your dream journal. Look at it from time to time as once night time hits you, you to feel more conscious in your dreams.

6. Also, through the day, ask yourself, “Am I awake?” This might sound silly at first but if you seriously keep asking yourself, “Am I awake?” The answer is yes. Be conscious of this. Then when you are dreaming, if you happen to be slightly conscious enough to know dream but ask yourself, “Am I awake?” The answer might be, “Yes.” If you answered that you are awake while your dreaming, then you are in a lucid dream.

7. Look out for dream signs such as something that happens in your dream that reoccurs again and again. This may be a clue that whenever that happens in your dream, you are having a lucid dream. Write them down in your notebook.

8. As for dream signs, the purpose of them is to have a link again between the unconscious world and the conscious world. This shouldn’t be too complicated. For example, you see a person in your dream often that you do see in real life. When you see this person in real life, you will refer back to your dream. Then when you are dreaming, you will see this person in real life and ask yourself, is this person really here. If you conscious enough to know the answer is no, then you’re dreaming.

9. Try your best to relate the dream world with the real world through random signs that seem to happen in both worlds repeating steps 1 – 9 for a few weeks, or until you make that transition.

10. Have fun!

In conclusion, the world of dreams in limitless. There are dreams that help us predict the future, there are dreams that give us warning that something is going to happen, there are dreams that give us extra senses, there are dreams that let us fly outside of our body, there are dreams that let us communicate with the dead, there are dreams that show us who we were before this life, and there are dreams that don’t seem like dreams at all, but feels like reality.

All this stuff is possible but one just has to believe in it and put faith in it. Just like any other obstacle in life, psychic dreams don’t come easily. It takes consistent practice. Sometimes, even a dose of luck is needed. Programming oneself daily to have psychic abilities, like the many people in the accounts of Hanz Holzer’s book, The Psychic Side of Dreams, will help one increase the chances of having psychic dreams.

That concludes this series of dreams. Good luck on adventuring through them as you really never know what kind of new thing you will experience in your dreams that you’ll never be able to experience in the real world.

Tristan Lee is a writer who enjoys helping others with self-improvement and personal success. Read more of his self-improvement posts at his blog, http://tristanleesblog.com/.
Article Source

If you go right back to sleep, chances are you will forget the dream before morning (no matter how vivid it seemed when you first woke up). At least jot down the basic plot of the dream and fill in the details later.

Suggest to yourself every night as you fall asleep, “Tonight I will remember my dreams.”  Say it over and over in your mind as you fall asleep. 

If you do that, chances are your subconscious mind will act on the suggestion. Focus on your dreams through making that suggestion to your subconscious every night as you fall sleep. 

When you need to solve a problem, you may want pray for guidance to be given through your dreams. Prayer tends to focus our intent better.

Trust your intuition! If something in a dream seems important, it probably is.

Try to ignore your logical, skeptical side while writing down your dreams. Just write exactly what you remember without rationalizing anything.

After recording your dream as fully and accurately as possible, then you can start on interpretation.

For more info, see Tips on Remembering Your Dreams, Part 1.

Many dreamers recommend using a lighted pen, so as not to disturb anyone else sleeping in the same room. Using a lighted pen keeps you from having to turn on the light, which allows you to stay closer to the drowsy dream state. That also helps in dream recall.

The moment you awaken, before getting out of bed, is the ideal time to write down your dream, even if you only have time to record the date, name the dream, and jot a few notes. Studies show that moving around tends to awaken you fully and usually hinders dream recall.

Not everyone remembers their dreams on first waking. And some have to dash off to work with no spare minutes to stop and write. But that’s OK. Just write down as much as you can remember about your dream as soon as you can.

Dream expert Robert Moss says people often remember dreams in bits and pieces, so by naming your dream and jotting a few notes, you start the process, and you can add details about the dream later, as you recall them.

Write down everything you remember, without interpreting it, even if it does not seem to make sense. Often, the odd details or parts that do not seem to fit in or make sense contain the most valuable information.

Even the tiniest detail in your dream may be important and should be considered when analyzing your dreams. Look closely at all the people, animals, objects, places, emotions, and even the colors and numbers in your dreams.

Ask yourself, “What does this remind me of?” Write down the first thing that comes to your mind. A real situation in your life may be symbolized in the dream. If you recognize a real-life situation in a dream, ask yourself, “How did situation make me feel?”

Often when there is more than one scene or story line in your dream, there are several issues your subconscious is trying to tell you about. But it can also mean that your inner self is trying several different ways to convey the same information with different symbolism.

Dreams often have multiple, layered meanings. The same dream can be telling you several things, or showing you similarities between seemingly unrelated situations in your life. Taking time to understand your dreams can be extremely enlightening.

For more tips, see Remembering Your Dreams, Part 2. (Watch for it on September 11.)

Image via Wikipedia

Edgar Cayce, a world-famous prophetic dreamer in the early 20th century, was able to obtain virtually an unlimited amount of knowledge on an unlimited number of subjects. One of these subjects was dreams and dream interpretation.

Cayce astounded people by interpreting their dreams and giving them insight into their psyche, lives and even past lives. From his own experience, and from the feedback he received from others, Cayce believed that dreams are actually journeys into the spirit world.

Edgar Cayce once said,“Dreams, visions, impressions, to the entity in the normal sleeping state are the presentations of the experiences necessary for the development, if the entity would apply them in the physical life. These may be taken as warnings, as advice, as conditions to be met, conditions to be viewed in a way and manner as lessons, as truths, as they are presented in the various ways and manners.”

Cayce believed that our dreams serve several functions. Somatic dreams—dreams referring to the body—are extremely important to pay attention to. Very often dreams will offer solutions to health problems.

For example, one man was plagued with food allergies for many years, but was unable to find the source of his discomfort. Then one night he went to bed and he dreamed of a can of coffee. He quit drinking coffee and his symptoms disappeared.

Like many of us, Cayce also believed that deceased friends and family members sometimes visit us in dreams. Such dreams may be communications from our loved ones. Or they may allow us to resolve our feelings about their deaths. Any person who appears in a dream may also represent some aspect of themselves or some part of us that is like them in some way.

While dreaming, we pass through different levels of consciousness and, according to many, different realms of the spirit world. While dreaming, we have special access to our own inner spirit. According to the Edgar Cayce readings, there is no a question that cannot be answered from the depths of our own consciousness.

According to Cayce, a dream may deal with physical, mental, or spiritual issues. It may include any kind of psychic manifestation, such as telepathy, clairvoyance, prophesies, astral travel, past life recall, communication with other realms, including friends and relatives who have passed away, spirit guides, angels, Christ, or even the voice of God.

Dreams can also give invaluable information on our health. Cayce felt that every aspect of life—emotional, physical, mental, spiritual, financial, or social—could be dealth with in dreams.

Dreams are ambiguous messages. They can warn or encourage, confuse or clarify, tease or explain clearly. Dreams can potentially offer a vast range of information and experiences.

What we get out of dreams depends on how we work with them. Dreams reflect our own attitudes, motivations, and degree of enlightement. What we receive in dreams also depends on how much we have heeded and applied information we received in earlier dreams and in messages we receive while awake.

Do you pay attention to your dreams? Edgar Cayce did, and he was able to help thousands of people while he was alive.

Millions more have gained insight into their lives, health, and psyches through reading the records of Cayce’s dreams and the many books about them.

Here is the link: http://www.healthylife.net/RadioShow/archiveWD.htm

There is even an 800 number so that you can call in with questions during the show as he interviews other dreamworkers and dream researchers. 

What a blessing for all of us!

The Dreamer's Book of the Dead

Dream expert Robert Moss has written yet another ground-breaking book, The Dreamer’s Book of the Dead: A Soul Traveler’s Guide to Death, Dying, and the Other Side. It’s a big book, and I just started reading it. So you can be sure I will be writing more about it later. Meanwhile, just in case you have some holiday gift cash burning a hole in your pocket, I wanted to tell you about it. 

If you have read any of the Robert Moss books on dreams (or if you have been reading this blog), you know that he uses innovated techniques and is breaking new ground (in our culture) in the practical and spiritual uses of dreaming.

Some Native Americans, Tibetans, Indonesians, and others have been masters of dreamwork for centuries. But Europeans and Americans have for the most part considered dreams to be meaningless, if not downright scary. Robert Moss and others are changing that as they teach us amazing and effective ancient ways of working with dreams.

The point of this book is that our departed loved ones, friends, and spiritual teachers often appear to us in dreams with important messages, but we don’t always pay attention. Moss teaches us to heed such messages. He also teaches us to take the initiative to contact the departed in dreams.

One of the main reasons to contact departed loved ones, friends, even enemies, is closure. Sometimes we need to apologize or receive apologies to heal old wounds. Sometimes we just need the reassurance that they are still in existence, even though no longer living.

Moss says that sometimes people who have died cannot rest easy until they deliver information or make peace with the living. It may be practical, like the whereabouts of missing papers or valuables, or it may simply be guidance on handling business, family or spiritual problems.

If all this sounds morbid, it really isn’t. You can also contact spiritual teachers and others who have gone before. You can ask them for advice or find out valuable information about the past or the present. 

There is a lot of information in this book on various dream practices. As always there are wonderful stories of real people and experiences, as only Robert Moss can tell them. The book covers a wealth of information on dreams and dreamwork.

So you might want to take a look at The Dreamer’s Book of the Dead: A Soul Traveler’s Guide to Death, Dying, and the Other Sided by Robert Moss. You will find it on Amazon. I know, because that’s where I got it.

My family (on both sides) has always been blessed with dreams that contain messages from departed relatives. We have stories of dramatic dreams conveying important information going back over 100 years that I know of. Probably there were others that we no longer remember. Such dreams can be helpful in a practical way, but mainly they are comforting. 

Dreams that bring help and knowledge from departed family members are a blessing that I like to remember, especially at this family-intensive time of year. How about you?

Dreams Poster  24 in. x 36 in.  
Buy at AllPosters.com

People talk a lot about dreams. Usually they don’t specify clearly what types of dreams they are talking about. There isn’t just one kind, or even two (good or bad. There are many kinds of dreams, and to be able to make sense when discussing dreams, we ought to define them.

Processing Dreams

Many people have been convinced that all dreams are just the body’s way of processing memories and experiences. In fact, that is a large category of dreams.

Sorting out our thoughts, experiences and ideas does seem to be one important purpose of dreaming.

Anxiety Dreams

Anxiety dreams are not exactly nightmares (usually), but they are unpleasant. They express our worries about things that may or may not ever happen. In some cases, anxiety dreams may be a way of preparing to deal with difficult situations. In others, they may be a symptom that we need to learn how to handle stress better—and maybe drink less caffeine?

Prophetic Dreams

People who consistently keep dream journals find that they often have prophetic dreams. Sometimes the dreams are quite trivial. Other times they prepare us for events we cannot prevent or prepare us for tragedies that we can avert by being ready.

Because of a prophetic dream (also called a precognitive dream), we have had a chance to think of what we would do, the shock has worn off, and when the event happens, we are calm enough to take action that can save lives or prevent serious injury. 

Clairvoyant Dreams

People over the centuries have witnessed events happening elsewhere, even thousands of miles away, in their dreams. There are records of people dreaming of plane crashes and natural disasters, recording the dreams, sometimes putting the dreams into official records, and then receiving verification via the news media. 

Dream, Explore, Discover  Art Print by Svensson, Torleif

36 in. x 24 in. Buy at AllPosters.com

Communication Dreams

People all over the world have experienced dreams of communication from a loved in times of crisis. Sometimes the loved one has been dead for many years. Other times the loved one appears at the moment of death to say goodbye. Sometimes the loved one appears with a message of warning or other important information, or even with reassurance that the loved one is safe.

Message Dreams

Sometimes dreamers receive messages that are actually intended to be given to others. Often the message dream is for a relative, friend, coworker or neighbor and can be given right away.

But sometimes it is for an acquaintance one has yet to meet. Then, when the recipient appears, the message is given, and the dream is fulfilled.

Astral Dreams

Astral dreams are said to occur on the inner planes of existence, in the spirit world. They tend to be symbolic, like a bare black stage set with only the most essential props and actors spotlighted. Some people may never have astral dreams. More likely most people simply do not recognize or remember them.

When you have an astral dream, it may be the mind’s way of dramatizing things that you subconsciously know but have been ignoring. Or they may be an indication that someone else is trying to communicate with you in your dreams.

Nightmares

Nightmares can occur in any of the dream forms. Most likely they are a dramatization of your fears, but they can also be the result of actual memories. Such memories may require therapy to make the dreams go away.

Nightmares caused by post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can be crippling in their realistic sensations and intensity, and they definitely require professional treatment by a therapist who specializes in PTSD. Dreams can seem very real. They can be horrifying.

The fear of having PTSD dreams can cause people to avoid sleeping (which is dangerous) or to self-medicate with prescription (or nonprescription) drugs or alcohol. Doing that can also be dangerous.

Dreams Poster 62 in. x 24 in. Buy at AllPosters.com

Diagnostic Dreams

The body always knows when we are ill or hurt, but we may consciously ignore it, especially if there is no pain. Many people have dreams that tell them of serious undiagnosed problems such as cancer. Those who pay attention to their dreams and know how to interpret the images from their subconscious are warned.

Many a dream has caused someone to get a checkup that saved their life by resulting in early treatment of what could have been a fatal disease or condition.   

Healing Dreams

Occasionally people who are very ill have dreams that seem to bring healing. Is the dream healing in and of itself? Or is the dream announcing the healing? No one knows for sure.

Problem-Solving Dreams

As we have discussed before, problem-solving dreams can occur at any point in sleep or just before or after it. The solution can be literal and complete, or it can be symbolic, or just a hint.

Lucid Dreams

Lucid dreams are rare. They are dreams in which the dreamer becomes aware that he or she is dreaming and takes control of the dream. That last part is the most important. Dreams in which one simply becomes aware of being in a dream and wakes up or goes into a different dream are called prelucid dreams.

Many people have prelucid dreams. Few learn to gain control of them and turn them into lucid dreams. 

Lucid dreaming is a form of meditation for adepts of some spiritual belief systems. In those spiritual systems, people may study and practice for years to achieve it.

Yet in some cultures people have been trained from babyhood to take control of their dreams, and in those cultures virtually everyone can do it. 

Shaman Dreams

In some cultures shamans, or those with the potential to become shamans, are identified by the special dreams they have, dreams that contain specific imagery that only shamans see.

Shamans in many cultures do much of their work, including finding out information or finding cures for diseases or injuries, in lucid dreams or active dreaming.  

Mixed Dreams

Most dreams seem to be a mixture. Parts of a dream may be processing the day’s events, while other parts contain messages. Dreaming is complex. Dreams can and often do have several layers of meaning. 

Other Types of Dreams

Probably there are other kinds of dreams, but these definitions should be enough for discussion purposes and to help identify dreams for yourself and others. Talking about your dreams and working with others on their dreams is worthwhile. It can also be fun. And to me the ability to get and share information from dreams is a blessing.

Dream Clouds Plaque Photographic Print by Katano, Nicole

24 in. x 8 in.
Buy at AllPosters.com

It feels more as though I worked on the problem all night instead of really sleeping. Have you ever waked up in the morning and felt as though you had been working all night in your sleep? It feels as though you have merely dozed lightly, while your mind worked on the problem.

I suspect that a lot of the problem-solving actually goes on in that dreamlike stage between waking and sleeping. Whatever it is, it works, and to me it is a blessing.

How about you?

Currently I’m reading the second edition of her book, Creative Dreaming, and I highly recommend it.

Garfield’s books are different from those of Robert Moss (Conscious Dreaming, Dreamgates, and Dreaming True). She spends a bit more time explaining the research that has been done on dreams and the methods that she recommends for getting/shaping the dreams you want.

She writes very clearly and simply, so her books are fun to read and easy to understand. I also think that she is a bit more detailed in explaining how to work with dreams. So it seems easier to understand her methods and put them into practice.

Garfield gives great practical advice on transforming nightmares into pleasant dreams. She also has a lot of interesting information on how to use dreams to get answers. And she devotes a whole chapter to Native American beliefs about dreams and visions, and what we can learn from their methods.

This is a great book, and I’ll probably write more about it later. Meanwhile, give it a try, and let me know how it works for you.

Creative Dreaming was published several years ago, so you should be able to find it in the library. You can definitely find it on Amazon, where I got mine.

Sorry I haven’t blogged for awhile. I got a new job—but with a long commute. Then I got sick. I’ll get back on schedule with blogging as soon as I can.

Meanwhile, I feel really blessed to have a great job, working with fun people.