Dream Prophesy

Daydreams. We all have them - some more than others - so, we might as well find a way to channel them in a helpful direction, right?!

In the last post, we saw how certain damaging daydreams can bring about negative things in our lives. We don’t want to give daydreams a bad name….we like them! So let’s look at ways they can actually benefit us.

1. As we’ve said before, they can serve as an escape. If life is particularly stressful, letting your mind wander to happier thoughts or events can often seem like the difference between going crazy and staying sane. It honestly can help you keep your wits about you when they’re wanting to flee.

2. If you have an upcoming interview or presentation (or something along those lines), going over it in your mind can help you “practice.” Just be careful to keep from playing out worst case scenarios - they’ll do nothing more than build your anxieties and keep you from giving it your best.

3. You can use daydreams to channel good vibes. Admitedly, that sentence sounds like it’s stuck in the 70’s, but it know what it’s talking about….even if it is wearing a tie-dyed top and bell-bottomed pants. If you use your daydreams to build up your confidence or self image, or to give you courage and self assurance, you’ll reap the benefits.

A final word, if you set the bar for happiness too high in your daydreams, trying to live up to them will be nothing more than total frustration. If most of your daydreams cast you as a millionaire living on an island off of the gulf coast - surrounded by luxurious, beautiful things that never need fixing, reality’s going to be a sonofabitch! Make an effort to scale back a little. Literally downsize your daydream a little. Also, change up the scenario in your daydreams. This lets your mind know that happiness doesn’t JUST exist in the midst of money and its address isn’t always on the beach. Happiness can be found with nothing in its pockets and walking alongside a stream in Tennessee just as easily.

Every now and then, take a look at your daydreams and see what meanings lie behind them. Then ask yourself what, if any, good they’re doing you. If you have cause to believe that your daydreams are taking you in the wrong direction, replace them with new and improved daydreams and see where they carry you!

Even though there are glaring differences between daydreams and night dreams, one thing is for certain - both can give the dreamer a beautiful analysis of themselves. On this blog, we often look at dreams and their hidden meanings. We talk a lot about dream symbols as well as the events they appear in. It might interest you to know that daydreams can also give you a fascinating analysis. They’re also much easier to interpret. The reason is simple - the language and “meanings” behind a daydream are precisely what you’d think they would be.

Let’s look at a few examples!

1. Do you often daydream about receiving praise and adoration? Are you always on the receiving end of praise and attention in your daydreams? If this is the case, you feel underappreciated and taken for granted. You SO long for attention and appreciation and the feelings they bring that you create scenarios where you get to “experience” them. This sort of daydream could be a wake up call for you to start being your own cheerleader. When you do a great job on something in particular, compliment yourself - even if no one else does! Also, realize this: Most people are appreciative and thankful for what others do, and secretly are even in awe of them. Most people just don’t give voice to these feelings.

Also, if you aren’t receiving compliments on something in particular - maybe those around you are used to your excellence….they’ve grown so accustomed to you doing what you do perfectly that it doesn’t feel noteworthy to them anymore. I once heard a woman tell her husband, “You haven’t said anything about how I look tonight.” His reply? “Uh, you always look beautiful. If I said that everytime I thought it, I’d never say anything else.”

2. Do you daydream about being someone else? This is a very common daydream for people who are smack in the middle of stressful situations. When the trials of life blow into our lives, we just want to find the escape hatch - wherever it may be! Unfortunately, a literal escape hatch doesn’t exist, so we have to make one up. In our mind.

We’ll “become” a great athlete, a gorgeous/handsome movie star (I’ve never known anyone who’d daydream of being a mediocre athlete or homely star!) or simply an exceptional person - other than the exceptional person they are.

When these daydreams start coming hot and heavy, the dreamer should step back and give credit to all of the stress in their life. They should, then, realize that - although they are great temporary escapes - daydreams really accomplish little. If you could, instead, find an escape that led you to a better place….it wouldn’t just be an escape, it’d be a step up. For example, exercise is an amazing escape from stress - and you’re rewarded with improved fitness and health!

3. Do you express anger and rage in your daydreams? If you daydream about going ape in your daydreams, you’re most certainly repressing anger in your life and are looking for an outlet. While it’s MUCH better to let it out in your daydreams, you might want to consider a different outlet for these feelings. Whether it’s sports, running, or….I don’t know - watching boxing!….it would be great to find another way of handling your feelings.

The problem is, if you daydream about something long enough - it often will manifest itself in your life. If, in your daydreams, you’re often telling people off - it won’t be long before you’re shooting your lip off in your day to day life. The problem is, in a daydream you handle the results. In real life, you most definitely do not.

4. Do you often daydream of worst case scenarios? This daydream, much like the one above, is very destructive. It actually kind of poisons your mind! When you put destructive, harmful daydreams on a repeat cycle, they take their toll on your mind. It, honestly, won’t be long before part of your mind starts believing there’s truth where there probably isn’t.

For example, take the person who is home alone on a stormy night. Their mind begins to cook up a little drama (as though any more is needed)….”What if there was someone in the attic, hiding? What if he…..no…they, there’s more than one… What if THEY were waiting for the lights to go out, then…” Of course, right about then the lights WOULD go out and OF COURSE there would be a noise that sounds like it comes from the attic - then, the daydreamer would probably scream or wet themselves, or both.

Very often the mind can’t tell for certain what is realityor what’s reality to the individual. We actually feel the emotions and fears in our daydreams - so in a very real sense, we’re actually going through what we go through what we experience. That’s why the good ones feel so good and the bad ones make us jump at every little sound.

It’s something to keep in mind the next time you find yourself in the middle or the start of a daydream. Ask yourself, “Where is this taking me?” Then, either follow or bail, accordingly!

I’m often asked, from the stand point of analysis, if our daydreams carry as much weight as our night dreams. People often wonder what, if anything, their daydreams mean.

First, it’s important to realize how different daydreams are from nightdreams. For one thing, when we daydream, the symbolisms that are so important in night dreams go right out the proverbial window. Night dreams convey their meaning to us, in a large part, with symbols. We often say this is the “language” they use. Daydrems don’t speak the same language! In daydreams, we give voice to our emotions, needs, feelings, and fears - either by words we say in the daydream, words said to us, or events that happen in the daydream.

Secondly, we aren’t as deeply in a hypnotic type of state when we daydream. Granted, we do check out and escape from reality for a spell - but we’re able to check back in a lot easier, because we aren’t as deeply removed from consciousness.

Thirdly, daydreams can be remembered much easier! The minute your daydream is interrupted or “finishes,” you know precisely what happened.

Even though daydreams and night dreams have huge differences, they also share huge similarities. We’ll cover those in the next post.

Sweet daydreams!
Joi