I wanted to tell you about a recent dream interpretation / dream analysis I gave a dreamer. It’s always pretty cool when I hear back from someone, affirming the dream’s interpretation – which was the case this time.

Below are the dream she sent me, my response to her, and her follow up reply.

Her Dream:

This is kind of an unusual dream, in that few people would understand the frustration I felt during the dream.  First of all, let me say that my favorite pastime or hobby is photography. I am always taking pictures and there is no place I’d rather be than photographing something or someone. I don’t like to cook or sew, do crafts, or anything like that. I just take pictures. In fact, when my grandson, who is in kindergarten, draws pictures of me, I always have a little circle thing in my hand that he says is my “camwa!”

In my dream, my husband and I were at a big, beautiful Native American Reservation. Something else that fascinates me is Native Americans, their culture, their history, and their beauty. There were Indians everywhere! Big beautiful headdresses, teepees, Native American crafts – everything.  They were putting on a special program in my dream, showing how they made the crafts, built teepees and weapons, and the women were showing how they made dresses and cooked. I felt so much happiness in the dream. But when I reached in my bag and got my camera to begin taking pictures, the camera was dead. No battery!

My husband said it didn’t matter because we could still have a great time. He said something cheesy like take pictures with your mind’s camera. I told him about that the next morning and he laughed.

The thing is, the dream was so vivid and colorful and beautiful. By contrast, the frustration and disappointment I felt was so dark and horrible.  It ruined the trip for me because I didn’t have my camera and I hated myself for not charging my battery before we went.

I’ve been thinking a lot about the dream since then because it was so “real” and there was so much going on.  It was one of those dreams that stays with you and I was anxious to hear what you have to say about it.  – Fran

My Dream Interpretation and Analysis:

Fran, the dream sounds like it was a beauty! Ironically, I also love to to take pictures (mentally as well as with a camera! – the comment was a little cheesy, but kind of cute, too!) and am also incredibly fascinated with Native American history.  When I read your dream, I realized how frustrating I would have felt!  Fortunately my husband also usually has a camera with him. When I read your dream’s dilemma, my first thought was, “I’d SO take my husband’s camera from him!”

Your dream beautifully and perfectly points to one thing:  You’ve recently let yourself down in some way. Through something you did (or didn’t do), a mistake you made, a shortcoming, or an oversight – you disappointed yourself.  I have a feeling it was one of those moments when you thought, “I could just kick myself!” – or words to that effect!  The fact that, in the dream, your husband didn’t feel disappointed or upset points to the fact that this “letdown” was a personal one, for you, that affected only you.

I believe that our dreams don’t just “play out” things that have happened in our lives. I believe they also try to guide us, encourage us, and sometimes even admonish us.  I think the fact that the dream was on such a grand scale was your subconscious mind’s way of saying, “You will remember this, and you will remember the disappointment!”

And you do!

- Joi

Her Response:

Oh my goodness! Tha’ts perfect, Joi. It’s perfect. My jaw just dropped.  Last year, I lost a much-needed 25 pounds. I was well on my way to losing enough to get to my goal weight. I had been losing by walking my dog Gypsy each morning and each night.  Gypsy developed a heart problem (and enlarged heart that her vet said she probably always had, but is just beginning to cause her problems).  She is fine, but I’m scared to walk her any more. I don’t want to walk alone, so I have not been walking. Walking isn’t fun without Gypsy. My walking came to an end, so I thought that I’d just start watching what I eat and handle my weight that way.

The day of the dream, I weighed myself and cried.  I had gained back 13 of the 25 pounds I had lost. I undid all that good and felt so disappointed and bad. I was angry at myself and sad at the same time. It is so VERY ironic that you said the words in your e-mail because I said the words to Gypsy, I told her that I could just kick myself. I’m just still in shock that you knew the words. Wow. Thank you!  – Fran

The cool thing about her dream and her response is this: I had a feeling what the “problem” was. Sometimes we females understand one another so much you’d think we had esp!  When you dream that you’ve disappointed yourself, you probably have done so in your life, to some point.

Use the dream as a tool – it’ll give you a self help and self improvement edge!  When making any type of improvement in your life, don’t look back – look around (at your circumstances and situation) and look forward (to your goal).  Look back into the past only long enough to see where you took a wrong turn (or wrong turns!) and then resolve not to make those again.  We all let ourselves down from time to time – because we’re all human. The trick is not to stay down.

In a response to Fran, I told her to look back on her 25 lb weight loss as “practice,” an awesome dress rehearsal!  I also pointed out that it should serve as a great deal of motivation to her – she proved she can do it. I also pointed out that she didn’t “undo” all the good – she still lost 12 pounds. A lot of people would LOVE to lose 12 pounds!