Dreams Teach us to Handle Stress

DREAMS

Getting a Grip!

How Dreams Teach us to Handle Stress
by Paul Blosser


Imagine this...your day is starting out great. You have a list of goals you want to accomplish. You’ve created a schedule of what you want to do and when you want to do it. But somewhere, something goes wrong...perhaps your computer crashes. Somebody unexpected drops by. The lawn mower won’t start...and all of a sudden your day has turned into a catastrophe. Your major project is due at the end of the day, your mother is coming over and the house is a mess, the dog is barking, you hit your thumb with the hammer...what would you do? Panic? Leave town? Wish you could go back to bed and start all over?

What would you dream about?

The following dream illustrates how the dreamer handles life situations and how he can experience peace and harmony, rather than feeling overwhelmed or thinking that his life is out of control. Wouldn’t you like to know how to deal with stress? Wouldn’t you like to think healthier, be kinder to yourself, experience greater peace? Every dream offers the dreamer insight. The dream message relates some kind of practical approach. It offers truth to the dreamer.

I am with some classmates on a large steel bridge. I am up on the side of the bridge hanging a sign to warn of an oncoming flood. Also, we are preparing the bridge for the flood. I look down at the bright red Ford Explorer we are using and I see the water rising quickly below us. I say to them, “Let’s go!” as the water is coming up over the road. I drive us up out of the water that is now covering the bridge surface. I have this incredible feeling of relief as I drive up the hill at the end of the bridge and out of the water.

I’m driving up the hill away from the bridge and I see a brown Plymouth Acclaim on the side of the road with Missouri license plates. I ask everyone in the car with me “Isn’t that John’s car?” Matthew in the back seat nods yes, but nobody cares about it. I don’t understand why no one cares, but I know that I have to drive us out of here so I say “Too late now” and drive up the hill.

Now we are in John’s car. I am driving and the song “White Bird” is on the radio. I am enjoying the song. My sister is in the passenger seat. She is enjoying the song too.

I am in the back seat alone. The car I am in is unrealistically long. I am far from the front seat. I cannot hear the radio. I ask someone to turn it up in back. I am enjoying the song and I awaken. WD, male, St. Louis, MO

Each dream is a message from the subconscious mind relating a message about the dreamer’s current state of awareness. The dream message has immediacy, applying to the thoughts and attitudes of the previous 24 to 48 hours. Everything in the dream, each person, place or thing represents some aspect, quality or way of thinking of the dreamer. In this picture language of dreams, what has been studied and taught for the past quarter century at the School of Metaphysics as the Universal Language of the Mind, lies truth that will open the dreamer’s eyes to the reality of his own thinking, to the consciousness of the Self and to the ideals of the soul.

The first part of WD’s dream shows how he handles challenges, taking a physical approach to dealing with life situations (a transition in his life represented by the bridge). WD’s thoughts are of being out of control or overwhelmed (represented by the threatening flood), but WD will approach this, as he does many things, thinking of himself as a physical being and therefore directing his physical body (represented by the car) to free him from the situation. Have you ever completed a tough homework assignment or a complex project at work feeling angry, resentful or taken advantage of, but you force yourself through to the end? This is what WD is doing -- the hill represents his assignment or project and the bridge an opportunity for WD to change the way he thinks and responds.

The brown Plymouth, like the Explorer, represents WD’s physical body. It is another view or another perspective of himself as a physical being. WD’s thought is that it’s “too late”. This represents WD forcing his physical body towards a particular outcome -- he already has a particular frame of mind and his own approach that he is set on. At this particular juncture of his life and whatever the experience, WD thinks of himself as a physical being, represented also by his friend Matthew, another conscious aspect of the dreamer.

The next part of the dream illustrates the freedom and peace WD can experience when he begins thinking of himself as more than a physical being. In this part of the dream, WD’s sister is riding in the passenger seat. She represents an aspect of his subconscious mind, or his inner self. When WD thinks of himself as a soul and uses life experiences for his spiritual growth, he will experience harmony (song) in the midst of his activity. This will produce both inner and outer peace rather than frustration. This will also aid WD to live a longer and healthier, more productive and fulfilling life.

The final portion of the dream illustrates how WD swings from forcing his way through life to being passive. This passivity is indicated by the fact that he is in the back seat of the car, rather than driving. This is probably a way that WD avoids responsibility, thereby making somebody or something the Creator of his life until the next crisis comes along. When WD is passive, peace and harmony elude him (someone else must turn up the radio so WD can hear the song).

This dream, like all dreams, is a stimulus for the dreamer to cause change. This dream is a stimulus for WD to change his idea of who he is and to bring his identity as soul into his everyday experiences. WD believes he is a soul. He has had some experiences as a soul but he, as yet, does not know he is a soul. As he incorporates purpose into everything he does, as he uses each life experience to cause spiritual development, WD will achieve enlightenment.•

A teacher at the College of Metaphysics and a computer specialist, Paul Blosser pens the "Dream of the Month" at our website: www.som.org

This year's National Dream Hotline will begin Friday, April 30th at 6 p.m. CT and continue through Sunday May 2nd at midnight. Tell your friends to call 1-417-345-8411.

School of Metaphysics ©1999 Thresholds Quarterly Vol. 17 No. 1


©2002 School of Metaphysics

Return to Directory

Contact Us

Course of Study