Falling All Over Myself ...

In a good way! ... regarding the "dreamcurrent" domain name (www.dreamcurrent.com ). It wasn't my first choice, but the more I think about it, the more it resonates with me. And that thrills me to no end.

I knew that "current" has several meanings but I did not realize how deep it goes, and how connected with dreaming and dream work the word "current" can be. Here's what I found:

Current can signify an electric or water current. An electric current is a flow or movement of electric charge ... producing a magnetic field; a water current is a flow of water as the water moves downhill to reduce its potential energy.

Dreams can have a kind of energy to them, with positive and negative "charges," that is, attraction to or repulsion from dream elements.

Dreams can have flow or movement to them as well, both in the sense of narrative flow (this comes before this comes before that), and in the sense of dream characters moving from scene to scene, state to state, location to location.

Current can also mean belonging to the present time, as in "now".

That meaning is more blog-related than dream-related, in that my intention is to keep this blog fresh and up-to-date.

Finally, the word "current" rings nicely with "currency," meaning a medium of exchange, or transmission from person to person.
(btw, wikipedia and answers.com are to be credited for the definitions ... )

Dreams can be wonderful things to share or exchange with another person. I would suggest an attentive kind of person who would honor your dreams with the respect and care they deserve.

You know, now that I think about it, reveling in the multiple levels of meaning of "current" in the http://www.dreamcurrent.com/ domain name led me to completely forget my point here - dreams themselves have multiple levels of meaning. That's why I'm so excited! "Current" has multiple layers of meaning, dreams have multiple layers of meaning, and www.Dreamcurrent.com is all about - you guessed it - Dreams.

And just for some added zest, let me share a dream element with you that showed up in a dream I had recently - just a little one - that relates to this conversation: a black and white magazine clipping of Jacqueline Kennedy clad in her Cassini inaugural gown.

Like many, I've been fascinated with Mrs. Kennedy's style, grace, and presence, and I remember reading in one of the adulatory Jackie-Fashion coffee table books how, in this gown, even the rosette at her waist (called a "cockade") had multiple levels of meaning: "pride in her French Bouvier ancestry, her profound love of history, and her particuar affinity with the eighteenth century." (http://www.thecityreview.com/jackieo.html)

Multiple levels of meaning ... (smile) ... like current ... like dreamcurrent ... like dreams.

Openness to Synchronicities - An Example

So today I signed up for some program to help me link more easily to recommended books and ... happily it seems to be working.

The method I chose was on the automatic side, as I'd rather spend my time trying to write something interesting than inserting links.

To my pleased surprise, I'm seeing references to books I hadn't even thought to check out (e.g., "social psychology" today brings up a book by Carol Dweck - I have admired her work since my esteemed advisor discussed it in her Motivation course - her name somehow became a part of speech to us in the lab, as in "that is SO Dwecked"). This experience is akin to, but not quite the same as, a book catching one's eye in a bookstore. Some of my favorite books have come to me that way (e.g., Emma Who Saved My Life).

To my chagrin, though, I'm seeing that some books and things that I make a point to reference are NOT linked to (maybe because they're out of print? - there are certainly still Used ones listed out there) and some things are appearing that are not to my taste at all.

On the whole, the happy surprises and synchronicities are outweighing the downsides for me here, so the automatic method stays, at least for a while.

In fact, all this talk about books and recommendations has inspired me to visit my fave independent bookstores to do some browsing this weekend.

Here's to openness!

Dreams ARE Cool - How Do I Get Me Some?

Try out these ideas:

Invite one.
You could be all formal about it, if you want, by putting pen to paper or rendering a verbal plea. Stephen Aizenstat demonstrates the "verbal plea" option below, taking both the role of dream petitioner and dreaming psyche, in a pretty amusing and endearing way:

Dream Petitioner:"Dear dreaming psyche, this is Steve. I'm very interested in what you have to say. I truly am. I know it's been a long time but I am interested."

Dreaming Psyche:"Steve, how long has it been? … In fact, you never ask, meshugena. You only ask when you want something"*

Prime the pump.
This phrase actually carries a neat extra meaning to the social psych geeks among us. The social cognition term "priming," has to do with rendering elements of memory more accessible - how cool is that - now, onto rendering dream memories more accessible ...

1. Call to mind the last dream you can remember - it doesn't matter from when or from how long ago - and noodle with it a little in your mind before dropping off (another Aizenstat suggestion *).

2. Look at some image-laden things. Me, I look at tarot cards - they're easy to find and fraught with all kinds of symbols.

If you're squeamish about such things, there are less tarot-ish decks out there (the Osho Zen deck has some lovely cards) and there are also some "dream decks" (My fav, which I like to look at, handle, and think about before sleep, rather than using for interpretation, is the Box of Dreams by Belinda Recio and Eileen London).

3. Read a selection from a book on dreaming. Ones proven effective on me include:
*Jeremy Taylor's (1993) Where People Fly and Water Runs Uphill, and
*Robert Moss' Conscious Dreaming (1996) and Dreamgates (1998, the book and audio versions are both enjoyable).

Be Bold.
Sometimes setting up an appointment to talk about a dream or putting a dream group into your calendar brings on dreaming.

Get Some Sleep.
'nuf said.

*quoted in Sadler, M. (2006, Dec 13). D is for Dream. The Santa Barbara Independent. Retrieved January 23, 2008, from http://independent.com/news/2006/dec/13/d-is-for-dream/

Seven reasons why dreams are so neat:

1. Their creativity is boundless - I certainly couldn't have come up with this stuff in waking life- even in a no-holds-barred brainstorming session.
2. Whatever process creates them is endlessly and effortlessly generative.
3. They may have elements of yesterday's news, pop culture, universal archetypes, precognition – but the whole ball of wax is uniquely your own.
4. They sure don't lack for mystery.
5. They offer an opportunity to connect with others.
6. They can signal, at a deep level, what’s really important, what’s desired, what’s lacking, what’s disowned.
7. Paying attention to them can help one engage with waking life in a more attuned, open, curious way.

These reasons come from my own experience with dreaming ... please feel free to add your own thoughts as well!

There Are Many Correct Answers

A quickie, for once.

One of the joys of working with dreams is that there is not just one correct answer.

This is also one of its greatest frustrations, especially for the Overachiever, the Striver, the Gifted (Alice Miller-style) among us.

The sense of which answers are right for us at any given time comes from the body. This felt sense is often called "resonance" or an "a-ha."

You are your very own custom dream dictionary.

On the Value of Synchronicity

I'd like to share a wonderful experience I had this weekend. My husb and I were sitting in the bar area at a local really-nice restaurant. A woman and her grandson sat to my left. I could overhear her voice and her rhythm of speech - I wasn't tuned in to what she was saying - but what I did hear strongly reminded me of my grandmother, who passed away over ten years ago. My grandmother was a tiny, flirty, fashionable powerhouse and I adored her - although when I was a teenager, I didn't show it too well.

In my heart, I wanted to talk to this woman, just because I felt so warm toward my grandmother and this woman reminded me of her. But our little twosomes were each engaged in our own thing and I didn't really feel like butting in.

One of the things that I should mention here is that I am a klutz - so much so that I tend to get white wines rather than reds, just in case I spill all over myself.

There was a lot of ruckus on my left and I turned to see a lot of mopping up - and the woman I was dying to talk to had hardly any of her red wine left. I started helping with the mopping - and the woman turned to me (she looked mortified) and apologized. I don't know how she expected me to respond - but I was thrilled that I got to speak to her - and she was just as clever and charming as I remember my grandmother was.

I don't know why, but I really wanted her to know that her spilling had nothing to do with her age: "Whew! I'm usually the klutzy one - thanks for taking that on for me!"

As my husb and I left, she said goodbye to us - and I got to tell her "don't let him (grandson) keep you from getting into lots of trouble :) " She smiled and my heart felt so full of gladness.

After we were outside the restaurant, I started bawling, missing my grandmother deeply, and laughing too "I just know that she bumped that lady's wine so I could talk to her. "

Whether or not a spirit bumped a glass of wine doesn't really matter to me. What does matter is that I got to reconnect with my (memory of) my grandmother - not during a formalized memorial or dedicated day - rather, just during my regular life activities.

Here's to you, Grandmother. I love you.

Meet our wee one

This is Mamma Mia. She is about three. For a eight-pound being, she carries a lot of weight in our house. I adore her. I think she's magical. She knows she is :)

Welcome!

Hello everyone.

Welcome to an ongoing discussion on dream work and things related.
I am in the process of setting up a website on same (http://www.dreamcurrent.com/).

I've been reading online journals since their heyday in the late 1990s and
reluctant to post my own - mostly because I don't have that much to say.

Dreams, however, have captivated me enough to start talking.
Come join, yes?
s