Lesson 3 - "How would I change this dream?" Even for someone with a lot of experience interpreting their dreams, the meanings of some dreams remain obscure. A wonderful way to gain insight into almost any dream is to ask yourself the question: "If I could, how would I change this dream?"     I once had a dream where I was driving an empty bus through the streets of a city late at night, but the steering wheel and the driver's seat were situated in the back of the bus. The streets were very empty. I could see to the right and the left. Somehow, I managed to keep the bus on course without driving onto the sidewalk, killing anyone, or drifting into oncoming traffic. When I reached my destination I stopped the bus, walked up to the front of the bus and got out. As I disembarked I noticed that there was also a steering wheel and driver's seat in the front of the bus. I realized in the dream and after I awakened that I should have stopped the bus early in the dream and moved to the forward driver's seat so that I could better see the road ahead. The message of the dream was that I was in such a hurry to get where I wanted to go that I wasn't thinking clearly and had no clear vision of where I was going.     When my daughter was a young girl she had a dream in which she was wearing her underwear over her outerwear and felt embarrassed. If she could have changed that dream she'd have worn her underwear under her outerwear as people normally do. The meaning of the dream is that our feelings are private and personal. Generally we don't feel comfortable displaying our feelings in public. People choose their public image as they choose their outerwear, most hoping to make a good impression. Our feelings are very important, but that doesn't mean we want everyone in the world to see them.     Though it's often hard to guess what a dream means, it's always easy to think of ways we could have made it a better, more enjoyable dream. Perhaps we would change the dream by saying something we didn't say or taking control of a situation that was out of our control. Perhaps we would change the dream by being stronger, or braver, more thoughtful, more careful, more loving, or more discreet. In every case the simple question, "How would I change this dream?" sheds light on the dream and the feelings that gave rise to the dream. Try it. You'll find it's wonderfully easy and wonderfully useful.   Next: "Separating the wheat from the chaff." previous - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 home - teachings - history - archives - FAQs