Lesson 5 - The importance of recurring dreams. Recurring dreams are important messages that we've ignored. They cry out for our attention. They are always about fundamental problems in our lives that need to be resolved. Often we have a sense of what the dream is telling us, but we don't want to change and the dream continues to recur.     For many years my recurring dream was that it was the end of camp (or the college year). My clothes and possessions had to be gathered up and packed away. It was time to go home. The carefree pleasures of camp (or college), the fun and games, the friends - all must be left behind. Time to move on. Time to return to the "real world" - the world of serious pursuits, obligations and responsibilities.     I knew I needed to make a change in my life - both materially and spiritually. But I resisted. I liked my carefree lifestyle. Working in show business, partying, and spending most days playing with my friends was the adult equivalent of being at camp. My recurring dream was telling me it was time to leave my adolescent behavior behind, but I didn't want to. Eventually, forced by circumstance, I did. As a result I found other types of work I enjoyed, more financial security, improved self-esteem, a host of new insights, and more passion for and dedication to the pursuit of my goals. It's not surprising that the changes in my life also brought an end to the recurrence of my "End of Camp" dream.     Carol's recurring dream inevitably followed one of our infrequent, but heated and terribly unpleasant arguments. In her dream she'd find herself out in the world, having lost or misplaced her pocket book or purse, desperately trying to retrieve it, distraught over losing it and having to replace all its valuable contents - her money, her drivers license, her credit cards and keys. The specific object that she'd misplaced varied from dream to dream, but the feelings of anxiety, desperation, and self-recrimination always seemed about the same because the object that had been lost was always something of great importance.     Eventually Carol concluded that her recurring dream was about "forgetting what's valuable." When we fight with the person we love we often forget what's valuable, concentrating all of our energy and attention on the issues being disputed. We lose our connection with what's really important about the relationship and suffer the terrible emotional devastation that comes from that loss.     From time to time we still have fights, but having learned this lesson from her recurring dream, Carol doesn't forget what's of true value when we disagree: that she loves and is loved, that we're precious to each other, that we're committed to each other, and that our relationship will survive our disagreement. More composed and less distressed in these situations, Carol understood the message contained in, and no longer experiences, her "Forgetting What's Valuable" recurring dream.     Most people can tell you what their recurring dream is. Think about your own recurring dream. What would you have to change in your life to make it a message received rather than a message ignored?   Next: Word play and the language of dreams. previous - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - next home - teachings - history - archives - FAQs