After years of thankless work as a furniture restorer, forty year old Maggie took the plunge and became an entrepreneur . Her investment capital consisted of experience and hope. Business was so bad that she didn’t have enough gas money to provide clients with estimates.
Then she remembered a ...
After years of thankless work as a furniture restorer, forty year old Maggie took the plunge and became an entrepreneur . Her investment capital consisted of experience and hope. Business was so bad that she didn’t have enough gas money to provide clients with estimates.
Then she remembered a dream she had a year ago in which she was at a countryside railway station, living on the platform with one suitcase. The suitcase fell onto the tracks and an approaching train smashed everything inside- clothes, shoes and personal stuff. She felt naked and embarrassed. Later she was expected at a celebrity party taking place in a large house. She was dressed in a poorly matched loaned outfit. Everyone admired her as a well known artist.
The dream portrayed her future with vivid accuracy. Maggie’s leap into penniless self-employment was symbolized by the train smashing her belongings and leaving her naked. As Maggie recalled the dream she did something she had never done before. She put aside the shame that prevented her from asking for help, and accepted rides, ate with neighbors and borrowed tools. The dream voice said “If you want to be a successful artist, let people ‘clothe’ you with the support you need.” Maggie’s dream gave her the key to a treasure chest that was buried under layers of pride. At the time of greatest need Maggie used the key. She threw away her stubborn independence and let the dream empower , reassure and guide her along her chosen path.
Cautious balding Tim wished he had taken opportunities to parachute, sing professionally and sign that contract for an acting role. At fifty-five he wanted out of the restaurant trade but had nothing to put in its place. How about being dropped from a plane in the Amazon jungle coming face to face with a snake thrusting its fangs out at him?
That was the dream Tim had seared into his brain as he awoke in a cold sweat with his heart pounding and body shaking. The dream persisted for years no matter how he tried to strangle it. Tim associated snakes with evil and danger, so why would he dream about facing something so sinister? All his life Tim had been in the business of feeding others. Just like snakes gulping live animals, he had swallowed his ambitions without biting and tasting their texture and flavor. Snakes also shed their skin and represent re-birth. Tim’s dream invited him to regurgitate his ‘animal’ self - those desires he once had, and chew on them. A wake up call from the unconscious screamed through the dream in a way he couldn’t ignore, begging him to shed his risk averse skin. Like patient friends his snake dreams repeated their message but Tim didn’t want to hear. He is now recovering from heart by-pass surgery wishing he had paid attention to the snake dreams .
Andrea hadn’t spoken to her mother for the past twenty years. She adored her father and found him supportive when she left for Australia with her new husband . The rift with her mother remained unreconciled despite Andrea’s divorce. One morning she awoke remembering a dream that gave her a deep sense of peace .
Andrea had dreamt that she was looking into the yard of a two story house where a dead Oak tree had fallen. Fairies were going in and out of its hollow interior. She turned around to look inside the house and then back at the yard. This time the dead Oak was replaced by a fresh Willow tree. She was happy to see life blooming again.
The next day Andrea heard that her father had died the same day she had her peaceful dream. The parent that nourished Andrea during her emotional storms had now died, as in the old Oak. Fairies representing immortality helped Andrea bear the loss and stay connected with her father. Andrea’s dream came to foretell her loss, comfort her, help her grieve, but most importantly to repair the breach with her mother, the source of her life. Trees are symbols of life sustained by deep roots. As one died another flourished in the form of the Willow. Andrea’s new relationship with her mother like the Willow would sway and bend in a storm, not snap and break as before. Andrea healed two deep wounds by attending to her dream- the death of her father and the broken connection with her mother.
Dreams are gifts from the holistic healer you were bequeathed at conception. Open the packages with desire and excitement after writing them down as soon as you wake up. Your personal healer has your best interests at heart. When you are out of balance the healer sends you a dream to nudge you in the right direction. During periods of emotional blindness your inner counselor presents you with a dream to alert you to the harm you are about to inflict on yourself. Dreams give you permission to grieve and let go when you are stuck. Your dreams are your cheerleaders encouraging you to go for the gold when you give up. All you have to do is to be willing to hear from your healer. The advice is free.
Dr. Jeanette Raymond is a licensed psychologist and psychotherapist. She has a doctorate in clinical psychology and a masters degree in child, adolescent and educational psychology. She has 20 years experience working with adults, couples, adolescents, children and families. She is the author of 2 books for teachers in the UK.
Dr. Raymond believes that the most important relationship you have is with yourself. She sets the stage for you to begin taking care of your most precious gift and ally - yourself. When you can do that, all else falls into place.
Her specialties include distress that shows itself in the body, feeling unsatisfied and unfulfilled, fear of intimacy and loss, anxiety, eating disorders, and self-sabotage. If you mask your unhappiness with food, alcohol, drugs, or sex you abandon yourself. If you try to control it by working all hours, with excessive exercise, being busy, cleaning, and over-achieving you are ignoring yourself. Dr. Raymond helps you speak the turmoil that makes you want to go numb, and helps you find the fertile soil to plant your true seeds and flourish.
Dr. Raymond helps parents and children understand one another, and provides adult couples with a platform for having their conversations out loud rather than silently in their individual heads.
Dr. Raymond runs groups and conducts workshops on dream interpretation. She enables individuals to find their voice so that their bodies don't have to speak with back pain, gastric complaints, hair loss, skin breakouts, panic attacks and sleep disturbances. While emotional wounds can debilitate and prevent you from living a full life, Dr. Raymond collaborates with couples, family members and individuals to gain strength from it. She offers the opportunity to rewrite the internal dialogue that may be self-sabotaging and putting obstacles in the way of having meaningful relationships. She honors you and teaches you to honor yourself in a non-threatening environment, allowing you to unfold.