One of my favorite professors in graduate school once told me that I was a “graced dreamer,” after he read a paper of mine in which I described several dreams I had had that were very meaningful to me.  I remember being puzzled at the implication that I had some kind of exceptional ability to dream.  I actually believe that we all have the ability to dream, but that many of us don’t take the time to recall our dreams upon waking, or if we do, often dismiss them as meaningless gibberish.  I’m here to encourage you to look at your dreams as your trusted friends with important messages just for you—messages that usually can’t be decoded by using a coffee table book of dream interpretations, because they incorporate symbols that are very personal for you and only you.  The meanings of some dreams are undeniably clear, while other dreams seem more mysterious, inviting us to really examine them closely in order to make sense of them.  And while yes, someone else can help you in that process, YOU always will be the one who holds the key simply because these are messages to you from you—the wiser, more knowledgeable, more aware, more evolved, more objective, and I would say always loving and never judgmental version of you that is often referred to as your “Higher Self.”

Allow me to give you two examples of meaningful dreams in my own life, one of which was immediately clear in its meaning,  the other of which took years, years for me to finally decode!  I had the first dream when I was seriously thinking about going back to school to study counseling.  As tantalizing as the thought was, it also seemed totally impractical, what with the sweet chaos of raising my three little boys and the accompanying demands on my time and energy, a fun but difficult full-time job in a stressful environment, and a marriage and a house to care for.  What was I thinking? I wavered, sometimes pumping myself up that of course I could do it! Other times I questioned why I would want to add to what was my already bursting at the seams life. One night I had a dream in which I was standing at the bottom of the stairs leading to the second floor in our house, looking up at the toys covering them to the point that there was no place for me to actually walk up them.  Suddenly, my three sons started clearing the toys from the steps, telling me not to worry, and I started going up the stairs.  I woke up knowing that I had been given assurance to go ahead with my plan to apply for graduate school, and indeed, once I actually started taking classes, my sons were able to take on more and more responsibilities, “clearing the way” for me to have the time to devote to school.

The other dream is a recurring one that I’ve had different versions of many times over the course of years.  All I ever remember of these dreams is that in all of them I am up very high somewhere—on top of stairs, or a platform, or some very high scaffolding, or a cliff, etc.  I start going down the steps, the scaffolding, the cliff face, and begin to realize that the distance between the step or rail I’m on and the one just beneath it is too big….it feels dangerously scary and I don’t know how I’m going to get down safely on the ground.  I would wake up from these dreams wondering why I kept having them and what their meaning was.  The common thread running through them all is that I am always trying to get from someplace up high to a place down on the ground but the distance between the step I’m on and the next one is too big to feel safe.  Finally I woke up one morning after having had yet another one of these dreams, this time in which I am sitting up high on the bleachers in a gym and get up to go down to the gymnasium floor because the game is over.  I stand up and realize I have to make my way down by stepping on the bleacher seats—quite far apart from each other, with the gaps between them showing the floor far below visible--scary!  Suddenly I Iook to the side and see concrete stairs—not steep, but placed quite close to each other—running alongside the gym wall, and realize I can take them to walk safely down to the gym floor. 

I finally knew what my recurring dreams meant, after so many years!  My being up high and trying to get down to the ground represented my having a big idea that I wanted to manifest—to bring into being.  I have always been someone who easily could come up with a great idea or vision for something I wanted to create, but all too often would become impatient and frustrated when trying to get from the idea to the reality seemed overwhelming or fraught with insurmountable obstacles.  My dream was showing me, via the steps that were closer together alongside the wall near the bleachers, that I needed to break down my plan of action to reach my goal into smaller steps that were more easily achievable.  And it was emphasizing the overall importance in general of steps that we take to reach our goals, to manifest our dreams.  Our well thought out series of steps becomes our map, a key component of manifestation--of creating some aspect of the life we imagine for ourselves.

The fact that I had these dreams for so many years, in varying scenarios, shows how determined our Higher Selves (or guides or teachers or the Divine or Spirit or the Universe, etc.) are/is to try to help us with something we’ve been struggling with.  Fortunately, there seems to be endless patience and no judgement.  Even if we totally ignore or dismiss these attempts to bring to our attention a solution that can help us, I’ve found that further attempts, in varying forms, will be made—a book that catches our eye, a remark made by a stranger, a scene in a movie, a song.  We only have to pay attention, to tune in.  And once we do, we basically open the lines of communication and not only can begin to consciously listen, we also can ask questions, thus activating what I think of as our inner GPS—a precious tool we have for life.