Issue 62, October 2003
OOOOn the Run
©Jane Teresa Anderson, October 2003
It's a rude awakening. Snatched out of a dream by your alarm clock you jump out of bed and the day is On with a capital O. It's go, go, go every tick of the clock, one of those fast forward days. Dreams? You may remember them, but who has the time to analyse dreams?
Sometimes life is like that. A little insight from your dreams would help, but how can you analyse a dream on the run?
Ah ... or should I say, OOOOhhhh. It's all in the four O's.
"The OOOO Method."
(Fast dream analysis for fast forward days.)
The only thing you'll need is a small notebook. Carry it with you every day. It's not for writing your dreams in. It's for doing your O's.
You will be doing your O's in those odd moments that suddenly become available. Stopped at a red traffic light, waiting in a queue, taking a lift, visiting the bathroom, brushing your teeth or eating your lunch, for example.
What are the O's? I'm coming round to it!
There is only one rule. You must do the O's in order. First, second, third and fourth. No jumping ahead. You might do your first O while you're booting up your computer at work, your second O sitting on the toilet, your third O in the lift and your fourth O on the bus, for example.
That's all the length of time that is required. No great heavy thinking. This is all gut-reaction, quick answers stuff, okay? When you do your O's the answers will come. You simply write them in your notebook.
The four O's are:
Opposites
Origins
Obstacles
Overcome
Suppose you had this dream:
DREAM. I am driving a car. Not just any old car. It's a red mini, like the one I had in 1969. I come to a bend in the road and suddenly the car is out of control, heading for the ditch. I panic, gripping the steering wheel, trying to regain control.
The car is swerving because of the heavy bags in the back seat. They are precious. I don't want to lose them. As the car jolts along, some of my things fall out of the bags and start flying around the car and out of the windows. I let go of the steering wheel to try to close the windows. I see a trail of my belongings on the road behind me.
I also see a bracelet I thought I had lost. It is on the seat beside me. I'm so overjoyed at finding it again that it's a while before I notice that the car is now driving itself, quite sedately, along the road.
So, you have woken up with this dream and it's been floating around at the back of your mind while you've been rushing ahead with the day. You've suddenly found the moment to do your first O. And the first O is opposites.
Take you your notebook and write down any opposites you see in your dream.
Here they are:
control, out of control
heavy (weighing down), flying (free)
lose, find
fall, fly
grip, let go
open, close (windows and bags)
That's all you have to do.
When your next moment appears, do the second O. The second O is origins.
Take your notebook and write down any references to your past (origin). (Some dreams don't include origins.)
Here they are:
Red mini (1969)
Bracelet (lost in 1973)
That's all you have to do.
When the moment presents for your third O, take out your notebook and jot down the obstacles in your dream.
Here they are:
Bend in the road.
Ditch
Bags in back seat - things I don't want to lose.
That's all you have to do.
Everything you have written in your notebook will percolate on the back burner of your mind. By the time you get to the fourth O, you will probably have a fair idea of what your dream is about.
The opposites show where you are in conflict, struggling to find a balance. In this example, where, in waking life, are you confronted with issues of control vs out of control, being weighed down vs being free, holding on vs letting go? Are you living at the extreme of any of these, needing to be more in a state of balance?
The origins show you where a belief or experience that is ruling your conflicts began. In this example, the dream points to 1969 and 1973. It's for you to make the link about 1969, though the dream gives a further clue about 1973 - a time when you experienced a loss.
The obstacles show you, in symbolic form, the obstacles in your waking life today. In this example, the obstacles are bends in the road (changes), ditches (ditched - lost, abandoned?) and heavy stuff you're carrying around for fear of losing it or letting it go.
Obstacles usually translate as fears. These fears may parade as beliefs that worked well for you in the past but that are no longer working for you today. In this example, the fears are about negotiating life's changes of direction (bends) and about being abandoned (ditched, lost) or about loss in the face of moving forward. The dream shows you holding onto (and trying to control) all the things you fear losing (just as you lost something precious in 1973, associated with 1969).
Once you get this far with your own dream you'll find insights tumbling in fast.
Don't hurry to get to the fourth O. It's good to let your back-burner come up with all the goodies first.
And so, finally, to the fourth O, Overcome.
Overcoming means finding a way to overcome the obstacles your dream has revealed. You achieve this by overcoming the fears and beliefs that led you to this point. And you overcome it by finding a balance between those opposites.
If you have read Dream Alchemy you will know what to do. This book shows you how to design easy exercises (Dream Alchemy Practices) to overcome the obstacles revealed in a dream. Open your notebook and jot down a dream alchemy practice to suit.
If you haven't read Dream Alchemy, it will only take a minute in your fast forward day to ring your local bookshop and place an order.
Just doooo it.
Jane Teresa Anderson
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