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DREAM IT: DO IT! Jane Teresa Anderson
Extracts Note: The following extracts are from Dream It: Do It!, first published by Harper Collins, and, as such, are copyright to Jane Teresa Anderson and therefore subject to the laws of copyright: Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced by any process without written permission. IntroductionExtract from the introduction HAVE YOU EVER HAD A DREAM WHICH CHANGED YOUR LIFE? Well have you? Every dream is potentially life-changing, and at a rate of about five dreams a night (yes: we all dream and you can learn how to recall them all!) for 365 nights a year, more than 1,800 opportunities to improve your lot have flicked behind your closed eyelids for every year of your life. The only difference between the dreamers in this book and those who answered ‘no’ to the opening question, is…. What? That’s what I wanted to know, and that’s where this story begins. First I had to find people who had taken life-changing action because of a dream. Through ‘The Dream Research Bank’ I had access to a number of people who had life-changing dream stories to tell. The Dream Research Bank is an ever increasing network of people throughout Australia who keep in contact with my dream research through a quarterly publication, ‘Dream Net’. This provides details of various research projects which members can take part in and areas of dream experience I am interested in collecting, alongside informative items on dreaming. [Post-script, August 1999: The Dream Research Bank has now been transformed into the web site and its associated activities.] I was keen to attract a broad range of life-changing dream stories, so I increased the invitation through a publicity drive in early January 1995, calling for people who had ‘a dream which changed your life somehow, for better or for worse’, through a large number of radio stations and newspapers across Australia. The response was immediate and very encouraging, and it was not long before I had identified all the contributors and despatched the initial questionnaire to each one. The questionnaire was comprised of twelve simple questions which the dreamers were invited to answer in whatever detail they felt appropriate. My approach was to pose questions which interested me, but not to request tight, statistically accessible replies. I wanted each person to feel free to tell their own story within the loose guidelines of my questions, while also giving me points of reference to make comparisons and draw conclusions about the material as a whole. In retrospect, I feel this was a worthwhile method which enhanced the individuality of each story as well as allowing each dreamer’s personality to add his or her own hue. I decided not to give a precise definition of what I meant by a ‘life-changing dream’. I left it open to people to decide for themselves what they considered to be ‘life changing’: if you’ve changed your life because of dream, you know it - you don’t need someone to define it for you. As Beth, one of the contributors to the book, said, ‘Giving up smoking was a really big thing for me, so I am sure it’s classified as life changing’, while for others, such as Nellie, Sarras and Dee, ‘life changing’ is a rather mild way of saying, ‘life saving’. Nellie’s dream returned her from the point of death, Sarra’s dream experience renewed her will to live after aborting a suicide plan, and Dee had actually died, had her dream experience, and then been resuscitated to live a changed life. I realised that asking people for unstructured written replies could be too time consuming or daunting, so I offered the dreamers the option of a phone interview. These interviews were recorded on audio tape and later transcribed. I also phoned several of the people who sent written replies to ask for expansion or clarification, and these interviews were also recorded and transcribed. This combined approach worked well, since some people felt they could express themselves more clearly through the spoken word, and in conversation, whereas others preferred to contemplate their exact choice of words, or felt they communicated more intimately through writing, as if they were reflecting on their lives through a personal and private journal. Two of the contributors were talented writers who adapted their unpublished material to suit the interests of this work. The overall results was a range of expression and style which complemented the variety of stories being told. Confidentiality was a major consideration in preparing for this book. All contributors were invited to choose a pen name for themselves and for other people who appeared in their dreams, and to change place names to prevent identification. All other details are accurate. Finally , after preparing the manuscript, I invited each dreamer to check and edit their story. They all did. What you read on the following pages is what actually happened, without any distorted perception from the author! Forty-five life-changing dream stories are told in this book, twenty-six in detail, and the remaining nineteen in a series of inspirational glimpses. Each dream, combined with the actions taken by the dreamer, reflects several overlapping themes. Fifteen dreamers took action on some sort of instruction given in their dream, while fourteen dreams revealed aspects of self-understanding. Ten dreams had a highly spiritual content, while nine exhibited themes of reassurance or support. Releasing past hurt was a common to eight dreams, while taking back control of a situation, recognition, realising potential, improving relationships and getting answers to important questions were each observed six times in various dream accounts. I have chosen to present the dreams in six central themes - Spirituality, Following Instructions, Releasing the Past, Precognition, Realising Potential and Seeking Answers - simply because these represented a wide cross-section of the themes present in the dreams. Most dreams belong in several categories, and I could have elected to categorise the same dreams under completely different headings. The point was not to focus on labelling, but to compare how different dreamers handled similar themes. My research findings based on these comparisons are incorporated in the text. Each story begins with the life-changing dream, simply because, in each dreamer’s life, the dream itself was really the start of it all. As you read each opening dream, try to experience it as the dreamer might have done; let the mystery of it wash over you, then follow the dreamer’s footsteps to discover how each dream translated into life-changing consequences. After each story I have added ‘Jane’s Interpretation’, to help guide you further in your understanding of the dreams and how to make practical use of them. These sections throw added emphasis on the original interpretations, or suggest parallel meanings which the dreamer may have missed. I have also included useful techniques and hints on elucidating dreams, using these dreams as examples. You will find strange and beautiful dreams, but you will also find some which run close to your own dream experiences. My interpretations, suggestions and ideas, combined with the inspirational tales told by the dreamers, should give you all need to embark on your own life-changing adventure. But wait one moment; before diving into the rivers and dipping into the ocean ebbing and flowing through the rest of this book, I’ll give you some advance preparation skills. ContentsIntroduction Preface: Have You Ever Had a Dream Which Changed Your Life? On Spirituality, Universal Life Force and God River 1. River 2. River 3. River 4. River 5. River 6. Ocean Dip. Ocean Dip. Ocean Dip. River 7. River 8. On Following Instructions Ocean Dip. River 9. Ocean Dip. On Releasing the Past River 10. Ocean Dip. River 11. Ocean Dip. On Precognition Ocean Dip. River 12. River 13. River 14. River 15. Ocean Dip. River 16. On Realising Potential River 17. Ocean Dip. River 18. Ocean Dip. Ocean Dip. Ocean Dip. River 19. Ocean Dip. River 20. River 21. Ocean Dip. River 22. Ocean Dip. River 23. Ocean Dip. On Seeking Answers River 24. River 25. Ocean Dip. Ocean Dip. River 26. On Crisis On Crisis On Impact On Impact On Taking Action On Taking Action On Regrets On Regrets On Health & Wellbeing On Health & Wellbeing And So ... River of Dreams - The Sequel Keeping a Dream Journal EBOOK Price charged in Australian dollars (AUD) Convert from Australian dollars into your currency Payment by direct deposit If you have an Australian bank account, you can pay by direct deposit into this account, then email me your receipt. Bank: National Australia Bank |
