Ask The Dream Specialist
Transforming Your Life Through Dreams
by Ken Kaplan
Transforming Your Life Through Your Dreams
Years ago I discovered I had an unusual gift for working with dreams. It became apparent to me, and others, that something special was manifesting. About two years ago I branched out from my twenty-year career as a storyteller and children’s entertainer and began doing dream work professionally, doing presentations and individual work. To say my expectations have been exceeded is an understatement. I was invited by Wisdom Online Magazine to write a piece on dreams that might become a continuing column.
Up front-I am not versed in the technology of dreams, their neuroscience, nor am I versed in lucid dreaming. But I believe I have very powerful insight into the 99% of dreams we have every night, what they offer us, and how under appreciated they are as a tool for awareness, growth, and empowerment. I also am aware of precognitive dreams and believe I can help distinguish the difference between what is actually premonitional and what is not.
Dreams psychologically and spiritually, (not physiologically), serve as a feedback mechanism as to how we are feeling, thinking and responding to people, events and situations that are occurring in our daily lives, usually triggered by something specific. (I do know that physiologically dreams are so important that experiments have shown when participants are prevented from dreaming, within 24-48 hours they will become psychotic.) This feedback is present tense: as circumstances change, so will your dreams. A great misconception about dreams is that they are “free floating”. They are not. They are always related to current events in the waking life, which is a primary key to understanding them.
The truly remarkable nature of dreams is in their precision, depth, and incredible conveyance of truth. Dreams never lie. I have a saying that “Dreams bypass the conscious resistance and take one directly to the heart of any matter”. This has profound ramifications. For one thing, everyone dreams. (Not everyone remembers.) Therefore, everyone has within a repository of incalculable value for tapping self awareness, authentic truth of feeling, and avenues for solution to problems. We go to various intuitives, psychics, counselors, card readers, etc., and they can have great value, but I will categorically state that for the fullest appreciation and deepest perception of any issue you have, your dreams are the most powerful mirror available.
In working with people, many of them quite evolved spiritually, I find this understanding surprisingly absent. Most are confused by their dreams, often think them of no consequence (“It was just bizarre or of no meaning”), or make the great mistake of taking them literally, many times believing they have had a premonition or precognitive dream when it is not. In many instances this opens them to problems, or anxiety provoking psychological states. A dream about the death of someone close or a family member, for example, can lead one to alter their own behavior or behavior toward that person that is inappropriate because the dream has nothing to do with them. One of the great truths of dreams is that every aspect of a dream is you. Therefore your subconscious has selected every piece of the dream, every symbol to convey a meaning. If someone you know dies in a dream, most likely, your inner self is commenting on an aspect of self that is “dying”, feels like dying, or is being suppressed. Dreams are often “ruthless” in their honesty in transmitting information.
Understanding the dream landscape is in some ways analogous to learning a foreign language. The more one knows this language, the more one respects the incredible depths of even an “ordinary” dream, the complex texture of layers involved and the surprising variety of creative ways dreams can be used. For example, one can literally ask the dreaming mind for answers such as “what is the underlying issue to this problem I am having’? You can even ask a dream to clarify another dream.
And you will get a dream in response. And it will be very precise!!
About two years ago as I began this current “arc” of reaching for new levels of development and exploration in myself, I had some significant struggle. One night I asked my dreaming self to give me the reason as to the basis of my anxiety. That night I had, at one point, a three second dream, a “fragment”, in which Claire McCaskill (now Senator from Missouri) died in the arms of her opponent. (This was right around the 2006 mid term election.) Knowing dream decoding, I quickly “asked” the “McCaskill part of me”(from the dream) why she had died. Listening intuitively, she “said”, she “died of fear.” What was the name of her opponent? Jim Talent. (real life name).
In no uncertain terms, with amazing dexterity, clarity, elegance, and precision, my dream had compressed a core complex psychological issue into one vivid image that explained everything. The level of “U.S. Senate race” represented for me the energetic power of the level of expression I was seeking to integrate: more adult, wider, stronger, and opening to a much greater arena. Why was I holding myself back and facing inner resistance? Fear of my own talent. Because I knew my own inner terrain quite well, the dream fragment confirmed something I already knew, a family of origin issue that stemmed from fears of greater independence, strength and growth sowed by my father’s fear of my gifts, which translated into my belief such growth was dangerous. I had known this, but my dream brought the source of the problem very vividly back to conscious awareness. Onece uncovered, it became easier to decide what avenues I wished to pursue to deal with these energies that were occurring within.
A subject vast as this cannot be thoroughly covered in a short essay. It is our intention to experiment with an ongoing column that futher explores the value of dreams. My desire as we continue is to illuminate the dream landscape and its meaning with actual case histories. In order to do this we will need volunterers to work with me on dreams that will appear here. If you wish to participate, I will offer the session for free. (Names will be changed for confidentiality.) This will be on a first come first serve basis and I anticipate perhaps two to four people will qualify at a time. I will let you know if the space is filled or not. If one is inspired to seek me out for a dream session indepent of the published history, I will offer a half price rate for anyone who comes to me via these articles.
I look forward to talking with and assisting many of you in the coming future, and deepening the community’s understanding of this most potent inner treasure. I may be reached at kenstories@comcast.net.
“Ken, in his professional and reassuring manner helped me to explore this (recurring) dream and it opened my mind to some profound insights…, insights that have lessened the emotional pain I have been suffering for a life time.” KJ, Phoenixville Library Presentation
Ken Kaplan is one of the Delaware Valley’s premier storytellers and performers for children. He is an Early Childhood Specialist who is a certified trainer of teachers. For the last twenty years he has also been a presenter on various spiritual topicss including Accessing Inner Wisdom Through Writing, The Law of Attaction, Connection With Angelic Guides, and the Early Gnostic movement in Christianity. Recently he is the author and presenter of a one man storytelling concert, “Adventures with the Great Guru: Lessons of Form and Essence Amid the Miraculous.”, a presentaton about his lifelong relationship with one of the great Spiritual Masters of our time. He has been highly praised for his professional presentations and work with individuals on dreams for the last two years throughout the area.
12 Comments Add Comment