INTERPRETING YOUR DREAMS

Have you ever had a dream so profound, so vivid that you to this day wonder if there was any meaning to it? Have you ever dreamt that you were falling - and actually landed? Have you ever dreamt you were getting ready for work just to wake up and find out you have to do it all over again?

My good friend Tiffany Johns had carved out her own li'l webspace on the Internet for a weblog called Constant Meditation, and she shared a little about her own curiousities about dreams. On her blog there was a link to a site that has a Dream Dictionary on it. Always fascinated by the nature of dreams myself, I bookmarked the site for the one morning the images in my head didn't vaporize when I woke up.

Well, this morning after calling to wish my cousin Shanna Wiley a happy birthday, I remembered bits and pieces of my dream last night (or shall i say, this morning). Knowing how elusive dreams tend to be, I logged on to my cybershrink to see what it has to say about it.

The Interlude
Lately, I have been exploring some new ideas for business. Other than the day job peddling wireless phones, I'm attending DeVry University in an accelerated program for business administration/management with a concentration in small business ownership; I'm selling tees and tanks to anyone with that Oooh Ahhh; and I'm in an affiliate program with my brother supplying the health-conscious with nutritional supplements from USANA.

I'm also working with North Carolina A&T's former SGA President Rasheed Ali-Cromwell, a mega-entrepreneur here in Washington, DC, who will be coming to a living room near you one day. And last but not least, I've began a business partnership with motivational speaker Ken Canion and we have some projects coming down the pipeline that will generate five figures a month coming this fall.

I have been searching for ways gain financial freedom for a while now. Other than investing in mutual funds and the stock market, contributing to my 401k and placing a bet or two on football games, I have only broke even thus far. Like last night while playing online poker, money comes and goes as quickly as our dreams. Just like that, I started with $200, within an hour bluffed my way to $1000, got complacent and cocky and retired for the night in the hole. Three hands and I wiped out my $800 profit and my $200. Damn.

Failures in life can become tantamount in maintaining the drive to succeed. There have been times I almost accepted a fate of making mediocre income and just enjoying the dependent-free life with my world's greatest friends. I sometimes wanted to just tap and plop on this laptop in an attempt to find the one. And then there were times I just wanted to stack my dough every three to five years and just travel, maintaining my nomadic lifestyle.

The Bits & Pieces
Either-or, there were a few specific things in my dream last night that stood out. I was waiting at a busstop when the bus pulled up, and this girl flew past me, dived onto the bus, through the door, past the bus driver, out the window and landed back on the street. I erupted in laughter and could not stop laughing. Instead of boarding the bus, I walked with the girl, and she explained that she always happens because she's always in a rush and unless she slows down, she ends up right where she started. Interesting.

We sat down at some eatery and another girl walked up to us asking how to get to some obscure address. I looked it up on a map (which came out of nowhere), found the place and gave her precise directions. I then walked to the back of the eatery to refill my water and noticed four irons sitting on a shelf next to where I was pouring me some water. That's when I heard Li'l Jon blaring in my ear, my alarm on my cell phone waking me up before I could continue the dream and finish talking with the girls.

So, curious to what those images mean, I go to my laptop (after waking up; not in my dream) and looked up the Dream Dictionary. To my surprise, this is what I found:

To dream that you are at the bus station, suggests that you have reached some new level or stage in your emotional or physical life. To dream that you are laughing, suggests that you need to lighten up and let go of your problems. Don't put so much pressure on yourself. Laughing is also a sign of joyous release and pleasure. To dream that you see or study a map, signifies that you are being guided and led in a direction that will fulfill your needs and goals. It also denotes a new change in your business which will be followed by temporary disappointments and then stable profits. To see water in your dream, symbolizes your unconscious and your emotional state of mind. Water is the living essence of the psyche and the flow of life energy. It is also symbolic of spirituality, knowledge, healing and refreshment. To see an iron in your dream, symbolizes harshness and ruthlessness. On a positive note, it may signify strength and willpower.

I guess all we can really gather from our dreams are that they may be more than just nighttime entertainment as our bodies heal. There may be some hidden messages hidden in the images and a life's lesson in them, and maybe we weren't given the intuition to translate them for everyday use. The Dream Dictionary is as close as we can get, and all we can do is hope that it's accurate.

Perhaps after remember a string of dreams can we get a better idea what our minds are telling us while we sleep. Tying together a handful of episodes may expose a fear we need to address or an opportunity we need to exercise.

My unexpert translation? I'm convinced the bus I missed in my dream was taking me to the promiseland, but as usual, I got off course because of a woman. And just when we sit down to have a drink, another girl comes along and I'm remapping the new direction I'm heading in. The iron? Well, that was my brain telling me to wake up soon because we have to get ready for the day job.