Tip: Dreaming is contagious!
Have you ever been around someone who has big dreams? I have. The first time it ever happened to me, it scared me! I found it difficult to wrap my mind around the dreams I heard. At first I thought it was a little silly and maybe even ridiculous. But, over the years I have come to see that dreaming is really one of the most important things a person can learn to do.
When I was in graduate school, my doctoral minor was in psychology and counseling. In one of my courses, we studied about dreams. We were taught that there are basically two different types of dreams: inward dreams and outward dreams. An inward dream is based on something that is happening to you. For example: someone is chasing you or you are falling off of a cliff; you are in the mall without any clothes on, trying to find a place to hide; or some other ridiculous variation of that same kind of dream – one that is about you or which is focused on you. Then there are outward dreams. These are dreams in which you are attacking somebody or doing something to someone, like pushing them off of a cliff or out of an airplane. You are chasing someone or doing something to someone else. Rather than you being the focal point of the dream, another person gets the attention.
Our professor, who was a psychiatrist, also taught us that these two types of dreams are the mind’s way of alleviating unresolved guilt and misplaced anger that we may have experienced during the day. He said that oftentimes something happens in our life that causes us to feel a little guilty, therefore, inward dreams are the subconscious mind’s way of helping us resolve the guilt for things we have not done correctly, honestly or properly. On the other hand, outward dreams are the mind’s way of expressing anger. For example, we want to do something to another person to get back at them for cutting us off in traffic or for saying something unkind to us during the day. Our subconscious mind has a way of dealing with unresolved situations like that. It is an outward dream which “goes after” another person or thing in order to relieve the “floating anger” in our body.
In both of those cases, I thought those were very plausible explanations. I have read and studied other information about dreams and realize that most dreams really are insignificant and basically are our body’s way of dealing with issues that happen during the day. At other times, however, there are certain unusual dreams that are very specific which have much greater meaning, but I will not go into that at this time.
The kind of dreams that I am talking about here have to do with catching the vision for our own future influence and significance. It is the ability to see things before they ever come into existence. We can project ourselves into the future and see things as they can be, long before they become that way in reality.
Many of us are old enough to remember that in the early 1960’s, President John F. Kennedy stated that we were going to put a man on the moon in that same decade. He envisioned it, he talked of it and he dreamed about it. That dream captured the minds of the people and resources of our country. And, you know what? His dream came true!
One of my favorite movies is entitled, Tucker: the Man and His Dream. In the movie, Abe was the bottom-line business man and bookkeeper for Preston Tucker. Abe could hardly keep up with all of Mr. Tucker’s new, radical ideas concerning the automobile. Years before anyone else ever thought of it, Tucker had a low-cost car with a fuel injector, rear-mounted engine, disc brakes, pop-out windows, seatbelts, and an aerodynamic design. All of that was in Tucker’s dream. Abe spent so much time around Tucker that it was not long until he caught his dream and his idealism.
The interesting thing about it was, Abe’s mother had warned him concerning Tucker. She told Abe, “Don’t get too close to people or you will catch their dreams.” Since Abe could not hear very well, he thought his mother said, “Do not get too close to people or you will catch their germs.” He thought she was just reminding him not to catch a cold or get sick. However, Abe’s mother was very wise – she knew the truth of this Tip. She knew that hanging around someone who is a big dreamer is contagious and it will not be long until their dreams start to happen to you.
As I was growing up, not much was said about dreaming. I think oftentimes it was looked down upon as a silly waste of time. It was called “day dreaming”; meaning you were a space cadet! Now that I am older, I have come to see that dreaming is one of the greatest endeavors in all of life. I also believe we should also learn a skill set to help us fulfill our dreams more successfully. But, it still all starts with a dream!
What would you like to see happen in your life? What would you like to see take place in your family? What would you like to see occur in your business? What would you like to see happen in your personal financial situation? I can assure you, it all starts with a dream. If you are not much of a dreamer, start hanging around people who are. They are hard to find and there are not many of them, but finding them is well worth the hunt. And, who knows, you may also eventually catch their “disease”!
Tip: Dreaming is contagious!
Have a great week! God bless you!
Dr. Robert A. Rohm
