I've already done this! Why am I back in school? Sheesh.

The following is an excerpt from the Location Chapter of my latest book Dream On It, Unlock Your Dreams Change Your Life…

Unfortunately, the most popular dream location is not a sunny beach in Maui or even the Champs-Élysées in Paris!  Nay, t’is the cinder blocked halls of our old alma mater.  Even if you graduated ten, twenty, even fifty years ago, your dreaming mind keeps pulling you back into chemistry class wearing nothing but your Nikes or roaming the halls trying to find your locker.

The reason school is such a popular dream locale is because the dynamics of the school setting continue on into your job or career and also into your social life.  School is where you first learn the importance of being on time and meeting deadlines, it is where you learn how to prepare and “do your homework,” it is where you learn how to deal with scrutiny, how to move on up the ladder, and also how to fit in.  Basically, it’s where you learn all your basic job skills and social skills.   School dreams are most often connected to your work life and slightly less often connected to your social life.

One of the more common school dream is the dream where you are back at school, and you know you have already graduated but find out you have to do a class or your senior year all over again.  The main thought in these frustrating dreams is that you’ve already done this, why do you have to do it again?  Grrrr! This dream thought is connected to the waking reality that you are in a situation where you have to prove yourself.  You know you’ve got what it takes, but someone else needs to be shown you’ve got the goods.

I dreamed I was back in high school because I had to take my senior year all over again. As I was walking the halls I was trying to figure out how I could fit school into my current life of work and raising a child. I also wondered what all the students would think of me. I figured that, since I’m older and wiser now, perhaps the students would really like me and that I should also be able to breeze through all my classes.
– Dina 41

Lauri: Sounds like you must be in a waking life situation where you are feeling the need to prove yourself to others.  Look at work first as most back at school dreams are triggered by work issues. Are you having to relearn something?  Do you have a new boss or co-worker you need to impress? If work doesn’t seem to fit then look at your social life. You are very concerned in the dream of what others will think of you.  Is there someone in waking life with whom you’d like to make a good impression?  The good news is that your confidence at the end of the dream will certainly penetrate into your waking life situation so I wouldn’t sweat it.

Dina replies: This absolutely fits what is going on in my life.  My family just moved to a new state two months ago.  I don’t know a soul here.  My next door neighbor invited me to a coffee social at her house.  I am very nervous about meeting new people and worry how I may come across to them.  I was a social butterfly in my previous town so deep down I know I’ll get along just fine.  I like how my dream is reassuring me.  That’s cool.

Dreams can indeed be reassuring.  What we are unsure of in waking life, our inner self is certain of in dream life. Dina’s dream was reassuring her about the social area of her life by comparing this new social pressure to the social pressures of high school: wanting to be liked and wanting to fit in.  Unlike her time in high school, she has learned her social graces and is a seasoned pro.  Nothing to worry about.

Yes, the majority of school dreams can be connected to your job because school was, essentially, your first job. And like school, your job is a place you have to get up every morning and go to and do what is expected of you and deal with the people there, some you like and some you don’t, and try to improve your skills so you can eventually move up to the next level.  But sometimes it is the social or learning aspect of school that plays a role in its meaning.  When you have to deal with a social issue, when you have to learn a new skill, or even when life throws a lesson at you during the day, you may find yourself in the hallowed halls of learning at night.

Everybody loves a good dream book!

Got a loved one who’s about to graduate? Why not send them off to follow their dreams with an autographed dream book? Being able to understand their dreams will help them with every single part of their life… for the rest of their life! And they’ll think of you every time they get an “Aha! moment.”

“I received your wonderful books today! They are amazing and your writing is funny!! Anyway, I LOVE the books!!” – Donna Copman

"All the Things She Said" by TATU is an awesome song!

Every Wednesday I get to dissect a sex or relationship dream for my friends at Em and Lo: Sex, Love and Everything In Between This week’s dream is from a straight gal who is wondering why she’s dreaming of having a girlfriend…

I had a dream about an ex and a female friend that I use to be close to, but I moved and haven’t kept in touch with them. I still want to be with my ex even after being broken up for a couple of years now; he contacts me once in a blue moon but I make it my duty not to contact him.

In the dream I’m outside at a function and I see the ex, go up to him, we start talking and hitting it off. In the dream all my emotions feel real. While talking to him, my friend gets jealous and calls me over to her. It turns out she and I are dating and she knows how I feel about him so she doesn’t want me speaking to him. She sits in my lap and I put my arms around her and think about my ex. Then it ends.

I have never had any gay thoughts about my friend. However if I were to substitute her for my boyfriend now it would be just as correct.

Lauri: You mentioned that you still want to be with your ex even though you have been broken up for two years. This leads me to believe that your dream is trying to help you in the relationship department. The emotions you feel in the dream feel real because they are real. But keep in mind that after two years, it may not be that the emotions are as much about him as they are about what he represents: a loving relationship.

Your dream brings a very close friend into the picture to help make its point: someone else who, like the ex, is no longer a part of your life. Notice how at the end of your dream you explain that if you were to substitute your friend for your boyfriend, it would be the same. Believe it or not, that is the very conclusion your dreaming mind was leading you to. Well, not that you need to call her up and get with her but that a close friendship is what it takes to have a lasting, loving relationship. Ask any successful couple that’s made it around the block a few times and they’ll tell you that, first and foremost, they are best friends. So when looking at prospective relationships, make sure he can hang like a friend as well.

Response from Dreamer: Wow! This makes so much sense. I do feel like the relationship is lacking the connection of friendship and some of the love department. Thank you tons. I feel this has helped me out a lot.

Your dreams are such a powerful part of who you are.  They are giving you answers and direction, even warnings you need to know every night of your life. Why wouldn’t you want the ability to understand these important, even life-changing messages? Grab yourself a copy of one of my books and you’ll easily understand your dreams every morning and get a HUGE edge in life.

“Your books have been so helpful. I’m seeing my dreams in a much different light. I can’t believe how simple the symbology is once you get the hang of it. Btw, your drawings are incredible. You’re a fantastic artist!”   – Patricia, Chico, CA

According to my research, our mothers – whether she is still with us on this earth or not – show up in our dreams an average of once a week! The mother figure is the central most important figure to just about every human on this planet. Mother nurtures and cares for us, comforts us, disciplines us, loves us unconditionally, forgives us and knows what is best. Mother teaches us how to wash behind our ears, how to eat right, how to treat a cold, and how to nurse a wound. Once we leave the nest, we take this nurturing know-how with us and continue to apply it to ourselves and to the ones we love. We also, from time to time, find ourselves in need of the comfort only a mother can provide. When we are sick, when we are faced with difficulties, when life brings us to our knees we – if only on the inside – want our mommies. This nurturing know-how and this need for comfort then shows up in our dreams in the form of our very own mother or mother figure! Basically, Mom in a dream is the manifestation of all that you would typically associate with the word mother: comfort, nurturing know-how, paternal discipline, even fertility.

I always have this dream of me and my mother fighting, but it’s not just verbal fighting it’s physical fighting. We get along pretty well and fight sometimes, but when I have this dream it seems to be when we are on good terms. – Carol 28

Lauri: Most likely, these dreams aren’t about your mother at all but rather about YOUR role as mom. Is there anything you are beating yourself up about? Anything you are feeling guilty about as far as the way you are mothering your child or children? You may find you get this dream whenever you have an inner conflict about how to discipline your child or when you feel you aren’t being the best Mom that you can be. Your dream is showing you what you are doing to yourself. Stop beating yourself up.

Carol replies: As far as my being a mother I do feel like I don’t do enough. The thing is that I hardly spend any time with my kids due to work, and going to school to study nursing, so I leave early and get home late and that is what I beat myself up about. This makes sense.

Carol’s dream was showing her herself in the form of her own mother in order to help her realize that she was being too hard on herself. She would never be so harsh with her own mother, so why is she being so harsh with her children’s mother?

If you are a mom, like Carol, then your mother dreams are most likely commenting on your role as Mom. Any negative element to the dream is likely a reflection of your own frustrations with motherhood. If you are not yet a mom but are trying or hoping to be, you’re going to be dreaming of your own mother… well, a mother load! If you are a man, Mom most likely represents your ability to take good care of yourself or those around you.

In the people chapter of Dream On It, Unlock Your Dreams Change Your Life. you will also learn how to decipher Father, Unknown Men and Women, Baby, Child, Celebrities, Boss, Doctor, Police and Classmate when they appear in your dreams. Get your autographed copy today and save 10% when you put “dream” in the coupon code at checkout!

“Simply the best dream book out there! This is a life changing book! Extremely well written, practical, serious, easy to read and with wells of real wisdom. Not a usual self-help book, but it sure will help you change your life. Outstanding!”
– Margareta Hagglund editor of M Magazine

As you can see from Jeremy’s dream, one of the best ways to figure out what your dream means, is to connect it to what was going on in your life at the time of the dream. As I constantly preach, your dreams can always be connected to your previous day, to what happened, what you talked about or what was on your mind. In Jeremy’s case, since the dream was so long ago, the best way to determine the meaning was to try to remember what stood out about his life around the time of the dream. For Jeremy, it was his volatile mother!

The other elements of Jeremy’s dream I wasn’t able to address (because in radio you are always up against the clock) is the gorilla and the Pecos Bill guy with the lasso. While a cowboy type of character is certainly common in young boy’s dreams, I think the lasso – for Jeremy – represented his desire to rein in his mother’s anger and volatile behavior. The giant gorilla is likely his wish to be bigger and stronger than her and her anger; when you’re a small kid and you have an angry parent… it makes you feel even smaller than you really are. And the tornado is the chaos and worry that was spinning out of control. Why was it talking? That most likely represented the inner dialogue he had going on with himself in regards to his mother. Poor guy.

And finally, he mentioned the truck that drove by in real life and blew it’s horn at the exact moment he detonated the dynamite. That’s a good example of how the dreaming mind can flawlessly incorporate outside interference into the storyline of the dream. Yep, the dreaming mind is a pretty amazing machine. If you don’t already, you really should pay more attention to it, because it has an awful lot to tell you about your life, every single night!

Oh yeah…. about my sign off, “Wet dreams.” Well, WBYR is an alternative rock station… mostly male demographic… nuff said! 

You don’t have to wonder about your dreams anymore. If you want to be able to figure out your dreams every morning for yourself, I got you covered! I’ve written three, easy to read and very thorough dream books.  They are super handy to have around when you wake from that darn recurring dream of yours or a dream that’s really disturbing or baffling you. They also make a great gift for any occasion. ANd like I said in the audio, if you put Bear in the coupon code at checkout you can save 25%!

“Since I’ve been reading your books, my friends are always asking me to help them interpret their dreams! You are the best!” - Jessica Martinez, Aurora, CO

My husband died on 6/26/11 and since then I have had four short dreams of him. I’ve seen his face in only one of the dreams. In all of the others we are side by side – in one he is driving, in another we are going through the mail, and in the other we are standing at his workbench.
- Valerie, Chicago, IL

Lauri: Your dreams during this time can be very helpful to your grief process as well as comforting. I believe you may have  seen his face in only one of the dreams because it has been difficult to “face” the reality of his passing. That’s usually what it means when we can’t see faces in a dream, there is something difficult to face in waking life. As the grief lightens, rest assured, you will have dreams where you can see his face.

In the dream where you are side by side, I believe that it is him, his spirit, his consciousness, letting you know that he is still with you, by your side. Believe me, I have heard countless dreams from people who have lost loved ones and they entail this same sort of detail where the loved one shows he or she is still around.

In your other dream he is driving because – I believe for two reasons – on one level (the spiritual level) he is driving because he is not only with you but also guiding you right now as you try to navigate through the grief. And on another level (the psychological level), he is driving because he is still a driving force in your life, in your thoughts and in your heart. Your grief over him probably drives most of your decisions and even behavior. But that’s okay. You MUST grieve and not be apologetic for it.

I do find it interesting that you are going through the mail. The mail represents your ability to communicate with him, in which case he is letting you know that – through your dreams – he is communicating with you. And even through little signs throughout the day he may be letting you know he is around: in the butterfly that lands on your windowsill, in the bird that lands on your porch and looks at you, in the colors in the sky and in the sound of the wind, he is sending mail to you, messages that he is still around.

Standing at his workbench may be a message of encouragement that you need to and that you can “work” through the grief. And on a deeper spiritual level, he may be telling you that you can feel his presence there when you need to. It is also possible that this could be a message regarding your own work or job. Anything going on there? Perhaps he is telling you to hang in there and that he is, as always, by your side.

While I can’t say with 100% certainty that your husband is communicating with you through these dreams, I can say that I have heard enough “after death” dreams to draw my own personal conclusion that our loved ones can communicate while we are in the dream state. That’s not to say every dream you have about you husband will be him – sometimes he will be standing in for your own male, assertive, get ‘er done energy… but sometimes it could be him. You’ll know. Those dreams feel different than other dreams and you wake from them still feeling him near you, even smelling him. I believe he is with you, around you and communicating with you.

Valerie replies: Your analysis is spot on and has brought me a great deal of comfort and joy. Yes, it has been difficult to “face” the reality of Christopher’s sudden passing.  I so look forward to when I can see his face in my dreams. I do believe he is still with me and has been communicating with me. In the dream where I saw his face, I walked in the front door and saw him bent over to pick something up. I said “Oh, there you are” and he stood up and said “Yeah, I’m right here. Where’d ya think I was?”

Funny you mentioned a butterfly and a bird. Prior to emailing you today I noticed a colorful butterfly on the windowsill – a very unusual sight in April in Chicago. And on two occasions since his passing birds have flown close and touched me and that never happened before in my life. There have been many other “communications” including his picture falling off the china cabinet into my purse on Christmas day – I now understand he “mailed” me a Christmas card.

Most amazing is that you mentioned my job in regards to the workbench dream. He wanted me to quit my demanding job, but I knew the economy would eventually take its toll and I wanted to stick it out to get the severance package. By the end of August grief and the tense work environment were taking their toll. As I was getting dressed I said out loud “Alright Christopher, if this job is ending let’s get it over with.” Three hours later I was handed my severance package. In the dream the workbench was perpendicular to where it actually is… now that I know the dream has to do with a job I think it may mean to go in a different direction work wise.

Thank you for confirming that loved ones can communicate while we are in the dream state. Grief books only hint at it, but hearing it from an esteemed researcher means so much. Lauri, I am so glad I turned the radio on this morning. I know much of your work concerns funny, strange and wild dreams, but I’m sure you know how important dreams are to those of us experiencing loss. I know I am blessed to have had dreams of my Christopher – a lady in my grief group would give anything to dream of her husband. Thank you for the work you do and thank you for your sweet analysis of my dreams. I have printed your email and will reread it whenever I need a pick me up.

After hearing me on WGN in Chicago, Valerie went to my site and purchased a mini dream interpretation. As you can see, even the minniest of dreams have an awful lot to tell you! You can also read more about dreaming after the death of a loved one in my book So, What Did You Dream Last Night?

“I just love your books.  They are spot on in your interpretations.”
- Carol Falkowski, Pittsburgh, PA

“I don’t know why I didn’t order your books YEARS ago. I am so excited! I’m halfway through “So What Did You Dream Last Night” and LOVE LOVE LOVE it. You had me cracking up several times. I’m so happy to know I’m not the only one with completely off the wall dreams.”
– Gina, Springdale, PA

How?

A precognitive dream or vision is authenticated when a third party  can confirm that the dream or vision was written down or relayed to a second party before the waking life incident actually happens.

Eva Hart was a Titanic survivor and her mother was one of the authenticated cases. She talks about it here.

Ships and boats in dreams

*The following is an excerpt from the Travel and Vehicle Dreams chapter of my latest book Dream On It (that just got it’s 11th five star review on Amazon, btw!)…

Ships and boats travel on water, and water – to the dreaming mind – is connected to your emotions.  Like water, emotions are fluid, ever-changing and often run deep.  So when you find yourself on a boat or a ship in a dream, it is because you are embarking on an emotional journey in waking life.

Most often, boats and ships in dreams are related to the emotional relationship path.  Again, if you look at the figures of speech we use involving these vessels, you’ll see why: the love boat, two ships passing in the night, he’s a dream boat, etc.

I was in a boat speeding across the ocean toward the rocky cliffs. My ex was in the boat, driving. We were going straight toward the cliff, sure to collide with no slowing down. I woke up before the impact. – Darcey 47

Lauri:  Your relationship with your ex must be rocky, hence the rocky cliffs.  What once was a love boat has become a vessel of doom.  Is he the driving force behind the turmoil? Your dream is warning you that you two are on the verge of disaster and close to the point of no return if one of you doesn’t “trim your sails.”

Darcey replies:  That makes total sense. We are like fire and ice. We have shared custody of the children, who are 4 and 6 years old. It is extremely difficult for us to even converse without tension and verbal fighting. Whenever we do have an exchange, there is guaranteed fighting. We fight about their clothes and who has them, about finances, school needs, etc. Sometimes he even throws in going to court and making me pay child support or getting full custody.

Darcey’s boat dream has a pretty clear message for her.  She has allowed her ex to take control of the helm of their relationship path and is steering it rapidly to the point of no return.

The message of ship and boat dreams: You have embarked on an emotional journey, whether it be a relationship, a business venture or something else of equal significance.  Remember that the state of the water, the condition of the vessel, and how well it is traveling will clue you in to whether you should stay aboard or abandon ship.

The Vehicle and Travel Dreams chapter in Dream On It also covers Car, Plane, Truck, Train, Bus, Motorcycle, Bicycle, Space Travel and more!

“I love, love, love this new book from Lauri! I have referred to it for a different reason every single day since I got it. It’s been really great and helped me realize all my dreams point to…transportation i.e. my path in life. It’s been eye-opening and all the girls in my office want to borrow it. I love how she writes and breaks everything down into simple terms.”   – Heather, Wichita, KS