They were there. Not a memory, not a wish—they were present in your dream in a way that felt completely real. Now you’re left wondering what it means. Generic explanations about “processing grief” or “wishful thinking” don’t capture the specific way they appeared, what they did, or why this particular night.

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I’m often asked about those dreams we have about our loved ones after they die. Are they really coming through to us while we dream? Read on to find out what I think. This is a correspondence between a lady who was recently widowed and me…

My husband died 9 months ago 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.

Read one of my personal experiences with dreams and death.

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 personal dream interpretation. As you can see, dreams have an awful lot to tell you! 

“Dreams really do hold the answers! Thank you so much for your interpretation. It totally made sense. It helped me to avoid making the mistake of a life time.”  – Judy, Strathroy, Ontario

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The post Someone Who Passed Visited Your Dream? This Is More Than Memory appeared first on Lauri Loewenberg | Dream Expert.

Long story short, my interest in dreams took me off that road. I became so involved in building my career as a professional Dream Analyst that I completely neglected the artist in me… until my dreams started nagging me about it. You can read about how my dreams guided me back towards my art here and here. BTW, your dreams are guiding you towards your ultimate self too… if you just pay attention.

I had a few false starts over the years, getting back into my art – you know how it is, you try to start something but life keeps getting in the way. But now, I am back full throttle! And what you see here on this page, are some of my recent pieces.  I’ve been getting such great encouragement and feedback from others that I joined up with an art site so that people could purchase art prints of my work, for an extremely affordable price, as well as my work on cool items such as the ones below; Lord knows I could use the additional income these days. Be sure to keep scrolling down, and if you like what you see, click on the picture and it will take you to the page where you get one for yourself!

Throw Pillows

T shirts (choose your color)

Totes (Choose your size)

iphone cases and skins

There are also mugs, lap top covers and of course art prints to choose from. If you are interested in any of these designs, just go here, click on the design you like, and then you will see all the items you can have it printed on. These make great gifts as well!

“I love my Purple Haze tote… I carry it everywhere!” – Beth Gadbois, Fort Wayne, IN

“I love my Heisenberg tote bag! They banned plastic grocery bags here so this is great for shopping. I also got the happiness fairy tote for my friend.” – Lorrie Ferrero, Chatsworth, CA

“Millie loves her Hendrix shirt. We will be looking out for a Bowie incarnation from you!” – Amy Rutherford, Portland, Dorset, UK

“I’m so geeked!!!! My boyfriend loves the drowning dream iphone case too!!! Might get him one too!!! She is so beautiful!!” – Jodi Snyder. Goshen, IN

The post Would you like to have a look at my art? appeared first on Lauri Loewenberg | Dream Expert.

Weather changes from one day to the next, even from one moment to the next, and so do our emotions. To the dreaming mind, our emotions are the weather conditions that form and flow within our psyche. Just as a meteorologist tracks the weather in order to keep us informed and prepared to handle the days ahead, so should we track and understand our psychological weather to keep us informed and prepared to handle our lives. If you pay attention, your own dreaming mind will give you the most accurate and reliable emotional forecast available.

Tornadoes

When putting this chapter together, I searched all my client files, went through all my published newspaper columns, scanned my members’ forum for various weather dreams and discovered that almost all of the weather dreams I had accumulated were of tornadoes! So I put out a query to my newsletter members soliciting for weather dreams in hopes of getting more variations, and of all the dreams sent in… almost all were still of tornadoes. Sigh. Needless to say, the tornado is an image imbedded deeply and firmly within our collective psyche.

The nature of the approaching tornado is what I believe makes it such a popular dream symbol. If you’ve ever actually experienced a tornado, or even just watched one on TV, it is the waiting and wondering over the uncertainty of its path that impacts you the most, “Which way is it going to go? Is it going to hit my house? How bad will it be? How long until it gets here?” The element of bracing for possible disaster is what plays the biggest role in the meaning behind the tornado dream.

I have had recurring dreams of tornadoes for as long as I can remember. Last night I had a dream that I was in a trailer by myself. There was a horrible storm and then a tornado appeared out of nowhere! The windows started breaking because of the hail. Then the trailer was actually picked up by the tornado and landed safely in another state! – Nancy 36

Lauri: Lifelong recurring tornado dreams are a good indication you are a proud, card-carrying member of the worry-wart club. You’ll find that your tornado dreams are likely to coincide with your bouts of worry or panic. You’ll also find that your bouts of worry are often over something that you cannot control, just as no one can control a tornado, it is an act of God. In this latest dream you are in a trailer, which is the weakest structure you could be in during a tornado. This means you are not feeling very strong at the moment. Then your trailer winds up in another state! Your dream is telling you that you need to move on from this worrisome “state” of mind. Sometimes you’ve gotta let go and let things play themselves out naturally. When you can move into this more relaxed state of mind, your tornado dreams will have no reason to come back.

Nancy replies: Yes I am a worrywart. I worry about everything!! I will have to start keeping track of when I have the dreams and what I am worried about at the time. I always had a feeling that’s what it meant.

As frightening as tornado dreams can be, they are actually good for you because they are alerting you to the fact that you are letting your worry and anxiety get the best of you… and it is often worry and anxiety over something that may not even cross your path. Your dream is showing you your own worry in the form of a tornado so that you can understand the destructive force it has on your psyche.

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“I 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 understand all my dreams. 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

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